Ex-Bioshock lead Ken Levine says the problem with AAA games is how risk-averse they've become: 'If you don't innovate, especially in games, you start losing people'
Ken Levine, creator of the Bioshock series, has had a bit of a long road to walk in order to release his studio's upcoming game, Judas. It's been in development for at least eight years, after Take-Two shut down Irrational Games in 2017 and booted up Ghost Story Games thereafter. We didn't hear much about it until 2022, where it was slated to be «coming soon». Turns out, «coming soon» meant three years, with Judas slated to release March 2025.
While reflecting on the time he's been given to complete the game, and speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, Levine was also asked whether he figures more conventional development cycles are too much of a pressure cooker for most developers.
For him, it's a little complicated, as he understands that his situation's unique, and that he's «incredibly fortunate to be able to have the faith from the company to take risks and spend the time I need to make this successful.» Still, he recognises the woes of those trapped in the present-day meat grinder of fidelity and strict deadlines.
«I think one of the problems we have in this industry right now is that games have gotten bigger and bigger and the graphical capacity has gone up and up. Just creating a door now versus creating a door ten years ago just takes a lot more time, because you have normal maps and [shaders] and higher polygons and physics and all this other stuff to contend with.»
«Everything's getting more expensive, especially in the big AAA space because they're spending the most money. And when you're spending all this money, naturally you have people concerned about [commercial viability].»
We've seen the kind of fallout Levine's speaking about a few times this year, even. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League lost Warner Bros. over $200 million, and while we don't know the exact numbers, I am willing to bet that Sony's live service shooter Concord cost the company money in the bucketloads, given it made the decision to shut the thing down a mere two weeks after its launch.
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