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Levine: BioShock 2 Needs To Come From 2K Marin's Culture
by Staff
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July 20, 2009
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BioShock creator Ken Levine says he "makes no claim to anything on BioShock 2", and that sequel creator 2K Marin has to "put their stamp" on the project through their own culture.
As part of a recent feature interview, Gamasutra asked Levine about entrusting the descendant of his brainchild with a new studio, and whether he has any concerns that the 2K Marin team has the tools and staff it needs to do well by the sequel.
"There are two different goals in maintenance of a good studio, and even building up of a good studio, versus starting a new studio," says Levine.
For one thing, he points out, most of the team that formed the new studio joined the company originally to work on BioShock..
"I think that to some degree the reason that worked very well for Marin is they all had an entrepreneurial hunger in them to go start something new, and build something new," he says. That meant that having worked only on that project, the team was ready to nurture a culture of its own. "And that's very important," he said.
"Because, look, if I'm not working on a project -- I'm not working on BioShock 2. I make no claim to anything on BioShock 2, and I think it's important that that's their product, and their culture. Because you can't just clone a studio."
That sense of independence is what will help make the studio a success, Levine asserts. "I think that their hunger to do something new will be very important to their success there."
"And it can't just be a clone of a 2K Boston or Irrational Games; 2K Marin has to be its own thing. And a very separate thing," he says. "They're working on BioShock, but it's got to be their project. They've got to put their stamp on it."
The full interview with Levine, in which he talks much more about BioShock 2, studio culture and his next project, is now available at Gamasutra (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from other websites).
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The western side of our industry could stand to learn a thing or two from the eastern side. You wouldn't get Nintendo forcing Miyamoto to create another zelda before he was ready and you wouldn't get Konami forcing Kojima to churn out another metal gear (though admitedly he does a good job of shoveling those out the door all by himself). Nor would they simply hand it over to another team if Miyamoto or Kojima refused. It's called respect and trust. Something that is sorely lacking these days. It's also a grade A advert for keeping you IP as owned by you and not a company!