BioShock Infinite

Like BioShock and BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter with role-playing elements. As Booker, the player must fight their way through Columbia using weapons and a variety of tools in order to complete objectives. The player may carry only two weapons at a time, and can collect other weapons and ammunition from defeated enemies or the environment.[21]^: 8[22]

The player is opposed by enemies representing the Founders and the Vox Populi. These foes range from normal infantry to Heavy Hitters, more formidable enemies that act as mini-bosses throughout the game. Armed automatons scattered throughout Columbia act as a security defense system for the city.[21]^: 11–14[23] Booker has health and a damage-absorbing shield; the shield automatically regenerates out of combat, while health must be replenished with medical kits or food.[21]^: 4 If Booker dies, the player revives in a safe area at the cost of money; Booker regains partial health and is granted additional ammunition, while local enemies are also partially healed. Columbia is traversed on foot or via the Sky-Line, a rail system that Booker and enemies ride via Sky-Hooks. Booker can jump on, off, and between Sky-Line tracks at any time, and can use one-handed weapons while using them.[24][25][26] The Sky-Hook also serves as a melee weapon, capable of performing executions on weakened foes.[21]^: 6

Booker gains powers and abilities through Vigors, Gears, and Infusions, all scattered around Columbia. Vigors, the equivalent of BioShock's Plasmids,[27] grant powers such as creating shockwaves, releasing bolts of electricity, and controlling other humans or machines.[21]^: 9–10 Vigors require Salt, the equivalent of magic points, to power the abilities.[28] Gear grant passive abilities that can improve the player's strength or damage resistance.[27] A piece of Gear attaches to one of four slots: Hats, Shirts, Boots, and Pants. Only one piece of Gear can be affixed to a slot at a time, with extra Gear stored in the player's inventory.[29][21]^: 14

Booker is aided throughout the game by Elizabeth, a computer-controlled non-player character.[24] Elizabeth requires no protection and assists during combat by tossing ammo or helpful items to Booker as needed. She can also use her Tear-opening powers to aid the player, bringing in items or pieces of the environment, such as cover or a ledge for higher ground.[25][13][30] Elizabeth can pick locks using her hairpin to open doors or find useful items. Cash, food, medical kits, ammunition and Salts can be found scattered throughout the game's environments.[31] Vending machines can be used to buy supplies and powerful upgrades for weapons and Vigors.[32] Optional side-missions are also available, where the player must unlock safes or decode hidden ciphers; completing them rewards Booker with supplies and upgrades.[33] Audio logs (Voxophones) and film projectors (Kinetoscopes) scattered through Columbia expand on the characters and events of the game.[34]

Infinite has four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties are available to start. After beating the game on a lower difficulty level or inputting the Konami Code in the main menu, the hardest "1999 Mode" is unlocked. Enemies are much tougher, the player's navigational aid and aim assist is removed, resource management is much more crucial to survival, and death is more punishing.[35][36][37]

Ken Levine was the creative director and lead writer for BioShock Infinite. Levine had previously worked in the same roles for BioShock.

Developer Irrational Games (then 2K Boston) and publisher 2K Games released BioShock in 2007 to critical and commercial acclaim. In late 2007, 2K Games approached Irrational Games about a sequel. Exhausted from shipping BioShock and wary of repeating themselves by returning to the same property, staff and studio head and creative director Ken Levine were uninterested in immediately returning to another BioShock game. Instead, Irrational and 2K struck an agreement that saw select personnel from Irrational form a new studio, 2K Marin, to start work on a sequel. Levine and Irrational would instead join development of a game in the XCOM franchise.[38][39]^: 48–50[lower-alpha 3] By contract renewal negotiations in the middle of 2008, however, Levine had reportedly lost interest in the XCOM project and wanted to return to BioShock. Levine's lack of interest was matched by disappointment within the studio's ranks that another company was making the next BioShock, not Irrational. While 2K Marin continued working on BioShock 2 and Irrational's Australia office (later 2K Australia) continued work on XCOM, the main Irrational team would draw up concepts for the next BioShock game.[39]^: 51–2

