Ken Levine "Not Convinced" About BioShock Infinite Multiplayer

[Andy Chalk]

Ken Levine "Not Convinced" About BioShock Infinite Multiplayer

Ken Levine says the BioShock Infinite [http://www.amazon.com/BioShock-Infinite-Pc/dp/B002I0KOSI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1283364881&sr=8-3] team won't develop a multiplayer component for the game unless it is "absolutely convinced" that it will live up to the single-player experience.

For all that it brought to the table when it was released in 2007, BioShock 2 [http://www.amazon.com/BioShock-pc/dp/B000MK694E/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1283364931&sr=8-4] managed to shoehorn in some undersea multiplayer shoot-em-up, but Levine, the man behind the original game, says that's no guarantee we'll see it in BioShock Infinite.

"We got a lot of questions with the original BioShock saying, 'You're not having multiplayer? It's a first-person shooter - are you out of your mind?'" he said in an interview on the Big O and Dukes Show [http://bigoanddukes.com/2010/08/30/an-interview-with-ken-levine-creative-director-of-irrational-games/comment-page-1/#comment-439]. "We stuck very firmly to our guns on that, that unless we had something - a multiplayer component that was as compelling as everything else we were doing in the game - we were not going to put the investment into it, because that wouldn't be a service to the product, it wouldn't be a service to the fans and it wouldn't be a service to us - it wouldn't be any good to anybody.

"It's not like people won't buy the game if it doesn't have a world-changing multiplayer element. Unless you're Left 4 Dead [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Modern-Warfare-2-Pc/dp/B00269QLJ2/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1283365047&sr=1-3], people are not going to care, so why do it?" he asked.

The BioShock Infinite team is experimenting with "lots of things" on both the single-player and multiplayer fronts, but still isn't convinced that a multiplayer component is worth investing in. "We're incredibly confident now that we've got a single-player experience that is absolutely going to be incredibly impactful on people," he said. "We're not convinced of that on a multiplayer side at this point."

"We're still thinking about it, but unless we're absolutely convinced, it's not something we would do, because I don't see who it serves," he added.

The first BioShock notwithstanding, it would be most unusual to put out a major, mainstream FPS without a multiplayer component, but given how generic it looked in BioShock 2 I'd have to agree there's not much point in sinking the effort into it unless the quality of the experience can be significantly raised. Fortunately, there's still lots of time to make that happen: BioShock Infinite [http://www.amazon.com/BioShock-Infinite-Xbox-360/dp/B003O6EB70/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1283370938&sr=8-1] isn't expected to come out until sometime in 2012.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-09-01-levine-experimenting-with-infinite-multiplayer]


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[Irridium]

Well thats nice to hear. At least someone realizes that not every game needs multiplayer.

 

[Dorkmaster Flek]

That is one of the smartest things I've ever heard from a developer. I am so sick of this obsession with shoehorning multiplayer into every gorram game these days. If Shadow of the Colossus was released today, would people bash it because it doesn't have multiplayer? If I hear one more person preface an opinion on a game with "but it doesn't have multiplayer", I will punch them in the face.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Im personally happy about this decision.
Like he said, unless they do something great with it to make it as good as the Single Player then its not really needed.

 

[Woodsey]

Here's what you get before the game's released, saying you're not going to put in multiplayer:

"Good, multiplayer doesn't suit the game and it shouldn't draw their focus away from the singleplayer."

This is what you get once the game's released:

"I can't believe I paid full price for a game without multiplayer - I'd much prefer hoards of mediocre game-time instead of actually quality!"

 

[Vrach]

Um, this news was out already?
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102931-Dont-Expect-Deathmatch-in-BioShock-Infinite

 

[ultratog1028]

So, 2K is admitting that adding multiplayer to Bioshock 2 was a monumentally stupid idea?

 

[Jared]

Im pretty happy with that, I play Bioshocked for the crafted campaigns, so if they can prove it will be just as epic - ill be sold - otherwise, just keep to single player

 

[Banana Phone Man]

So, 2K is admitting that adding multiplayer to Bioshock 2 was a monumentally stupid idea?

I'm pretty sure that Bioshock 2 and this Bioshock Infinite are developed by two different guys. He's not from 2K.

I'm glad there won't be a multiplayer (as far as we know). Bioshock 2's was fun but there was better elsewhere. No point in spending time on it if people are going to run off and paly CoD instead.

 

[Brad Shepard]

Im sorry, but the multiplayer for 2 was just stupid, i wish they would have made the single player story longer insted of doing that.

 

[Flamezdudes]

Personally, i'm not convinced either. You can just look at how stale the MP for BS2 has gotten. I'd prefer if they just focus all their work on Single Player, because that's always my prefered mod of choice.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Multiplayer is a rather generic feature in most games, a scattershot attempt at getting the same kind of scratch as games like CoD.

I agree fully with Levine.

 

[DancePuppets]

I enjoyed the multiplayer in Bioshock 2, primarily as it gave me another chance to wander around Rapture and collect new audio-logs describing the descent into madness of the splicers involved and of the city. I would absolutely love some sort of MMORPG based on Rapture pre-fall as I'd just love an excuse to wander the hallways again.

 

[Rad Party God]

I'm glad it won't have any multiplayer. It's going to let the developers focus on the most important thing to this game, the Single-player. Multiplayer for Bioshock was always something alien to the franchise, even in Bioshock 2, it's just out of place, like a last minute rammed in feature.

 

[Sacman]

I don't care about the multiplayer I want a strong singleplayer...

 

[MarsProbe]

I think I may have said something to this effect in another thread about a the same topic, but really, it would please me greatly if Bioshock Infinite was released as a purely singleplayer game. It's heartening to hear that there are people out there these days with enough confidence in the singleplayer aspect to realise they don't need to shoehorn in a multiplayer component.

"It's not like people won't buy the game if it doesn't have a world-changing multiplayer element. Unless you're Call of Duty, unless you're Halo, unless you've got something new to say like Left 4 Dead, people are not going to care, so why do it?" he asked.

I basically echo these sentiments precisely. There are already a good few FPSs out there that do the online multiplayer thing well (actually, especially when we're talking about COD, let's say it's done in a way that gets it played by a lot of people), there's therefore no real need to pad out a singleplayer game with an online component.

It's the singeplayer components of the first two Bioshocks that I'll remember them for. While playing a "reskinned" version of MW2 multiplayer was fun for a little blast, Bioshock 2 could have easily survived without it.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

Yep. Since hes gone from "not considering" to "not concerned," in a few months it'll be "in."

This is nothing but bullshit posturing.