14 DAY TRIAL // Ken Levine, the leader of the development team at Irrational Games and the creator of the BioShock series, believes that video games still suffer because only a limited number of potential customers know exactly what experience a title can offer before paying for it.
Speaking to Penny Arcade, the developer stated, “Compare how games are marketed versus movies. Look at the Hunger Games, a big movie. And BioShock Infinite, a big game release. Or Call of Duty, look at the extreme examples.
“How many impressions do you think a Hunger Games gets on the average person versus Call of Duty? How many opportunities are there to tell people about this cool thing?”
He added, “We’re not covered in the New York Times in a major way, the way a movie would be. We’re not on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. People overestimate how exposed games are, in comparison to other forms of media.”
Ken Levine believes that the video game developers and publishers are the ones who need to learn how to better communicate their products’ features because the customer needs to have information before putting down the 60 dollars or Euro for an AAA title.
The developers has also commented on the current public relations campaign for his own upcoming game, BioShock Infinite, saying that he would personally have liked to wait more before revealing and offering information about it.
But the potential for an uncontrolled leak has persuaded Levine to actually talk about Infinite in detail and engage with gamers about the new features.
The Irrational Games team has been working on their new game since the launch of the first BioShock video game.
The new title will see the player take on the role of a detective called Booker who needs to explore the flying island of Columbia in order to extract a mysterious little girl called Elizabeth.