BioShock creator Ken Levine wanted developer Irrational Games to continue and didn't expect publisher Take-Two to shut it down.
In 2014, Levine announced that he was “closing down” the studio to focus on a “different type of game”, meaning that all but 15 of Irrational's employees were laid off.
Now, in an interview with Edge Magazine (thanks GamesRadar), Levine has stated that his intention was for Irrational to continue, but the decision to close was “made at a corporate level.”
Levine spoke about his time at Irrational following the release of BioShock Infinite and how this led to his parting ways with the studio.
“The closure of Irrational was complicated,” he said. “I felt out of my depth in the role. You're a creative person and suddenly, as your vision of what you want to do grows, you have to become a manager, in a way that I don't necessarily have any training or skills. “My mental health was a mess during Infinite. I was stressed, there was a lot of personal stuff going on in my life at the time, and then my parents died, and I didn't think I had the trust of the team.”
That's when he left, leaving the studio in the hands of Take-Two.
“So my intention was to go and say, 'Look, I just need to start something new, and Irrational should continue,'” he said. “That's why I didn't keep the Irrational name. I thought they were going to continue. But it wasn't my company: I sold the company, so I worked for Take-Two and the studio was theirs.
“The decision was made at a corporate level and they didn't feel they should continue the studio as a going concern. My feeling was that it probably would have made sense. Take-Two did a remaster of BioShock; that would have been a good title for Irrational to get familiar, build a new creative director structure and then build on that once they have the confidence to make the next BioShock game. I don't think he would be in a position to be a good leader for the team.
Levine described trying to make the studio closure “the least painful layoff we could make,” but he didn't feel comfortable leading the team when their next project would have a long R&D period. “The problem is, and you see this problem in big studios, what do you do with 300 people when you're going to have a multi-year research and development project?” said.
Still, a “good portion” of the laid-off developers returned to work on the next yet-to-be-revealed BioShock game.
Meanwhile, Levine will launch Judas this year with his new studio Ghost Story Games, which he previously described as being built out of “narrative Lego.”
Levine also spoke with Edge about the development of BioShock Infinite, which he pushed to make it more action-oriented. That led to Sky-Lines, something I would have developed further in a possible sequel.
“The problem was that the Sky-Lines were so expensive to build that we couldn't build enough space to support the feature,” he said. “The team did a great job bringing that feature to life; there just wasn't enough in the game for it to really work.
“If we had made a sequel to Infinite, I think I would have spent more time on that. That thing was built in Unreal Engine 3, which is not an open-air engine. Sky-Lines were a bunch of spit, gum, and prayers. “Players would be surprised at how many games are created with spit and gum, even the best ones that have worked very well.”
Judas was last seen in Sony's PlayStation State of Play this time last year and has yet to receive a firm release date beyond 2025.