Surprise : Take Two vient d’annoncer le rachat, pour un prix non précisé mais que l’on n’imagine pas modique, d’Irrational Games, le développeur de System Shock 2, des Freedom Force, de Tribes: Vengeance, de SWAT4 (et de son add-on à venir) et du futur BioShock. BioShock, précisément, est décrit dans le communiqué de presse comme un « role-playing shooter » pour PC et consoles de prochaine génération, et il est annoncé pour début 2007.
C’est toujours dommage de voir un développeur indépendant se faire pacmaniser, surtout quand c’est un développeur de cette qualité. On espère que ça ne changera rien pour BioShock, ni d’ailleurs pour The Stetchkov Syndicate, l’add-on de SWAT4 qui doit être publié par Vivendi Universal Games.[–SUITE–] Le communiqué de presse :
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. ACQUIRES IRRATIONAL GAMES
— Acclaimed Developer Joins 2K’s Roster of Development Studios —
New York, NY – January 9, 2006 – Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) today announced the acquisition of Irrational Games, the award-winning development studio behind such titles as System Shock 2 and Freedom Force. Irrational Games joins the team of development studios under Take-Two’s 2K Games publishing label.
2K Games has multiple titles in development at Irrational’s North American and Australian studios. The first title to be published under the 2K Games label will be BioShock, a role-playing shooter for next-generation console systems and PC. Already anticipated by the gaming press as one of the most innovative next-generation titles, BioShock is planned for release in early 2007.
« 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. »