Concept work on Infinite began in February 2008;[40][39]^: 54 2K granted Irrational a great degree of creative and financial freedom to develop the next game.[41] Irrational considered several settings for the game, including reusing Rapture or setting the story in the Renaissance period, before deciding on the floating city of Columbia.[42] While the setting of a floating city would remain consistent, the time period, characters, and the story itself remained undefined as the team churned through different ideas. Designers and artists would sometimes spend months developing ideas that would be scuttled within minutes after priorities shifted or Levine changed his mind.[39]^: 55–6 Levine's creative process was described as brilliant but time-consuming, as he focused on very small details; one department within Irrational ran dress rehearsals for any meetings with Levine.[41] At the same time as the story mode was undergoing constant revisions, a set of multiplayer modes was also being designed. The first mode, Border Control, was a tower defense game intended to be set within the game's world. The other multiplayer offering, code-named Spec-Ops, would have been a cooperative mode with up to four players. Matches would take place on maps that would evolve after release, using environmental storytelling to depict Columbia's evolving civil war.[41]

Irrational began hiring and expanding its team. One notable missing person from the original BioShock team was Jon Chey, who had worked with Levine since their days at Looking Glass Studios in the 1990s, and who headed the Australian branch of Irrational. The two developers' differing aptitudes meant that the two teams had what Chey called a "synergy", with Chey's team emphasizing technical ability while Levine's team was more creative-minded. Dissatisfied with the questions of what Irrational's next project would be and disatisfied with the dynamics of a large company, Chey left 2K in 2009.[43] Chey's departure meant Levine had to shoulder more production-focused work in opposition to his creative focus, and the staff buildup in Levine's estimation "shattered" the company culture in the process. "Managing 30 or 40 people where you know everybody's name is a very different process than managing 150 people. You walk by people in the studio and you don't know who they are," he recalled.[44]

Irrational artists had been reading Erik Larson's 2003 book The Devil in the White City, which prominently featured the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, and they turned Levine onto the book as inspiration.[40][45] The setting was inspired by turn of the century American culture and propaganda, with some of the artwork around Columbia adapted from historical posters.[46][47][48] By selecting the hypothetical date of Fourth of July, 1912, the team identified films to draw imagery from, like The Music Man, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Hello, Dolly which exhibited ideal views of Americana at the turn of the 20th century.[49] The bright, open-air environments of Columbia presented a challenge to the team to keep aspects of the horror genre within the game; Levine stated they took some inspiration from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and David Lynch's Blue Velvet, transforming bright, sterile environments into something frightening.[50][26] While initial designs of the flying city were darker and closer to Art Nouveau, Irrational felt this made the game world too claustrophobic and too similar to Rapture. Instead, they decided on a brighter, expansive architecture and color scheme.[51][52] Irrational designed the vertical and open-air spaces of Columbia to provide more opportunities to include various types of combat compared to the close-ranged limits of Rapture.[22]

The concept of American exceptionalism, which the World's Columbian Exposition was considered to have symbolized, later inspired the game's story and setup.[53] The game also incorporated influences from more recent events at the time such as the Occupy movement in 2011,[54]

Central to the game was the relationship between the player character Booker and the AI companion Elizabeth.[55] Unlike BioShock's Jack and BioShock 2's Subject Delta, both of whom were silent protagonists, BioShock Infinite's protagonist Booker was given his own voice and identity.[50] Elizabeth, a crucial element of the game, was designed as a character which could not only be a useful AI companion to the player but a real partner with a significant emotional bond as well.[56] Elizabeth's development was inspired by the character Alyx Vance, who was described by Levine as a central element and an "emotional driver" of Half-Life 2.[57] For the story, Levine took a novel approach by bringing the voice actors for Booker and Elizabeth, Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper, respectively, into the studio to develop their characters and help refine the story.[58] Levine, however, did not provide the actors with full knowledge of the story in order to help them develop their characters' relationship in a much more natural manner.[59]

BioShock Infinite runs on a heavily modified Unreal Engine 3, with additions and replacements on the core engine.[60] Irrational had initially considered using the heavily modified Unreal Engine 2.5 used for the original BioShock, but it was deemed inadequate for their vision.[61] According to Levine, Infinite was designed and developed from scratch, with no assets reused from previous BioShock games.[62]

