5 ms·

Kind of a strange letter, especially given that Irrational Games is a subsidiary of Take Two. It makes it sound like Irrational is doing great, and Ken Levine j

by mjn 13y ago

Kind of a strange letter, especially given that Irrational Games is a subsidiary of Take Two. It makes it sound like Irrational is doing great, and Ken Levine just wants to try something different. But if that were the case, demolishing Irrational to try his new thing doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It'd be more sensible for him to just leave Irrational, starting a new endeavor (either another subsidiary under Take-Two, or his own independent thing), and leaving Irrational intact. Possible explanations include: 1) there is not as much success going on at Irrational as implied; 2) Ken Levine is just really attached to the name, and so wouldn't let it continue in present form while he leaves to do something else under a new name; 3) ...?

millerc 13y ago
I'd bet on 3) Levine isn't interested in just "more of the same", and his mission (Irrational's) is to create. I'm sure someone else can license the names and characters if what they want is "more of the same". Best of luck to the new team, looking forward to awesome stuff...
- mjn 13y ago
  If that's true, then it'd make Ken Levine just an asshole. If he wants to leave and do something different, fine, but why set the building on fire on your way out? It doesn't require firing a successful team for you to go do something different, plenty of people leave successful companies to start something new. My guess, though, is that he didn't actually make that choice and was told by Take-Two to downsize, and this is him pretending it was a voluntary "creative" decision, like politicians who want to spend more time with their family.
  - danudey 13y ago
    The other possibility is that the 15 people he's taking with him are part of the company's top-tier leadership/talent; creative directors, art directors, etc. Maybe taking those 15 people is cutting off the head of the snake, and there's no one left to steer the ship after they're gone.
  - nousernamesleft 13y ago
    >If that's true, then it'd make Ken Levine just an asshole That would probably be the nicest thing anyone has ever said about him. He is not well liked by past co-workers or employees.
- NDizzle 13y ago
  A lot of studios seem to grow to a size where their product looks like this: A game that would be considered incomplete ~5 years ago is launched. You then ship up to a dozen DLC packages that add incremental content so that the complete purchase price of the game and all DLC is 2 to 3x the original retail price. That's how they justify the huge teams. I know it's very different market, but just look at how Turbine went from 500-600 employees to under 200. Look at how Zynga had 2,000 employees. Now wonder what, exactly, all those people were doing? It's compelling, especially to veterans like Levine, to return a team that's no more than 3 or 4 dozen people and create / ship a complete product that they have a high amount of creative control over. Reminiscent of Double Fine / Psychonauts. At least I hope that is what they are doing.
- bitwize 13y ago
  It wouldn't surprise me. BioShock Infinite was hailed as literally the best game ever by the gaming press, but the storyline contains strong indicators that Levine has squeezed all the juice out of the BioShock concept.
busterarm 13y ago
There's been a significant change in the ownership profile of the company the last several years. Not sure if that's in any way related but a lot of the private equity firms involved in owning Take-Two have been selling off their positions.
- mjn 13y ago
  Interesting point. Looks like the board bought back $200m of Carl Icahn's stock a few months ago, a pretty big cash outlay (equal to ~10% of total stock outstanding): http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/26/investing/take-two-interactive-carl-icahn/ http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/26/investing/take-two-interacti...
Guvante 13y ago
> demolishing Irrational to try his new thing doesn't make a whole lot of sense Depends a lot on who is going to be left after they leave. They may just want to kill the name while it is known for positive things rather than letting it languish.
tobyjsullivan 13y ago
I had a very similar reaction. He made it sound like (and maybe this is true) "Congratulations team, you've done well, we're successful, now we're going to lay you all off. Not even find you somewhere else in Take Two." The Game industry sounds a little harsh and even self-destructive right now. But I'm sure something was left out...
- NoPiece 13y ago
  He said they were trying to find positions for employee elsewhere in Take 2: Besides financial support, the staff will have access to the studio for a period of time to say their goodbyes and put together their portfolios. Other Take-Two studios will be on hand to discuss opportunities within the company, and we’ll be hosting a recruiting day where we’ll be giving 3rd party studios and publishers a chance to hold interviews with departing Irrational staff.
  - tobyjsullivan 13y ago
    I certainly missed that in my first pass through. Thanks for pointing it out. It definitely reads like the employees have to re-apply and re-interview for any of those jobs. That's different from what you'd expect at companies in virtually any other industry or category of tech.
    - cowsandmilk 13y ago
      > That's different from what you'd expect at companies in virtually any other industry or category of tech. What? That's fairly routine in many industries... I feel bad about linking to about.com, but it emphasizes how common it is. http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobapplications/a/reapply-for-a-job.htm http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobapplications/a/reapply-for-...
MartinCron 13y ago
You seem to be expecting them to act rationally, or something.
kaonashi 13y ago
Perhaps he doesn't want to have to start from scratch building a team…
mempko 13y ago
Sounds like a "take the money and run" kind of deal. Why doesn't he give the company to the employees?

