While the Bioshock Franchise continues to live on under 2K, it will not be the same without it's core team of designers (PS Vita/ Creative Commons)

The director of Irrational Games, Ken Levine, announced in a blog post at the developer's webpage that he would be closing the studio down and removing all but a select few to continue working together.

"Seventeen years is a long time to do any job, even the best one," Levine writes, "And working with the incredible team at Irrational Games is indeed the best job I’ve ever had. While I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together, my passion has turned to making a different kind of game than we’ve done before. To meet the challenge ahead, I need to refocus my energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with gamers. In many ways, it will be a return to how we started: a small team making games for the core gaming audience."

For all of the staff members that will be laid off, Levine has assured that they will recieve financial support and use of the current studio to build their portfolios. They will also be able to discuss working with other divisions of Take-Two studios, a subsidary of 2K Games, and a recruiting day will be held for interviews and other opportunities.

For his new project, Levine is planning on taking his smaller team, composed of 15 people, to also work under Take-Two. This new branch will focus on "narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable" and will be sticking to electronic downloads over physical distributions.

The company will begin with a new announcment sometime after the release of Bioshock Infinite's 2nd and final DLC, Burial at Sea Episode 2, on March 25th.

Reach Tech Editor/ Executive Producer Eric Parra here.