Irrational worked in secrecy on Infinite for two-and-a-half years prior to its announcement, teasing the game with the moniker "Project Icarus".[63][64] The game was announced at a press event on August 12, 2010 in New York City, where journalists were shown a teaser trailer and Levine outlined the basic story of the game; these were followed by several demos and showcases of the game at events in 2011.[39]^: 57–60 Within the studio, however, the game was still undergoing a troubled development. While the big picture elements of the story were now locked, Levine continued to make changes to large parts of the game at a whim. Despite the expanding cost of development and additional staff, the game was not getting closer to completion.[39]^: 59–61

Within Irrational, there was concern that the game would never be finished. The game's ship date repeatedly slipped and staff left the company. Jordan Thomas, a former BioShock level designer who had been creative director for BioShock 2, was hired in January 2012 to get the project back on track. Levine and Thomas created a roadmap for the game, deciding on cuts to reduce the scope of remaining work; this included the entirety of the multiplayer feature, with the staff reallocated to the single-player portion of the game.[41][39]^: 59 Thomas was followed in March 2012 by game producer Don Roy. Experienced with closing out games at publishers like Sony and Microsoft, Roy said that there was no playable game available for him to try when he asked. Roy created a new workflow to bring order to Infinite's disorganized and inefficient project management. Irrational hired Rod Fergusson as vice president of development in August 2012. Fergusson had a reputation as someone who made tough decisions to ship difficult games, and reined in Levine's worst tendencies; Irrational staff recalled Levine worked best when under constraints, and that without Fergusson the game might not have shipped.[41][39]^: 61–2 Thomas left Irrational in November, with the game on track to release.[41]

To finish the game, Irrational entered into a period of sustained crunch; one staffer estimated he spent most of the final year of development putting in 12-hour workdays.[39]^: 62 Content such as Vigors, Tear mechanics, weapons, locations, characters, and other enemies, were cut from the game—enough material for five or six whole games, according to one developer.[65] After the game was released to manufacturing, more than a dozen staff voluntarily left Irrational, with the number accelerating as the game's post-launch content began development.[41] The game ultimately took roughly five years to make,[66] and involved a team of around 200 from Irrational in addition to support from outside studios.[67][68]

BioShock Infinite was released worldwide for the Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 platforms on March 26, 2013.[75] Aspyr later published and ported Infinite to the MacOS platform on August 29, 2013.[3][76] Two special editions were released alongside the game, for each release platform – Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The Special Edition includes an art book, a propaganda poster, a mini-figurine of the Handyman, a keychain, and the game's soundtrack, along with in-game codes for special powers and, for consoles, additional themes. The Ultimate Songbird edition, in addition to the above, includes a 9.5" statue of the Songbird, designed by Irrational's Robb Waters.[77] The game's release was accompanied by various tie-in merchandise, including replicas and figurines,[78] a board game based on the game called BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia,[79] and a prequel novella, Bioshock Infinite: Mind in Revolt.[80]

Two major pieces of downloadable content were released by Irrational for the game. The first piece is Clash in the Clouds, a non-story arena-based combat mode where the player is faced with increasingly difficult waves of enemies on various maps based on in-game settings. It was released on July 30, 2013.[81] The second piece is Burial at Sea, a story-based expansion set in Rapture that links Infinite's story to that of the original BioShock game. It consists of two episodes, with the first one released on November 12, 2013, and the second one on March 25, 2014.[82][83] BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition, bundling BioShock Infinite with Clash in the Clouds and Burial at Sea, was released on November 4, 2014.[84] A Linux port was announced on December 6, 2014.[85]

BioShock Infinite along with Burial At Sea was remastered and released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as part of BioShock: The Collection in September 2016; the Windows version of Infinite, at this time, was considered already at par with the console version and did not receive any additional updates.[86] A standalone version of BioShock Infinite (including Burial at Sea) as well as The Collection was released on the Nintendo Switch on May 29, 2020.[87]

On September 3, 2022, Bioshock Infinite along with its predecessors was updated with the "Quality of Life Update" which added a launcher developed by 2K Games. This update was met with heavy criticism from fans of the game, citing that the game is now unplayable for both Linux and Steam Deck users.[88] The update was also criticized for serving no purpose except for adding telemetry, and impacting the games performance.[89]

