The first Bioshock, when it came out back in 2007, was a triumph in terms of storytelling in videogames that redefined what the medium is capable of in terms of immersion and interactivity, to the point that it’s successors which are excellent games in their own right, haven’t been able to match the first one even remotely. Series creator Ken Levine had stepped away from the series after the release of 2013’s Bioshock Infinite and went on to work on a whole new game named Judas.
And in a recent interview with IGN, the veteran developer and creator of Bioshock opened up on why he stopped making more games in the series and more, so if you are a fan of the series, like most gamers who’ve played the first one, make sure to watch the full interview.
Levine stated that even after so many years, BioShock remains “very important” to him and he feels “incredibly fortunate” to have worked on such a venerable series of titles that mean so much to so many players worldwide. But because he felt that he “didn’t have a lot else to say in that world,” which is likely after Bioshock Infinite, he decided to finally step away from the franchise.
“A franchise is an interesting thing because it can come to own you if you’re not careful. It can define you. It was scary and risky and crazy to walk away from a very successful franchise. I didn’t [walk away] because I didn’t love the franchise,” he said. “I wanted to step away and challenge myself in a different way, and challenge a team in a different way. Things can own you if you hold them too tightly rather than the other way around. I will always love [BioShock] and I can’t wait to see what they do with it.”
Levine also revealed that he didn’t want a Bioshock game to take place in the future, plus he can’t define what truly makes up a Bioshock game.
“I did worry that [working on more BioShock] would be the rest of my life, and it felt like … I may look back on it and say, ‘That was the dumbest thing I ever did.’ But I am fortunate that I have had enough success that I don’t … money is not the most important thing,” he said. “Challenging myself and working with brilliant people on hard problems is really what gets me going in the morning. I wanted a new hard problem, and I got one.”
And although he won’t be making any more Bioshock titles, Levine’s upcoming game Judas contains a lot of the core DNAs from the Bioshock games. But while a new Bioshock game may not be coming anytime soon, a Bioshock movie for Netflix will reportedly begin production sometimes in next year.
