En tidligere ansat hos nu lukkede Irrational Games, har via et anonymt indlæg bidraget med en sønderlemmende kritik af hvordan 2K Games (Take-Two Interactive) har håndteret flere af deres spiludviklere. Han går endda så langt som at påstå, at de er direkte ansvarlige for at spil som Mafia III og det netop afviklede Evolve floppede og ikke have en reel chance for at klare sig.
Det hele startede med The Bureau: XCOM Declassified…
Den anonyme spiludvikler bidrager med en tidslinje og sætter en ret så præcis finger på, hvornår det gik galt. 2K Games forsøgte sig med kreativ kontrol i 2010, da XCOM-serien blev videregivet til 2K Marin og 2K Australia. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified skuffede fælt og det ledte i sidste ende til lukningen af K Australia.
Indlægget bidrager også med en noget anden vinkel på hvad der skete med Irrational Games og BioShock:
Unfortunately this still cost half the Australian studio — BioShock Infinite could simply not take all the employees. However, with the help of what was left of the 2K Australia studio — again in its position as a support role — BioShock Infinite went on to be yet another a critically acclaimed title.
On February 18, 2014 it was announced by Ken Levine via an open letter posted on the Irrational Games website that the vast majority of the studio would be laid off, with all but fifteen members of the staff losing their positions.
Basically what had happened was that Ken had been pushed past his limits with the stress of running BioShock Infinite — the team was so huge and unwieldy that he wanted to go back to basics and build a game with a skeleton crew like in the old days. He basically tried to quit, but 2K said “no, don’t go, you can do whatever you want — just stay with us.”
2K should have managed that situation better. If you have a big team who work well together in Boston, why not put a new studio head at the top and keep the team together? It could still be called Irrational — it would still have the majority of the original staff. Then Ken could go and do his thing, and everyone else could continue to do theirs — you know — making successful games for 2K.
Han fortsætter og drager paralleller til to af 2K Games seneste udgivelser:
By the way, does anyone know why XCOM tanked? I know — I was there: It is because out of the above titles, it is the only title where 2K HQ felt obliged to get their hands dirty with the development. They turned the product around several times for reboots, and completely took creative control out of the hands of the developers, even going so far as to change the name of the lead studio to “2K Marin, Australia” — just so the Australian studio knew they were no longer in charge.
Perhaps this is why Mafia III and Evolve also lost so much money. 2K HQ doesn’t seem to be afraid to try out their artistic streak — even if it costs the shareholders hundreds of millions of dollars, costs the jobs of hundreds of developers, and costs the reputation of 2K as an employer.
Nu er der tale om et anonymt indlæg, men der er ingen tvivl om at vi aldrig helt har fået sandheden om hvad der gik for sig hos Irrational Games. Det er yderst sjældent at en spiludgiver ligefrem opgiver en IP så succesfuld som BioShock har været det.





























Hæver = hævder!
#1: Fixed.
Arrrh, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified havde fandme mange odds mod sig også selvom 2K ikke havde blandet sig:
1. Anmeldelserne var overvejende positive, men hvis det, folk gerne vil have ud af XCOM-serien bare ikke er en shooter, så fungerer brandet faktisk imod spillets beskaffenhed. Det er lidt ligesom dengang Starbreeze prøvede at genoplive Syndicate som en shooter. Det var ikke noget dårligt spil – det var bare ikke Syndicate. Lidt det samme kunne jeg frygte sker med Prey lige pt.
2. Det udkommer næsten samtidigt med Enemy Unknown, som det helt naturligt vil blive holdt op mod. Købte du ét XCOM-spil i 2013, var det næppe The Bureau.