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BioShock dev Irrational Games to close
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Author:  pcernie [ Tue Feb 18, 2014 10:46 pm ]
Post subject:  BioShock dev Irrational Games to close
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/45 ... -to-close/
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Wed Feb 19, 2014 11:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: BioShock dev Irrational Games to close
Quote:
Levine made the announcement today via a lengthy web post, detailing plans to shut the BioShock studio and form a new outfit made up of "about fifteen members of the Irrational team", with a focus on "narrative-driven" digital games "that are highly replayable".

Levine confirmed that his new studio will be started under the wing of Irrational Games parent firm Take-Two. A focus on download-only titles was confirmed, but Levine made no reference to any specific platforms.

Sounds like they are targeting the mobile market. Downloadable, highly replayable sounds like mobile gaming to me. Probably more profitable as smaller teams and the revenue can be high from ads.
Author:  jonbwfc [ Wed Feb 19, 2014 5:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: BioShock dev Irrational Games to close
Someone I know 'in the industry' reckons Bioshock Infinite had a staff of around 200, took about six years and their estimate is it cost over $100m to make. I think he's realised he simply can't go on with things escalating like that and he was on to a loser because it simply wasn't feasible that the next one would be 'better' - there's just no games studio on earth that can devote more resources than that to a single game, nor are there enough people likely to buy it to make a profit. It had simply become a monster. So he had no real choice other than to get out when he did.
Author:  Amnesia10 [ Thu Feb 20, 2014 1:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: BioShock dev Irrational Games to close
jonbwfc wrote:
Someone I know 'in the industry' reckons Bioshock Infinite had a staff of around 200, took about six years and their estimate is it cost over $100m to make. I think he's realised he simply can't go on with things escalating like that and he was on to a loser because it simply wasn't feasible that the next one would be 'better' - there's just no games studio on earth that can devote more resources than that to a single game, nor are there enough people likely to buy it to make a profit. It had simply become a monster. So he had no real choice other than to get out when he did.

Big console games are too expensive to develop. The hardware has outstripped the ability to produce the games cheaply enough. It will mean lower risks as well. Smaller games are also cheaper to develop as the length of code increases so do the bugs and problems involved resolving them. If they make a big mistake on a game that cost $100m to make then that could be the end of the company anyway.
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