Irrational Games

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Ghost Story Games

logo
legal form Daughter of Take 2 Interactive
founding 1997 (as Irrational Games)
2017 (as Ghost Story Games)
Seat Quincy , Massachusetts , USA
management Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, Robert Fermier
Number of employees 25 (formerly 200+)
Website GhostStoryGames.com
IrrationalGames.com

2K Australia logo

Irrational Games is a game developer founded in 1997 by Ken Levine , Jonathan Chey and Robert Fermier in Quincy Massachusetts (near Boston ). The studio is known for the action games System Shock 2 and BioShock . In 2017 the development studio was renamed Ghost Story Games .

history

The studio was founded in 1997 in Boston by Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey and Robert Fermier, who previously worked at Looking Glass Studios . In cooperation with publisher Electronic Arts , the studio released its first work System Shock 2 in 1999 , the predecessor of which was developed by Looking Glass and was created in cooperation with the old employer of the three founders. The title earned great critical acclaim, but was not commercially convincing.

In 2000, a branch is opened in the Australian capital of Canberra , headed by Jonathan Chey. In 2002 there were legal disputes with the publisher Crave Entertainment, which resulted in the abandonment of the project The Lost . Received in 2004 two designers of Irrational, Ed Orman and Dean Tate, at the Australian Game Developer Awards the award for Best Design , the studio receives prices Best Game of the Year 2004 and Best computer game . In 2005 the Boston studio moved from Boston to neighboring Quincy, where there was larger office space, but kept the name "Irrational Games Boston".

On January 9, 2006, during the development of the action title BioShock , the previously independent company was taken over by Take-Two Interactive . On August 10, 2007, shortly before the release of BioShock on August 24, the development studios in Quincy and the Australian capital Canberra, which were then part of Irrational Games, were organizationally separated and temporarily renamed 2K Boston and 2K Australia . In the same year, some BioShock developers founded the developer studio 2K Marin, which was independent from Studio Boston. Together with 2K Australia, the new studio took over the development of BioShock 2 .

In January 2010, 2K Boston was renamed the Irrational Games again. In contrast, 2k Australia was merged with 2K Marin to form a unit. In 2013, Irrational Games released BioShock Infinite .

In mid-February 2014, Ken Levine announced that he wanted to change his future focus of work after completing the last download extension for Bioshock Infinite . In a notice on the official website, he wrote:

“I am winding down irrational games as you know it. I'll be starting a smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take-Two. "

“I'm going to cut back irrational games as you know it. I'm going to take a smaller, more in-depth approach to Take 2. "

He announced the dismissal of all Irrational employees except for a core team of 15 employees. He left it open whether this would mean the closure of the studio. Levine announced that it will continue to focus on action-driven games for core gamers with a high replay value, but which will only be sold digitally. Levine passed responsibility for the BioShock franchise to publisher 2k Games. Former employees described the development time of BioShock Infinite and especially the cooperation with Levine as complicated and stressful to the press .

In February 2017, the remaining development team was renamed from Irrational Games to Ghost Story Games. A role-playing game with a science fiction scenario was announced as the first project .

Projects

  • System Shock 2 (1999), developed together with Looking Glass Studios
  • Deep Cover (discontinued), developed together with Looking Glass Studios
  • The Lost (discontinued), co-developed with FXLabs Studios
  • Freedom Force (2002)
  • Tribes: Vengeance (2004)
  • Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich (2005)
  • SWAT 4 (2005)
  • SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate (2006), add-on
  • BioShock (2007)
  • BioShock Infinite (2013)

The Boston studio produced BioShock with the Canberra studio. BioShock is seen as the "spiritual successor" of System Shock 2 , even if the original name could not be used for legal reasons.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Irrational Games: The Bioshock Studio is getting a successor on de.ign.com (accessed on February 24, 2017)
  2. ^ Gamasutra: Take-Two Interactive Acquires Irrational Games
  3. ↑ Develop: Take 2 renames Irrational offices
  4. ^ Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Announces Formation of 2K Marin ( English ) Take-Two Interactive . December 17, 2007. Retrieved April 13, 2011.
  5. ↑ Gamestar: 2K Boston
  6. ↑ Golem.de
  7. ↑ Luke Plunkett: 2K Studio Name Madness Continues With New XCOM Game ( English ) In: Kotaku Australia . April 16, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  8. ↑ Ken Levine : A Message From Ken Levine ( English ) In: Official company website . Irrational Games. February 18, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  9. ^ Matt Peckham: BioShock Creator Ken Levine 'Winding Down Irrational Games as You Know It' ( English ) In: Time Magazine . February 18, 2014. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  10. ↑ Annika Demgen: Ken Levine breaks new ground: BioShock: Irrational Games hands over shooter franchise to 2K Games . In: Netzwelt . February 19, 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  11. ↑ Chris Plante: The final years of Irrational Games, according to those who were there ( English ) In: Polygon . Vox Media . Retrieved March 7, 2014.
  12. ↑ Irrational Games - BioShock-Studio is now called Ghosts Story & is working on a new SciFi-RPG on gamepro.de (accessed on February 24, 2017)