The next video game from BioShock’s auteur is in development hell

Levine embodies everything that comes with the title video game auteur, according to people who have worked for him: a singular brilliance, stubborn perfectionism and a delicate ego. — TNS

It has been nearly eight years since development began on Ken Levine’s next video game. Levine, the creator of the hugely influential BioShock series, is an auteur of the medium. He embodies everything that comes with the title, according to people who have worked for him: a singular brilliance, stubborn perfectionism and a delicate ego.

Eight years is a long time to develop a game. Levine’s breakout 1999 release, System Shock 2, was finished in a year and a half. BioShock – a seminal shooting game released in 2007 that, according to New York magazine, “proved games could be art” – took about five years, as did a follow-up, which came out in 2013.