BioShock rescued shooters, says Levine
"These games had never made any money."
2K's Ken Levine has told Eurogamer he reckons BioShock has rescued the shooter genre by opening up a brand new market.
"I can pretty much guarantee to you that if BioShock wasn't successful, there never would have been another game like this," Levine told us in an exclusive interview. "I don't even know how we convinced people to pay for BioShock. These games had never made any money - everybody told us when we were pitching BioShock, sounds like a great idea, you'll sell 150,000 units - next!"
Levine was responding to a question about the player response to BioShock - in particular, the criticism from some players that the game was less complex or challenging than they'd hoped. He doesn't agree with that assertion, and thinks hardcore fans of the genre should focus on the positives.
"Honestly, really deep down, we wanted to popularise this kind of gameplay that we've been attached to for so long," he explained. "If the first iteration of it was a tiny bit simpler than System Shock 2... Look, how many of these type of games do you think are going to be made now, compared to how many were going to be made before? It took us how many years to get this game green-lit?
"Now, future games, competitors' games, our games... We can build upon millions of people's knowledge of the genre. How many people had played these kind of games before? 300,000, 400,000 - maybe? Now millions of people, because of this game, have played this type of game."
Levine reckons this situation is similar to RTS games - arguably a relatively obscure genre which has become a bankable, solid performer thanks to a large audience familiar with its conventions and appeal.
"Go back and play Dune 2, and now look at them," he said. "They have build queues, all the complexity that you can have in games like Company of Heroes, with cover and stuff like that... It's because a system was popularised and people were willing to invest in it with confidence that there was going to be an audience.
"Before, as great as System Shock 2 and Deus Ex were, nobody bought them. We wanted to crack that. I think now, the sky's the limit for how deep these games can go."
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Comments (57) Latest comment 4 years ago
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"Rescued Shooters"?
Where does it say that in the article posted, as in where did Levine specifically say that?
Sensationalist much, Eurogamer?
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Hopefully they won't ruin it with a string of sequels...
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He released a mediocre game (with the worst ending ever), at about the right time when there was nothing else out, and won't stop fucking banging on about it. COD4 did so much more for FPS than BioShock did.
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Where does he say that???
As with all other posters, Eurogamer tabloid headline and, mr levine si talking out out of his bum
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Mass-market my ass! Of course Bioshock "saved shooters'... if that means that it made him filthy rich instead of just recouping the investment. A perfect game would've sold 150.000 copies and would've allowed them to keep making games... a good game has millions sold equals a private estate for everyone including the doorman at 2K Boston. Fine, I get it. But this guy let it all go to his head!
Has he ever heard of Valve? They could do a System Shock/Deus Ex shooter and it would sell millions.
Edit: spelling.
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Because im pretty sure 'minor customisation and endless fetch quests' had been done before.
I think 'hundreds of the same enemy who charge headlong at you' has been touched on too.....
Thats not to say its a bad game, by any means, but the core concepts seemed to have been dumbed down to the point that its just any other shooter with a very good story.
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BioShock took an FPS/RPG and shaved any RPG elements off it but didn't overhaul the shoddy FPS combat. That's not an achievement to be proud of and it does nothing for FPS/RPG games.
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Bioshock was successful so publishers are now more likely to finance games in the same vein. What's not to agree with?
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Thank you Levine! Because of you I know that I will get HL episode 3. OH THANK YOU!
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I'll never forget that moment when i realised that the opening cutscene has ended and i could swim thru the flaming flotsam and jetsam, looking back to see the tail of the airliner groaning into the depths.
sorry bit,pedantic there, but that kind of greatness sticks...
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That's what I took from it too.
Yes, I think he's overstating the impact of his own game somewhat, but he does have a point about it possibly helping to get publishers to at least consider that genre as a financially viable proposition in the future.
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You do hate games dont you. And have you even played Halo 3 not owning a 360?
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Getting that greenlit and funded to release was a hell of an achievement, given that most FPS fans only seem to want more greyish-brown space marine and WW2 games.
If only one more game with a premise as interesting as Bioshock's gets made because of it, it'll be a triumph.
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Probably not though...
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either he has come over totally wrong or he needs to stick to making games and let some one else speak.
when game developers act like politicians and make games for the worst version of human understanding and intelect then it slightly gets me down.. dont presume we arent ready for something yet, the success of a great game is to take complex ideas and make them accessible.
This is a philosophy of dispair in a lot of ways - try telling will right we arent ready for the big ideas!
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Bioshock was hard to pitch, because games of that type hadn't made money for years. But it got made, and sold really well. As a result, more games of the same type will have an easier time getting funding in the future.
What part of that do people have a problem with?
The only question I might raise about Levine;s assertions is that Bioshock to some small degree had its path already laid by Oblivion. Oblivion opened up RPG games to non-RPG fans in a way that nothing (that I can recall) had done previously. Oblivion had adverts on the side of buses and on terrestrial TV ffs. I don't think even FFVII had that.
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I don't want to argue about Bioshock, but I do want to argue about CoD4. That game took mechanics present in CoD ONE, tuned them up, made them prettier, and added M16s for the gun-pervs, and then an Xp system to a great multiplayer, and somehow it's hailed as being the greatest thing of all time. No chance, not in hell.
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Yes it did. But then, that's not what Levine or the article says, is it?
Do you think EG post the sensationalist headlines just so when you come to the comments section you can tell apart the morons who haven't bothered to read the actual article?
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I'm not sure why some people hate it so much; compared to most of the overhyped games this generation, it has delivered more.
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What he said is quite reasonable; no-one though BioShock would sell, it did now publishing companies will be more inclined to take a chance on similar games.
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You all saw it!
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It had an interesting story u T**T
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+1!!
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Come back when you've made something a bit different, like Bangai-O Spirits, sell through the fucking roof.
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The guy does need to drink a tall glass of shut up juice though. He has far too much to say.
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But it wasnt on consoles so nowadays its like it doesnt count
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Miniu, I feel your frustration.
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Doesn't mean much given the poor quality of stuff that's been released so far. One shit HD game after the other gets released but as long as the hardcore pixelwhores keep buying them and blindly buy into each and every hype the publishers won't complain...
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It's like when you are a kid waiting at christmas for that one toy. You have seen it in the catalogue and longed for it for months and months. Then when you finally get it, the box is more interesting. Bioshock is like that, you were expecting so much from it and it fell short. People did not dislike Bioshock because it was a bad game, it was because it did not live up to expectations and expectations were ever so high
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