Ken Levine On New Game: “People Will Be Surprised But Unsurprised”, Will Be Announced Closer To Launch

Ken Levine, best known for being the creator and writer of the BioShock series, has hinted at what fans can expect from his new, unannounced game.

In a new podcast interview with Arcade Attack, Levine discussed his career leading up to the creation of BioShock and BioShock Infinite while also sharing some details on his new game which is in development at Ghost Story Games. “I think people will be surprised, but unsurprised by what they see,” Levine said. “In equal measures. But it is yeah… it’s quite something, quite interesting, and I’m looking forward to showing it to people.

“We didn’t want to go down the path of showing [the game] too early, because we thought it was going to be out sooner, and I don’t want to have a long period of having a build-up, interest, and hype because it just doesn’t, it would end up feeling fairly inauthentic and I think that gamers want to be… they want to know what they’re getting, and the only way to do that really is to announce closer to launch.”

Levine is working with Take-Two Interactive on this different, more experimental project that has been in the works for years. Back in 2020, the developer said that “there’s some weird sh** in that game.” Earlier this month, it was reported that 15 current and former developers at Levine’s Ghost Story Games studio told Bloomberg that the project has undergone reboots and changes to its direction since work began in 2014.

According to the developers, Levine “struggles to communicate his vision and alienates or browbeats subordinates who challenge him or fail to meet his expectations.”

During the same Arcade Attack interview, Levine also stated that he is not involved in the next BioShock game “at all”, saying, “I don’t want to do half measures. I never want to be half in half out. I wish them the best. I know as much about the game as anybody else, essentially. And I’ll play it as a player when it comes out.”