Matters of intrigue are proceeding at Bioshock Infinite developer Irrational Games, as OXM regulars have already noted. Two Bioshock Infinite multiplayer modes have reportedly been dumped, and a significant number of key staff have resigned, including a 13 year veteran. It's not all downside, though. Epic's director of production Rod Fergusson has announced that he's left the Gears of War studio to serve as Irrational's new executive vice-president of development.
As claimed by Kotaku sources, one of the canned multiplayer modes was a riff on the cooperative Spec Ops archetype, popularised by Modern Warfare 2. The other, bizarrely, saw players shrinking down to the size of pinballs in order to battle waves of arcade machine toys, tower defence style.
Irrational boss Ken Levine played down the report, commenting "in a company of 200 people you're going to have turnover." He added later: "I don't think there's a single senior BioShock team member that isn't here, which I think is amazing and a testament to their commitment to the studio."
Kotaku's contacts speak of a culture of mismanagement within the company, leading to much time wasted on "doomed" concepts. Levine wouldn't be drawn on any of this, observing only that "it's always challenging when you're trying to make a game that does a lot of different things". Chopping out features that don't quite gel is all part of development, he went on: at one point, the Bioshock Infinite team even debated cutting main supporting character Elizabeth.
As for Fergusson, he's all smiles. "I've played Infinite and it's amazing!" the former Epic exec Tweeted last night. "Can't wait for you guys to get your hands on it."
For the bulk of what's currently known about the game, read our massive Bioshock Infinite Q&A;. It's out in February 2013.
4 comments so far...
CunningSmile on 10 Aug '12 said:
I know we've talked about this on another article but here are few more thoughts.
My biggest thing is wondering if Irrational are a victim of their own success. I know Levine has said that none of the original Bioshock team have left, but for a whole laundry list of high ranking sounding job titles to have left almost in one go makes me wonder if the acclaim for Bioshock led to them expanding too rapidly. If this is the case it may also explain the rumours about mismanagement, since the way you run a company with 50 odd people all of whom are in the loop is very different from the management of 200+ people.
I think in this case the Babylon 5 quote is probably true; Understanding is a three edged sword - Your side, their side and the truth.
Clanger67 on 10 Aug '12 said:
I was seriously worried when i first heard about this.I don't mind admitting to being a fanboy of Irrational they are one of my top five devs. along with R* and Bethesda.The wording of the article didn't help,but the other Regs. on here put my worrying mind to rest.Given the current financial climate you never know what's around the corner.
Clanger67 on 10 Aug '12 said:
Plamsa wing on 10 Aug '12 said:
I'm wondering if they don't like the addition of multiplayer. Bioshock 2 didn't go too well in that area, including non-patched broken MP DLC.