BioShock Infinite received critical acclaim upon release, with reviewers particularly praising the story, setting and visual art design. Aggregating review website Metacritic summarized critical consensus as "universal acclaim", with the game netting score of 93–94/100 across its released platforms. BioShock Infinite was the third-highest rated video game of 2013 across all platforms on the site, behind Grand Theft Auto V and The Last of Us.[116] Consensus among several critics was that BioShock Infinite was one of the best games of the seventh generation era of video game consoles,[108][117] with IGN's Ryan McCaffery praising the game as "a brilliant shooter that nudges the entire genre forward with innovations in both storytelling and gameplay."[109] Joe Juba of Game Informer stated that Infinite was among the best games he had ever played,[106] while PlayStation Universe's Adam Dolge called it "one of the best first-person shooters ever made."[118] Identifying it as a "masterpiece that will be discussed for years to come", Joel Gregory of PlayStation Official Magazine concluded that Infinite was the latest game to join the hallowed ranks of Half-Life, Deus Ex and BioShock as "the apotheosis of the narrative-driven shooter."[111]

Many critics favorably compared BioShock Infinite to the original BioShock,[105][106][109][112][119] with some even believing that Infinite had surpassed it.[110][120][121] Entertainment Weekly's Darren Franich stated that "if BioShock was The Godfather, then BioShock Infinite is Apocalypse Now",[122] with Adam Kovic of Machinima.com calling them "two similar-yet-separate games that can co-exist and remain equal in quality."[123]

Wide acclaim was directed to the story, with several critics calling it among the best in video gaming.[110][124][125] The story's exploration of mature themes was well received,[107][126] with Time's Jared Newman praising its ability to prompt commentary and critiques from players as the game's true value.[127] Several critics, including Adam Sessler of Rev3Games, also praised BioShock Infinite's storytelling, noting that its ability to finesse player agency and interaction resulted in a narrative that could only work in a game.[128][129] The story's twist ending was mostly praised,[106][110][128] with several critics predicting that it would provoke debate, and that it would leave a deep impression on players, prompting them to replay the game.[35][107][114][124] It was also generally agreed that Infinite's ending was an improvement over the original BioShock's,[109][119] with Gregory explaining that, unlike its predecessor, Infinite never lost momentum after revealing its twist.[111] Some critics who overall praised the ending did concede that it suffered from plot holes and leaps in logic,[118][130] with Edge calling it "a finality that doesn't make sense within the universe the game has created."[104] Several articles have since been released attempting to explain the game's ending.[14][17][20][131]

Critics particularly acclaimed the city of Columbia as the setting of the game, with Arthur Gies of Polygon stating that it was "one of BioShock Infinite's greatest assets."[132] Columbia was praised by some critics as one of video games' best settings,[105][109][126] with Destructoid's Jim Sterling explaining that, unlike BioShock 2, Infinite made a wise decision in abandoning Rapture "for an all new story in an all new setting, introducing us to the cloud city of Columbia."[119] The setting's visual art design drew praise, with Columbia being described as beautiful and gorgeous.[109][119] Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar went on to describe Infinite as "one of the most visually captivating games ever made."[108] The setting's attention to detail was also well received,[120][128] with critics impressed at how diverse the game's environments were, and how no two of Columbia's many different areas ever felt alike.[108][109] Critics also enjoyed how the game encouraged them to explore more of Columbia,[118][133] with Juba explaining "whether you’re looking at a piece of propaganda, listening to an audio log, or participating in a horrifying raffle, almost everything you encounter contributes to your understanding of the floating world."[106]

Elizabeth's role in the gameplay and narrative received wide praise.[109][130] Her implementation as an AI partner for the player-controlled Booker was described by Sullivan to be "downright ingenious",[108] and was stated by some critics to be the main aspect that separated Infinite from its predecessors.[105][109] Special praise was given not only to Elizabeth's ability to take care of herself in combat, but also for actively assisting the player by finding ammo and health, and opening Tears.[106][108] Critics also acknowledged Elizabeth as not just a combat partner, but a companion that invoked an emotional response from the player.[105] Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell felt that the game "creates a familial bond" between Elizabeth and the player,[35] with Sullivan stating that she felt like "a friend."[108] McCaffrey explained that Elizabeth's presence in the game provided motivation and emotional depth, something he believed the original BioShock lacked.[109] Edge called Elizabeth "a technical triumph, the most human-seeming AI companion since Half-Life 2's Alyx Vance",[104] with Sullivan stating that her "behavior makes you forget she's a video game character."[108] Several critics also praised Elizabeth's relationship and interactions with Booker, believing that they formed the core of the game's story.[119][129] Mikel Reparaz of Official Xbox Magazine explained that "the evolving interplay between [Elizabeth] and Booker is the heart and soul of what makes BioShock Infinite such an involving, memorable experience."[112]

