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Irrational Games (known as 2K Boston between 2007 and 2009) was an American
video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...
founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier.
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns three major Imprint (trade name), publishing labels, Rockstar Games, Zynga and 2K ...
acquired the studio in 2006. The studio was best known for two of the games in the ''
BioShock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K. The first game in the ''BioShock'' series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 ...
'' series, as well as ''
System Shock 2 ''System Shock 2'' is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during produ ...
'', '' Freedom Force'', and '' SWAT 4''. In 2014, following the release of '' BioShock Infinite'', Levine opted to significantly restructure the studio from around 90 to 15 employees and focus more on narrative games. In February 2017, the studio announced that it had been rebranded as
Ghost Story Games Ghost Story Games, LLC is an American video game developer based in Westwood, Massachusetts, and led by Ken Levine. The studio is the rebranding of Irrational Games as announced in February 2017, and while still the same business subsidiary un ...
and considered a fresh start from the original Irrational name, though still operating at the same business subsidiary under Take-Two.


History


Formation and initial games (1997-2005)

Irrational Games was formed in 1997 by Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier, former Looking Glass Studios employees that left on good terms to start their own game development firm. They initially ran on a shoestring budget, running out of Levine's apartment. At that time, as a small studio, they were dependent on publisher support; their first project was to develop a single-player campaign for the game ''
FireTeam A fireteam or fire team is a small modern warfare, modern military sub-subunit, subordinated element of infantry designed to optimize "Non-commissioned officer, NCO initiative", "combined arms", "bounding overwatch" and "fire and movement" mi ...
'', being published by Multitude, Inc., but within three weeks, Multitude decided to drop the single-player campaign, leaving the three without any job. They returned to Looking Glass looking for any opportunities. Looking Glass founder Paul Neurath agreed to give them a small budget, an office within their studio, and gave them the opportunity to work on a sequel to ''
System Shock ''System Shock'' is a 1994 first-person action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by LookingGlass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. It was directed by Doug Church with Warren Spector serving as producer. The game ...
''. ''
System Shock 2 ''System Shock 2'' is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during produ ...
'' was released in 1999, and while a critical success, it did not reach sales expectations. After ''System Shock 2'' was released, Chey returned to Australia while Fermier went to
Ensemble Studios Ensemble Studios was an American video game developer. It was founded by Tony Goodman in 1994 and incorporated the following year. It borrowed the name of Ensemble Corporation, a consulting firm founded by Goodman in 1990. It was acquired by ...
. Irrational continue to work with Looking Glass to create ''Deep Cover'', a project inspired by '' Thief: The Dark Project'' set during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, though this was eventually cancelled around 2000. Irrational returned to seeking other projects from other publishers to be more independent from Looking Glass. They landed work with
Crave Entertainment Crave Entertainment (aka Crave Games) was an American video game publisher founded in 1997 by Nima Taghavi. Its headquarters was in Newport Beach, California. It was acquired by Handleman Company in 2005 in a deal valued up to $95,000,000 but w ...
, from which they started work on '' The Lost'', a third-person action game inspired by
Dante's Inferno ''Inferno'' (; Italian for ' Hell') is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century narrative poem '' The Divine Comedy'', followed by and . The ''Inferno'' describes the journey of a fictionalised version of Dante himsel ...
, that was targeting the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
. Levine described multiple difficulties with developing ''The Lost''. One issue was handling technical issues with the
game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...
, as inititially they had planned to use the
LithTech LithTech is a game engine developed by Monolith Productions and comparable with the Quake and Unreal engines. Monolith and a number of other video game developers have used LithTech as the basis for their first-person shooter games. Monolith i ...
engine, but later switched to the
Unreal Engine Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter video game '' Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of ...
due to difficulties with making the game work on the PlayStation 2. A second problem arose as Crave started to have their own financial problems, and pushed on Irrational to continue development with a reduced budget. While Irrational finished most of the game, ''The Lost'' was eventually cancelled by 2002, with Irrational taking the loss on its development time. During development of ''The Lost'', Irrational started a second project with Crave, the turn-based superhero-theme '' Freedom Force''. Chey, while still in Australia, returned to Irrational by setting up development offices in Australia in 2000, where most of the work on ''Freedom Force'' was completed. Crave's monetary issues led the game to be published in 2002 by the EA Partners label of
Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
. The game performed moderately well, but failed to give Irrational any significant royalties. Shortly after the cancellation of ''The Lost'',
Vivendi Games Vivendi Games (formerly known as CUC Software, Cendant Software, Havas Interactive, Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing and Vivendi Universal Games) was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was foun ...
tapped Irrational to develop a single-player campaign based on the ''
Tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
'' series, which had traditionally been multiplayer shooters in the past, and posed a challenge to craft a narrative around. This led to some difficulties with Vivendi, as at one point Levine was fired from the narrative position, replaced by two writers from Hollywood, only to be later rehired to complete the story. '' Tribes: Vengeance'' was eventually released in 2004. Irrational continued to work with Vivendi on a sequel in the ''
Police Quest ''Police Quest'' (or ''SWAT'') is a series of police simulation game, simulation video games produced and published by Sierra On-Line between 1987 and 1998. The first five were adventure game, adventure simulation game, simulation games, the f ...
'' series, '' SWAT 4'', released in 2005.


