Ken Levine 'winding down' Irrational Games

In a letter posted on the Irrational Games website, Ken Levine has announced he’s “winding down Irrational Games as you know it” to focus on narrative-driven games with high replayability by using around 15 of the existing IG staff.

Levine co-founded Irrational GamesIt seems like a shock move for Levine who wants to essentially move from creating epic BioShock-like games to what sounds like an indie developer who will create games to be distributed only through digital channels.

Seventeen years is a long time to do any job, even the best one. 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.

The new, smaller team headed by Levine will still work within Take-Two, but will develop games for the “core gamer”, so from what I can muster from the letter, Irrational Games will still exist, but not in the same capacity as before.
You can read the full announcement and figure out for yourself if Levine says Irrational Games is ‘closing’ on http://www.irrationalgames.com/.