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This evening has seen a flurry of announcements and reports surrounding Bioshock Infinite and the studio behind it, Irrational Games.
Following the exit of a couple of high-profile staff yesterday, Irrational has announced that Gears of War executive producer Rod Fergusson has joined the team, while multiplayer modes have been dropped from Bioshock Infinite.
Let’s start with Bioshock Infinite’s multiplayer. According to Kotaku, two planned co-operative modes have been been consigned to the cutting room floor.
The first was a tower defence-type game in which miniature characters did battle against waves of toy-like enemies in an “old-timey arcade machine.” Which sounds odd.
The second apparently had the working title of “Spec-Ops,” borrowing the basic structure of Modern Warfare game mode, with players teaming up against enemies in levels inspired by the single-player campaign.
Irrational Games’ creative director Ken Levine responded to the report saying “As I’ve always said we are experimenting with things, and only if they are good enough will we put them in the game.”
The news comes following the departure two key members of Irrational’s Bioshock Infinite team, director of product development Tim Gerritson and art director Nate Wells.
Levine said, “We never like to see a guy like Nate leave because he’s been here for a long time but it’s been 13 years and I think sometimes people want to spread their wings.”
Meanwhile, as Gerritson and Wells leave the team, Rod Fergusson joins. The Gears of War executive producer revealed on Twitter, “Yes it’s true, I’m leaving my family at Epic to join my new family at Irrational in Boston starting tomorrow.”
Alongside Cliff Bleszinski, Fergusson was one of the figureheads of the Gears of War series, following a spell of eight years in an executive producer role at Epic Games.
