Take-Two Getting Irrational

January 09, 2006 | By: David Radd

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Irrational Games has been absorbed into the Take-Two fold. The publisher, with labels such as 2K Games, Global Star and Rockstar, is likely looking to expand their range of original titles, something that the company's been criticized for of late. With the acquisition of the developer of System Shock II and Freedom Force, Take-Two is hoping that their marketing muscle can take content from the former indie developer to the next level. [Update: Q&A with Irrational]

Today, Take-Two Interactive acquired Irrational Games. The developer, which has studios in Boston and Australia, recently developed SWAT 4 and Tribes: Vengeance. Irrational is currently working on a title called BioShock, which has been described as a successor to the System Shock II.

A Take-Two representative confirmed the news to GameDAILY BIZ. "An announcement is forthcoming, but in the meantime, yes, we have acquired Irrational and the rights to publish Bioshock."

Irrational joins Take-Two under the publisher's 2K Games label.

Irrational was founded in 1997 by developers who had been involved with such classic PC titles as Ultima Underworld, Thief and System Shock. The company has gone on to release cult hits, such as System Shock II and Freedom Force . Before this acquisition by Take-Two, Irrational worked with a variety of publishers, such as Electronic Arts, VU Games, and the now defunct Looking Glass Studios.

"We saw a rare opportunity with Irrational Games, a development studio that has consistently produced creative and original games," said Christoph Hartmann, Managing Director at 2K Games. Susan Lewis, VP of Business Development at 2K Games, added, "2K Games will provide additional resources and support to the Irrational team so they may continue to deliver cutting-edge games."

"We are excited to be aligned with a publishing label like 2K Games that shares similar development goals and vision," said Ken Levine, co-founder and President of Irrational Games. "Fans will be blown away when they see the next-generation titles we are working on."

We expect to have more on this soon. Stay tuned.

[Update] Following the news of the announcement we briefly spoke with Ken Levine, president of Irrational Games. Below is the Q&A.

GameDAILY BIZ: How long was the deal in the works? Can you tell me how the Take-Two/Irrational deal came together?

Ken Levine: We had a pre-existing relationship with BioShock and this happened during Take 2's fiscal Q4, so several months ago. In short, we were doing BioShock, and we started to get a lot of feelers about acquisitions. Take 2 stepped up and said, "Come join us!"

BIZ: What does this deal mean for the future of Irrational?

KL: I'll put it this way: since the acquisition, we've roughly doubled the size of the BioShock team. It's nice to have a Sugar Daddy in your corner. 2K believes in Irrational Games and BioShock, as well as the other title we have in development at our Australian studio. For me personally, I now get to spend my time actually developing games, instead of developing them in between flying around to raise money. We started this company to develop cool games, now I get to do that full time!

BIZ: Irrational clearly has a strong foundation in the PC games sector. Do you think this acquisition reflects a belief by Take-Two that PC gaming is still quite important?

KL: I think 2K 's pretty platform agnostic. They're interested in good games. And they're really interested in good developers, like us and Firaxis. I may be biased, but you gotta like their taste.

BIZ: Does the development team have a preference for working with either the Xbox 360 or PS3? Have there been any noticeable advantages or disadvantages to speak of?

KL: I'll say this: we know more about the Xbox 360 and it's further along, obviously. We're just sinking our teeth into the PS3. But as I said, we're pretty platform agnostic, and we haven't announced what specific consoles our games will be coming out on yet.

BIZ: Thanks for your time.

Q&A by James Brightman