Ken levine is arguably one of the best-known artists in the business since BioShock became a worldwide success. The daddy of System Shock 2 signed his last game in 2013, with the release of BioShock Infinite, before embarking on a new adventure with his studio Ghost story games. But now, since 2014, the studio has not given any news about its first project. And a new Bloomberg survey today reveals why there is silence around the game.
Too big ambitions and mismanagement involved
The first cause is the one that everyone can suspect: Ken Levine is not the best manager there is. The investigation lists around fifteen testimonies from former and current studio employees, all of whom point the finger at the creator. The latter would find it very difficult to communicate his vision well, and ” intimidate those who challenge him or who do not meet his expectations “. The man would be so hard to understand that a running gag was circling around him in the studio, evoking a ” Kenception “, Like the film Inception, in order to be able to get into his mind to try to make him accept ideas.
The total lack of control over the project by Take-Two would also have been less beneficial than expected, and would play on the absence of clear directions to follow. The full powers left to Levine would have resulted in a series of burnouts within the team, while the publisher would have placed his trust in Levine with a view to achieving a new strong license, such as BioShock.
The title was then initially to be released in 2017, and was to take the form of a sci-fi shooter within a space station inhabited by three factions. We would then have had the choice of managing the relations between these factions. With a reduced staff of less than 30 people (because Levine wanted to keep the spirit “independent” of the project while having the ambition of a AAA), the objectives started to be unachievable, like the system of particularly complex dialogues which required a lot of writing.
After eight years of development, which is particularly long, the title could still end up being released, despite all the problems encountered. Former employee says team remain optimistic about releasing title within two years, but nothing is certain yet.