The voice cast was well received,[110][120] with Troy Baker and Courtnee Draper being particularly praised for their performances as Booker and Elizabeth, respectively.[134][135] The audio and soundtrack also received positive responses,[106][120] with Cheat Code Central's Josh Wirtanen stating, "from the absurdly talented voice actors to the so-happy-it's-actually-creepy music selection to set the mood, this game sounds fantastic from start to finish."[136]

Although the gameplay's combat was mostly well received and praised,[106][107][128] it was the most polarizing aspect of the game, with The Daily Telegraph's Tom Hoggins noting "the gunplay is far from Infinite's most satisfying component."[129] Nevertheless, critics opined that the game's gunplay and shooting was an improvement over its predecessors.[126][136] The game's expanded environments were well received,[111] with Edge noting they encouraged the player to think more tactically and improvise.[104] Tom Francis of PC Gamer and Hoggins felt that Infinite's overall combat was an improvement over the previous BioShock games largely due to the dynamism of the expanded environments.[113][129] The addition of the Sky-Line received special praise from critics.[109][128] Sullivan felt that the Sky-Line "delivers a new FPS experience entirely",[108] while Gregory hailed it as a "real game-changer".[111] Critics also enjoyed the Vigors, weapons, and upgrades,[106][107] with McCaffrey praising the game's "myriad combat options".[109]

In contrast, the gameplay was criticized by some as monotonous and repetitive,[130] with VideoGamer.com's Steven Burns explaining the game's lack of real sense of escalation in either abilities or enemies made combat very tiresome and grating.[114] Some also noted that Infinite had regressed into a simple shooter compared to the role-playing System Shock games,[126] with Newman stating that "combat feels too constrained as a result."[127] There were also complaints that the middle portion of the game was padded by gameplay flaws.[109][129] Critics expressed disappointment that the game limited the player to only two weapons,[114] with Reparaz feeling that this, along with the lack of outlandish upgrades, made Infinite's "less inventive" combat "not quite up to BioShock's high standards."[112] Criticism was also directed at the combat's "meager" death penalty,[106][112] with complaints that this resulted in a less challenging game.[126]

Levine claimed that the core messages in Infinite were neither personal nor political, insisting instead that they were historical. Levine stated that players are supposed to draw their own conclusions from the game, with many parts of Infinite open to interpretation and speculation; to this end, Levine avoided providing an authoritative final answer regarding the game's ending, saying, "what actually matters is what people think. Why does my interpretation matter more than yours?"[165] Acknowledging that Infinite's themes left fans debating and frustrated, Levine was nevertheless satisfied by the game's opacity, stating that it was his intent, and compared the game's interpretation of quantum mechanics to some of his favorite films: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Fight Club, The Master, Miller's Crossing, and There Will Be Blood.[165] Rob Crossley of CVG stated that "To [Levine], the [game's] Many Worlds Theory is a storytelling device; one that gives his narrative something unique in games yet celebrated in film: interpretability."[165]

The game's plot point of "constants and variables" received attention, primarily drawn towards the Lutece twins, who are shown to be key figures behind Columbia and the drivers for the game's events. Commentators discussed the associated themes of sameness,[166][167] fatalism,[167] choice,[167] and unintended consequences within the context of the Luteces' backstory and appearances.[167] The story's theme of alternate universes and Elizabeth's explanation that "There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, there's always a city" has been cited as reinforcement to this.[168][169] The story's theme of multiple realities in particular was also commented as drawing parallels with the fact that, in contrast to previous BioShock games, Infinite only had a single ending despite the in-game morality decisions it offered. Wired's Chris Kohler explained that, similar to how the alternate universes within the story all had their similar "constants" and different "variables", the game could be played through in an infinite number of ways, but that certain things would always be the same.[170] Tom Phillips of Eurogamer agreed, interpreting Elizabeth's line ("We swim in different oceans, but land on the same shore") as meaning that, just like Booker's journey in different worlds, different players would have different experiences throughout the game but would nevertheless all reach the same ending.[17] This has led some to identify BioShock Infinite as a metagame and meta-commentary on the whole process of players making different choices in games.[171][172][173]

