The new game from the author of BioShock was to be released in 2017 -apkrig

In an article for Bloomberg, Jason Schreier reported that the development of a new game by BioShock author Ken Levin was accompanied by significant problems. After eight years in development, the title still has no release date or name. The project was marked by several restarts and changes, say many former and current employees of Ghost Story Games. And he blames his problems for a talented designer.

According to them, Ken Levine is a bad manager, while Take-Two Interactive is supposed to trust him completely and has given him a free hand. According to anonymous statements, the publisher’s limited supervision was initially pleasant, but now it is said to be rather detrimental to the project. They suggest that the price for Levin’s ambitious vision may be too high, and his managerial shortcomings are overlooked for his undeniable talent.

The end of the Irrational Games studio shocked employees

According to one of the cited developers, about two years remain until the release. The authors want to cause another revolution in storytelling in games, but even if they are on the right track, they probably still have a lot of work to do. Half of the original developers were to leave the studio, including Levin’s close collaborator Mike Snight, who is quoted openly.

The article also looks in some detail at how and why Ken Levine closed his previous studio, Irrational Games, to re-explore new ideas with a smaller team. Even this was obviously a very difficult time, because the vast majority of employees had no idea what was going on and the announcement shocked them. According to Snight, the new team then started working on a project that was to bring each player a different experience. The characters had to react differently to the user’s actions.

The mysterious space station would be inhabited by three factions, and each could have a different relationship to the player according to his actions.

Levine was to promise employees that they would work on an innovative project, they would have creative freedom, but at the same time the stability and security of a large company. They originally planned to release the game by the fall of 2017 and it was supposed to be a sci-fi event in the style of BioShock. The mysterious space station would be inhabited by three factions, and each could have a different relationship to the player according to his actions.

Levine reportedly wanted indie style, but he expected the quality of BioShock with a fraction of people. In such a small team, it was said to be a problem to create sophisticated levels and a dynamic system of dialogues. The scope of the project was to grow steadily, which was not in line with the planned date or size of the study. Levine was supposed to dream of an AAA game, but on a small budget.

Ken Levine was to demand that developers repeatedly change things according to current trends or what interested him in games like Dead Cells or Void Bastards.

His next problem is to be a constant pursuit of perfection and dissatisfaction with what he has achieved. He or his colleagues. The result is said to be, among other things, extensive cuts in things that cost months of work. This naturally terrified other authors. Ken Levine was to demand that developers repeatedly change things according to current trends or what interested him in games like Dead Cells or Void Bastards. The constant change was, according to some, demoralizing.

From 2017, the project moved to another and then another… The problem is also posed by the fact that until the game is officially announced, its authors can not openly register this work in their portfolio when applying for work elsewhere. Another problem is that Levine can’t control every aspect of the story, as he used to, due to the dynamic nature of the changeable game. All this has led to personal disputes and voluntary and involuntary drop-outs. Among the people who left was the main producer.

For GTA publishers, running a studio costs like making a rounding mistake.

According to Schreier, Levine can be both charismatic and charming. But also moody and explosive. When some employees reportedly asked how long Take-Two would fund their experiments before requesting a result, they received the answer that GTA publishers cost the studio operation as if they made a rounding mistake. The reason may be the belief that they will eventually create a similar hit and a successful brand as BioShock.

The goal was to create not only a new game, but a new studio that will not repeat old mistakes and will be a friendlier place to work. In the end, however, some suggest the team is having the same difficulty and way of working. Take-Two Interactive and Ken Levine do not comment on the allegations, and it must be emphasized again that the article is largely based on anonymous statements.