Ken Levine, the creator of the BioShock series, highlights the uniqueness of the franchise as well as how marketing video games is not an exact science.
BioShock Infinite is one of the most anticipated games of the year, well it was until it was delayed until 2013, but that has done little to dampen the excitement about the latest instalment in the popular series.
The first BioShock was something very few gamers had experienced before and the second game only built on what was a solid foundation. However, the change of the underwater setting, synonymous with the first two games, to the city above the clouds in Infinite
really caught everyone’s imagination.
However, despite teasing a trailer for the game at last year’s E3, the game will not feature in any shape or form in this year’s conference as the developers look to ensure that what they show actually represents progress.
Ken Levine also took a moment to explain that the BioShock series was difficult to classify in terms of which category it belongs to. He posed the question as to whether BioShock was “very, very similar to another game?” before answering, “And I don't think
BioShock is.”
According to him the reason behind this was the outside-the-box approach to the game. He said, “This is perhaps a testimony to out weirdness, but I think it's kind of hard to categorise a BioShock game exactly.”
Levine continued to point out that although the game had similarities to various genres, it did not belong in any one of them. “It's a first person shooter, but it's not that similar to other first person shooters coming out and I'd be much more concerned
if I thought it was.”
Commenting on why the game’s release was delayed, Levine explained that the move was, to some extent, a result of the unpredictable nature of the industry. He said, "I could tell you that we've calculated the market share blah, blah, blah, but you know,
honestly it's a shot in the dark to a degree.”
Levine was confident that although the game would have had to go up against the likes of Assassin’s Creed 3, Black Ops 2 and Halo 4, the game may have benefitted from the increased levels of consumer spending during the holiday season as many games tend
to do.
"The downside is there's a lot of competition, but the upside of it is there's a lot of energy coming from gamers” who wanted to buy games and other things.”
One should keep an eye on E3 just in case Levine has a change of heart and decides to give everyone a glimpse of what to expect in the next, eagerly anticipated iteration of the BioShock series.
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