by mjn 13y ago

millerc 13y ago

I'd bet on 3) Levine isn't interested in just "more of the same", and his mission (Irrational's) is to create. I'm sure someone else can license the names and characters if what they want is "more of the same". Best of luck to the new team, looking forward to awesome stuff...

mjn 13y ago
If that's true, then it'd make Ken Levine just an asshole. If he wants to leave and do something different, fine, but why set the building on fire on your way out? It doesn't require firing a successful team for you to go do something different, plenty of people leave successful companies to start something new. My guess, though, is that he didn't actually make that choice and was told by Take-Two to downsize, and this is him pretending it was a voluntary "creative" decision, like politicians who want to spend more time with their family.
- danudey 13y ago
  The other possibility is that the 15 people he's taking with him are part of the company's top-tier leadership/talent; creative directors, art directors, etc. Maybe taking those 15 people is cutting off the head of the snake, and there's no one left to steer the ship after they're gone.
- nousernamesleft 13y ago
  >If that's true, then it'd make Ken Levine just an asshole That would probably be the nicest thing anyone has ever said about him. He is not well liked by past co-workers or employees.
NDizzle 13y ago
A lot of studios seem to grow to a size where their product looks like this: A game that would be considered incomplete ~5 years ago is launched. You then ship up to a dozen DLC packages that add incremental content so that the complete purchase price of the game and all DLC is 2 to 3x the original retail price. That's how they justify the huge teams. I know it's very different market, but just look at how Turbine went from 500-600 employees to under 200. Look at how Zynga had 2,000 employees. Now wonder what, exactly, all those people were doing? It's compelling, especially to veterans like Levine, to return a team that's no more than 3 or 4 dozen people and create / ship a complete product that they have a high amount of creative control over. Reminiscent of Double Fine / Psychonauts. At least I hope that is what they are doing.
bitwize 13y ago
It wouldn't surprise me. BioShock Infinite was hailed as literally the best game ever by the gaming press, but the storyline contains strong indicators that Levine has squeezed all the juice out of the BioShock concept.

busterarm 13y ago

There's been a significant change in the ownership profile of the company the last several years. Not sure if that's in any way related but a lot of the private equity firms involved in owning Take-Two have been selling off their positions.

mjn 13y ago
Interesting point. Looks like the board bought back $200m of Carl Icahn's stock a few months ago, a pretty big cash outlay (equal to ~10% of total stock outstanding): http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/26/investing/take-two-interactive-carl-icahn/ http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/26/investing/take-two-interacti...

Guvante 13y ago

> demolishing Irrational to try his new thing doesn't make a whole lot of sense Depends a lot on who is going to be left after they leave. They may just want to kill the name while it is known for positive things rather than letting it languish.

tobyjsullivan 13y ago

I had a very similar reaction. He made it sound like (and maybe this is true) "Congratulations team, you've done well, we're successful, now we're going to lay you all off. Not even find you somewhere else in Take Two." The Game industry sounds a little harsh and even self-destructive right now. But I'm sure something was left out...

NoPiece 13y ago
He said they were trying to find positions for employee elsewhere in Take 2: Besides financial support, the staff will have access to the studio for a period of time to say their goodbyes and put together their portfolios. Other Take-Two studios will be on hand to discuss opportunities within the company, and we’ll be hosting a recruiting day where we’ll be giving 3rd party studios and publishers a chance to hold interviews with departing Irrational staff.
- tobyjsullivan 13y ago
  I certainly missed that in my first pass through. Thanks for pointing it out. It definitely reads like the employees have to re-apply and re-interview for any of those jobs. That's different from what you'd expect at companies in virtually any other industry or category of tech.
  - cowsandmilk 13y ago
    > That's different from what you'd expect at companies in virtually any other industry or category of tech. What? That's fairly routine in many industries... I feel bad about linking to about.com, but it emphasizes how common it is. http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobapplications/a/reapply-for-a-job.htm http://jobsearch.about.com/od/jobapplications/a/reapply-for-...

MartinCron 13y ago

You seem to be expecting them to act rationally, or something.

kaonashi 13y ago

Perhaps he doesn't want to have to start from scratch building a team…

mempko 13y ago

Sounds like a "take the money and run" kind of deal. Why doesn't he give the company to the employees?