Such games “don’t sell”: the first BioShock got the right to life thanks to a cunning trick by the developers

The original BioShock from Irrational Games became a classic of the genre and a fan favorite, but in the early days of development, everything was far from so obvious. The future hit almost died out at the very start.

Image source: 2K

In a conversation with Edge magazine, former Irrational Games boss Ken Levine said that he discouraged employees from creating a spiritual successor to System Shock 2, since such games “won’t sell,” but eventually gave up.

At Levin’s command, the studio prepared a “cheap” prototype and began searching for a publisher, but was politely refused everywhere. Then Irrational resorted to a trick: show the game to the media and thus generate excitement. The trick worked.

«The very next day, when people saw the article, we started receiving calls. I think there was a sense of demand from publishers [for the project],” Levine recalls of the trick that allowed Irrational to secure 2K’s support.

2K had a “modest budget” for BioShock, but after purchasing Irrational Games in 2006, it put “a lot more money” into the game. Levine insists that the project was “incredibly cheap” to develop compared to competitors.

Levine also stated that under the publisher’s wing, BioShock ran over budget and over schedule, causing 2K to “almost cancel” the game. How serious the threat of premature death was is unclear.

BioShock was released in 2007 and launched a successful series, which is now developing without Levine. After the closure of Irrational Games, he founded the Ghost Story Games studio – it is busy with the story-based shooter Judas, similar to BioShock.