The seventh-generation console’s final months saw BioShock Infinite debut and cause a stir.
The initial release was met with a lot of praise, and Ken Levine’s future looked bright.
Jason Schreier, Bloomberg reported that it’d been eight years since Levine made any significant contributions to the gaming industry.
His new game could be in danger.
After Irrational Games was disintegrated in 2014, Levine formed Ghost Story Games with plans to ship a new title in 2017.
This project is smaller than the BIOShocktrilogy and would have used elements from Levine’s earlier works but forgo the large-budget mentality of older games.
Levine could not commit to his more minor team, and this project would have borrowed elements from Levine’s previous works while forgoing the big-budget mentality of earlier games.
Bioshock was reported to have experienced an extraordinarily long and reportedly turbulent development process.
Ghost Story Games’ initial release could be facing similar issues, given that it took more time to develop and has nothing to share publicly.
However, Levine’s former employees still accuse him of failing to control his ambitions nearly a decade later.
Many Ghost Story Games employees claim that the current project has been reworked many times over the years.
It may not be finished for at least two more years. Some of Levine’s employees anonymously claimed that it was frustrating to implement his vision.
They said that the repetitive process of adhering to his ideas and then changing them later made the development process difficult.
It is unclear why 2K, who published the games and a 15-year contract with Levine’s new company, didn’t take over.
Schreier believes that 2K is a bit lazy with Levine because the publisher values his reputation as an auteur in the medium. However, the publisher doesn’t seem to have patience, given its recent NBA 2K releases.
Rumors about a new entry to the BioShock series have circulated for some time.
It’s anyone’s guess which Levine’s project will be first.
Fans can only hope that the upcoming games will be worth the eight-and counting year wait.
