Ken Levine Didn’t Return for BioShock 4 Because He Felt ‘Trapped’

BioShock creator Ken Levine has said that he didn’t want to make BioShock 4 because he felt “trapped” by the franchise’s success. In a recent interview with Sacred Symbols, Levine revealed that he felt like he was up against himself with each new entry.

Why Ken Levine chose Judas over BioShock 4

Following BioShock Infinite, developer Irrational Games went through significant restructuring and was rebranded as Ghost Story Games, where Levine started developing first-person shooter Judas. Speaking on the Sacred Symbols podcast (via TweakTown), Levine said that he became his “own worst enemy” after deciding that he wanted BioShock to become a blockbuster like Call of Duty.

“I wanted a kind of Call of Duty blockbuster, so a lot of Infinite was designed to try to appeal to an even broader audience,” Levine admitted. “One of the reasons I stopped doing BioShock games after that is that you can’t lean on something. You can’t compete against yourself again.”

Levine said that the whole idea of outdoing himself became unhealthy, and blamed himself for setting up that “trap.” He added that BioShock was no longer fun to work on, so he opted to make Judas.

BioShock 4 is currently in development with no release window or platform information.