games llc 1997 2007 2k boston inc. 2007 2009 type subsidiary industry video game industry founded 1997 ; 19 years ago 1997 in boston massachusetts u.s. founders ken levine jonathan chey robert fermier headquarters westwood massachusetts u.s. number of employees 15 2014 parent 2k games website irrationalgames.com irrational studios llc formerly irrational games llc and later 2k boston inc. doing business as irrational games is a video game developer founded in 1997 by three former employees of looking glass studios ken levine jonathan chey and robert fermier . on january 9 2006 take two interactive announced that they had purchased irrational and would publish their games under the 2k games label . in 2000 irrational canberra was founded and later renamed to 2k australia in 2007 . a third studio 2k marin was split off from irrational in 2007 with five former irrational games employees leaving to join the new company . 2k marin and 2k australia would later work together on bioshock 2 while irrational was developing bioshock infinite . in 2014 the studio began a major restructuring in which the majority of the staff were laid off in preparation for the creation of a new smaller studio . contents 1 history 1.1 restructuring of the studio 2 list of video games 2.1 cancelled video games 3 references 4 external links history edit original irrational games logo 1997 irrational games boston studio formed by former looking glass studios employees ken levine jonathan chey and robert fermier . 1999 system shock 2 released to critical acclaim . 2000 irrational games australia studio is opened in canberra with jonathan chey taking the helm . deep cover is cancelled . 2002 legal issues with publisher crave entertainment result in the development of the lost being halted . 2004 irrational designers ed orman and dean tate awarded best design in the australian game developer awards as well as the studio receiving best game of 2004 and best pc game . 2005 irrational s boston studio moves to larger office space in quincy massachusetts . the studio retains the irrational games boston title . 2006 irrational is acquired by take two interactive under the 2k games publishing arm . 1 2007 irrational games is renamed to 2k boston and 2k australia on august 10 . 2 bioshock released august 21 to wide critical acclaim and strong sales . 2010 2k boston announces its return to its original name irrational games on january 8 . 3 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 games studio in novato california . 4 soon after 2k games announced the formation of 2k marin in novato . 5 in late july 2010 several media outlets reported that a recently created website whatisicarus.com was a promotion relating to irrational games unannounced project . the following week information about the game was again teased with the trailer confirmed for release on august 12 2010 . 6 this was eventually revealed to be bioshock infinite . before irrational started development on bioshock infinite the studio did preliminary work for the xcom project that later became the bureau xcom declassified . 7 restructuring of the studio edit 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 . 8 2k games hosted a career day for the remaining 75 employees to help seek employment at 57 other studios . 9 levine and the 15 remaining members of the team would be creating new smaller games focusing on a replayable narrative for the core gamers . it was said that levine s studio will continue to keep the irrational name although take two later stated that it was not true . 10 through 2014 to 2015 irrational games continued to post several openings for jobs at the studio . 11 12 13 in january 2015 levine and the remaining staff are currently developing their first game which will be a first person sci fi game . 14 as of april 2016 the studio still has a limited number of job openings posted on its website . 15 list of video games edit year title platform s mac ps3 win x360 linux ios 1999 system shock 2 yes no yes no yes no 2002 freedom force yes no yes no no no 2004 tribes vengeance no no yes no no no 2005 freedom force vs the 3rd reich no no yes no no no 2005 swat 4 no no yes no no no 2006 swat 4 the stetchkov syndicate no no yes no no no 2007 bioshock yes yes yes yes no yes 2013 bioshock infinite yes yes yes yes yes no cancelled video games edit deep cover division 9 monster island the lost freedom force 3 untitled bioshock vita game references edit http ir.take2games.com releasedetail.cfm releaseid 183561 irrational games renamed 2k boston and 2k australia . business wire . august 10 2007 . retrieved september 16 2010 . the return of irrational games q & a ken levine talks bioshock reminisces about x com . gamespot . march 20 2009 . retrieved april 9 2009 . take two confirms 2k marin . gamespot . december 17 2007 . retrieved april 9 2009 . totilo stephen . bioshock creators next game debuts next week trailer on aug. 12 . kotaku . plante chris march 6 2014 . the final years of irrational games according to those who were there . polygon . vox media . retrieved march 6 2014 . a message from ken levine about the closing of irrational games and the future of the studio . irrational games ken levine . retrieved february 18 2014 . irrational games closure led to 75 layoffs job fair hosted 57 studios . polygon . february 28 2014 . retrieved april 15 2014 . morris chris may 14 2014 . take two ceo open to buying more studios . gamesindustry.biz . retrieved may 14 2014 . gera emily november 24 2014 . bioshock developer irrational games is hiring again . polygon . retrieved april 20 2016 . tach dave may 6 2015 . bioshock creator irrational games continues to hire for its mystery project . polygon . retrieved april 20 2016 . frank allegra december 11 2015 . irrational games hiring for narrative first person shooter project . polygon . retrieved april 20 2016 . phillips tom january 28 2015 . bioshock creator ken levine teases new first person sci fi project . eurogamer . retrieved may 28 2015 . careers at the former irrational games . irrational games . retrieved april 20 2016 . external links edit official website irrational games profile on mobygames v t e take two interactive rockstar games current studios rockstar india rockstar leeds rockstar lincoln rockstar london rockstar new england rockstar north rockstar san diego rockstar toronto former studios rockstar japan rockstar vancouver rockstar vienna notable games agent bully grand theft auto series l.a. noire manhunt series max payne series midnight club series red dead series the warriors technology rockstar advanced game engine rockstar games social club 2k games labels 2k games 2k play 2k sports current studios 2k czech 2k marin cat daddy games firaxis games hangar 13 irrational games visual concepts former studios 2k australia 2k china frog city software indie built kush games pam development poptop software venom games notable games battleborn bioshock series borderlands series civilization series duke nukem series evolve mafia series mlb 2k series nba 2k series nhl 2k series prey spec ops the line the darkness series wwe 2k series xcom series former labels gathering of developers global star software gotham games mission studios talonsoft other list of take two interactive video games v t e irrational games ken levine 2k australia 2k marin bioshock series bioshock 2007 bioshock infinite 2013 freedom force series freedom force 2002 freedom force vs the 3rd reich 2005 other games system shock 2 co developed 1999 tribes vengeance 2004 swat 4 2005 the lost cancelled v t e bioshock irrational games ken levine 2k australia 2k marin video games bioshock bioshock 2 minerva s den bioshock infinite burial at sea characters andrew ryan big daddy elizabeth related articles music rapture development of bioshock infinite accolades system shock 2 playstation all stars battle royale bioshock the collection book bioshock category bioshock retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title irrational games & oldid 743301579 categories companies based in bostonirrational gamesprivately held companies based in massachusettstake two interactivevideo game companies of australiavideo game companies of the united statesvideo game development companieshidden categories use mdy dates from september 2016official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout 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