In response to people discussing Columbia "as a particularly racist society", Levine said that the game was making no particular point about the theme of racism and that the game's depiction of it was merely "more a factor of the time."[165] The racism portrayed in Columbia was seen by Levine "more as a reflection of what race relations in the U.S. were like in 1912;" Levine explained that the game was "less about exploring the good and bad sides of racism and more just a reflection of the time and how it impacted that era."[174] He noted that several historic American figures such as the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt were "men of their times", great men who were nevertheless racist because of the times they lived in. Consequently, Levine reasoned that the depictions of nationalism and racism were warranted in the game, saying that to not do so would be "dishonest" and "strange" to the time period.[174][175] Many reviewers praised the game for its treatment of race.[176][177]

In addition to overt depictions of racism, the possibility of multiple realities, and the themes explored by the concept of constants and variables, the game was interpreted as tackling political and social problems.[178] Other themes discussed by commentators within the context of Infinite's setting and story include American exceptionalism,[179] extremism,[179] fundamentalism,[180] nationalism,[181] fanaticism,[182] cultism,[182] populism,[183] religion,[183] dichotomy,[166] free will,[184] hope,[184] self-loathing,[165] denial,[165] rebirth,[185] and redemption.[185]

Controversy

A Columbian propaganda poster showing George Washington standing tall with the Ten Commandments above a throng of racist caricatures of Irish, Chinese, Native Americans, Mexicans, and Indians. This Columbia propaganda poster, showing the xenophobia of the Founders, was briefly used by the National Liberty Federation.[186]

Infinite's themes of racism, religion and an ideological society caused controversy. In the various reveals of the Founders and Vox Populi before release, Levine and Irrational Games were criticized by various groups; upon demonstrating the Founders, people that favored the ideals of the Tea Party including Levine's relatives felt the game was attacking that movement; on the announcement of the Vox Populi, Levine found some websites claiming the game was an attack on the labor movement, and one white supremacist website claimed that "The Jew Ken Levine is making a white-person-killing simulator."[175] Levine considered that Infinite, like BioShock before it, was a Rorschach test for most people, though it would be taken negatively in nature and upset them, as his vision in crafting the stories was "about not buying into a single point of view".[175] Some of the game's imagery has been used by conservative groups. In 2013, the National Liberty Federation, a group in the Tea Party movement, used a propaganda mural from the game espousing the Founders' racism and xenophobia on their Facebook page before its source was recognized and later taken down.[187] Fox News created a logo extremely similar to the BioShock Infinite logo for a segment titled "Defending the Homeland" relating to immigration control.[188]

Comstock was altered after Levine spoke with a developer who threatened to quit over the game's presentation of the character and religion; the developer helped Levine to reconsider the notion of forgiveness in the New Testament and set to figure out why people came to follow Comstock and to understand the ecstatic religious experience they would be seeking. Levine did not consider this reinvention of the character to be censorship but rather a means to present the story better to a broad audience.[189][190][191] In another case, a player that considered himself a "devout believer" of Christianity was offended by the forced baptism that Booker receives prior to entering Columbia proper, prompting him to request a refund due to being unaware of this content in the game.[192] Patricia Hernandez of Kotaku considered that the baptism scene was "admirable" in the context of video games as an art form, and the scene elicited numerous responses on social media.[192] The baptism scenes throughout the game were also interpreted by some not as a critique of Christianity or religion, but as a representation of themes such as free will, evil, rebirth and redemption.[166][184][185][193][194]

In February 2014, Levine said BioShock Infinite would be the last game Irrational would make in the series, leaving the intellectual property to 2K Games.[202] Levine eventually let go of most of Irrational Game's staff and rebranded the studio as Ghost Story Games to work on smaller narrative projects; Levine said pressure and stress of managing a large team as he had to for Infinite had impacted his health and personal relationships.[203] 2K Games affirmed in December 2019 that another BioShock game was in development, headed by a new internal studio Cloud Chamber.[204]

Notes

Footnotes

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