Acquisition by Take-Two and the ''BioShock'' series (2006-2013)

Since the release of ''System Shock 2'', Levine had been trying to pitch a sequel to publishers without success. Starting around 2002, Levine led a small development team at Irrational to create ''
BioShock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K. The first game in the ''BioShock'' series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 ...
'', a game with a similar narrative approach and free-form approach as ''System Shock 2'', using idea of having the player navigate through three factions, drones that carried a desirable resource, protectors that defended the drones, and harvesters that attempted to gain the resource from the drones. Irrational had difficulties selling this concept to publishers, as the concept of
immersive sim An immersive sim (simulation) is a video game genre that emphasizes player choice. Its core, defining trait is the use of simulated systems that respond to a variety of player actions which, combined with a comparatively broad array of player a ...
s like ''System Shock 2'' was not considered profitable, but the company persisted and refined their ideas as word of a new immersive sim from Irrational began to spread in video game news coverage. In 2004,
Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns three major Imprint (trade name), publishing labels, Rockstar Games, Zynga and 2K ...
offered to publish the game based on the core drone/protector/harvester concept, and then in 2006, acquired Irrational Games under its 2K publishing label. Just prior to the release of ''BioShock'' in 2007, Irrational Games' Boston and Australian offices were rebranded as
2K Boston Irrational Games (known as 2K Boston between 2007 and 2009) was an American video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of Looking Glass Studios: Ken Levine (video game designer), Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier. ...
and 2K Australia. ''
BioShock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K. The first game in the ''BioShock'' series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 ...
'' released August 21 to wide critical acclaim and strong sales. ''BioShock'' was released in August 2007, and was a critical and financial success. The game won several awards, and by 2013 had sold more than 4 million units. Due to the success of the game, tied to the former Irrational Games name, both of their studios reverted to the original Irrational name in January 2010. Shortly after ''BioShock'' was released, rumors arose that many of the staff who had worked on the game were leaving 2K Boston/Australia. In 2007, five members of the 2K Boston team moved to a new 2K studio in
Novato, California Novato (Spanish language, Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, situated in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...
. Soon after, 2K announced the formation of
2K Marin 2K Marin, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in December 2007 as a spin-off from their parent, 2K, the company developed '' BioShock 2'' (2010) and '' The Bureau: XCOM Declassified'' (2013) before la ...
in Novato. Take-Two had pushed on Irrational to develop a ''BioShock'' sequel, but Levine was not interested, and instead initially sought to develop a new ''
XCOM ''XCOM'' (originally called ''X-COM'') is a science fiction video game franchise featuring an elite international organization tasked with countering alien invasions of Earth. The series began with the strategy video game '' UFO: Enemy Unknown' ...
'' game. Take-Two assigned 2K Marin to develop ''
BioShock 2 ''BioShock 2'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K Games. It was released worldwide for PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Windows, and Xbox 360 on February 9, 2010; Feral Interactive released an OS X v ...
''. By 2008, when Irrational's contract with Take-Two was under review, Levine had lost interest in the ''XCOM'' project, and instead negotiated to develop a new ''BioShock'' game. The ''XCOM'' project work continued at 2K Marin, released in 2013 as '' The Bureau: XCOM Declassified''. Development on ''BioShock Infinite'', what would be Irrational's last game, started in 2008, about half a year after completion of the original ''BioShock''. Following the game's public announcement in 2010, the company was pressured by 2K Games and the gaming consumers to make sure the title lived up to the expectations that the promotional material had set for it. Irrational hired more staff and allocated work to additional studios to help with the game, but this only served to complicate matters; from post-mortem interviews with Irrational staff, Levine was continually changing some of the core story beats for the game, which would dramatically change game assets that had already developed. Levine also admitted to difficulties in managing the larger staff. Conflicts over development leadership led to the departure of some high-level individuals in 2012. To bring the game back onto schedule for release, 2K hired industry professionals to assist Levine in managing the large team and focusing the game's content including eliminating planned multiplayer modes. ''BioShock Infinite'' was released by March 2013.


Closure and transition to Ghost Story Games (2014-2017)

On February 18, 2014, Levine announced that the vast majority of the Irrational Games studio staff would be laid off, with all but fifteen members of the staff losing their positions. Levine said that he wanted to start "a smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at Take-Two," speaking to how much stress completing a large game like ''BioShock: Infinite'' had caused him. Levine said, "I need to refocus my energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with gamers. In many ways, it will be a return to how we started: a small team making games for the core gaming audience." Levine had considered starting a new development studio for this, knowing that building the ideas would take several years before any game product would be made. Still, Take-Two offered to let him keep the division within Take-Two, with Levine saying that they told him, "there was no better place to pursue this new chapter than within their walls." Take-Two considered this studio separate from Irrational Games, preventing Levine from using the name, and shutting down Irrational Games shortly after Levine had made his decision in 2014. Around 15 developers continued with Levine at this new studio; the remaining 75 staff were laid off, though 2K offered a career fair to help find jobs for the displaced developers. According to Levine, in the years after the layoffs, several of the former Irrational staff had rejoined Take-Two and 2K under the studios that were working on a new ''BioShock'' title, though Levine himself was not involved. By February 2017, Levine had announced the name of his new studio,
Ghost Story Games Ghost Story Games, LLC is an American video game developer based in Westwood, Massachusetts, and led by Ken Levine. The studio is the rebranding of Irrational Games as announced in February 2017, and while still the same business subsidiary un ...
, with the focus focus "to create immersive, story-driven games for people who love games that ask something of them".


Games developed


As Irrational Games


As 2K Boston


Cancelled video games

* ''Deep Cover'' * ''Division 9'' * ''Dungeon Duel'' * ''Monster Island'' * '' The Lost'' * ''Freedom Force 3'' * Untitled ''
BioShock ''BioShock'' is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and 2K Australia, and published by 2K. The first game in the ''BioShock'' series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 ...
'' game for
PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1997 establishments in Massachusetts 2017 disestablishments in Massachusetts 2K (company) BioShock (series) Companies based in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Defunct companies based in Massachusetts Defunct video game companies of the United States Take-Two Interactive divisions and subsidiaries Video game companies disestablished in 2017 Video game companies established in 1997 Video game development companies Westwood, Massachusetts