BioShock Infinite multiplayer modes axed - Report

Senior members of BioShock Infinite's creative staff may not be the only things leaving the game, if anonymous sources who spoke to Kotaku are correct. The sources claimed two multiplayer modes have been cut from development, and Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine addressed the recent staff departures in an interview with Kotaku.

Reports of the multiplayer cancellations were not confirmed by Levine. While the two online modes in question, a tower-defense-like mode and a campaign-inspired cooperative mode, may not be under development, it is not known if these constituted the whole of BioShock Infinite's multiplayer.

Nate Wells and Tim Gerritsen, BioShock Infinite's art director and product development director respectively, departed recently among several others in the last year and a half who formerly hung their hats in the Massachusetts studio. "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," Levine said. Levine stated on his Twitter account that the original BioShock's art director, Scott Sinclair, has resumed his role in place of Wells.

Kotaku also reported that Epic Games production director Rod Fergusson may have been brought in to help complete the game. Both Fergusson's LinkedIn page and his Twitter account still list his employer as Epic.

BioShock Infinite was announced in 2010 and was originally scheduled to launch this October. The game was delayed in the run up to the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo--at which it was not present--to February 2013, which Levine said it is still on track to meet.

[UPDATE]: After the publication of this article, Epic Games president Mark Rein confirmed Fergusson's departure from the studio in order to work on BioShock Infinite, calling it an emotional farewell and saying "Interwebs have my official permission to be unworried about Bioshock Infinite."