Ken Levine

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Ken Levine's career began in 1995 when he was hired as a game designer by Looking Glass Studios after replying to a job ad in Next Generation magazine. At Looking Glass, he worked with pioneering designer Doug Church to establish the initial fiction and design of Thief: The Dark Project. In 1997, Levine left Looking Glass with Jonathan Chey and Robert Fermier to found Irrational Games. The studio's first game was System Shock 2, an early hybrid of a role-playing game and first-person shooter, on which Levine served as lead writer and designer. The game shipped in 1999 to critical acclaim. After System Shock 2, Irrational Games developed Freedom Force and its sequel Freedom Force vs the 3rd Reich, real-time tactical role-playing games that drew heavily on Levine's and artist Robb Waters' love for the Silver Age of Comic Books. The studio then developed Tribes: Vengeance and SWAT 4, on which Levine served as writer and executive producer respectively. Since 2002, Irrational had been working in preproduction on BioShock, which was released in August 2007 to critical and commercial success, and is considered one of the best video games of all time. The BioShock franchise has sold over 25 million units to date. Levine served as creative director and lead writer on BioShock Infinite, set in 1912 in the floating city of Columbia, which won over 80 awards pre-release. In February 2014, Levine announced Irrational Games would be closing down, with fifteen staff members to follow him to focus on digital only, narrative-driven games for Take-Two. On February 23, 2017, Irrational Games was rebranded as Ghost Story Games, founded by 12 former Irrational members with Levine remaining as president and creative director. On December 8, 2022, they revealed their game, the first-person shooter Judas.

In Their Own Story

The lights in the conference room flickered as Ken Levine stared at a whiteboard covered in tangled lines of dialogue and branching paths. 'The player needs to feel complicit,' he said, erasing a node. 'Not just a witness—a participant in the tragedy.' Outside, the Boston rain streaked the windows, but inside, the air was thick with the ghost of Rapture. A junior designer asked about the ending. Levine smiled, the same smile that had haunted the halls of Irrational Games since System Shock 2. 'You'll know it when you see it. And you won't forget it.'

Reader's Guide

Ken Levine's development career began at Looking Glass Studios, where he worked on Thief: The Dark Project before co-founding Irrational Games in 1997. System Shock 2 was developed by Irrational Games and shipped in 1999 to critical acclaim. It is an early hybrid of a role-playing game and first-person shooter, and is the sequel to Looking Glass' System Shock (1994). Levine served as lead writer and designer on the project. Levine's next major project, BioShock, was developed by Irrational Games and released in August 2007. In 2005, Levine, Chey, and Fermier sold Irrational Games to Take-Two Interactive, which changed their name to 2K just as BioShock was released. BioShock was a critical and commercial success, and is considered one of the best video games of all time. The BioShock franchise has sold over 25 million units to date. Levine served as creative director and lead writer on BioShock Infinite, set in 1912 in the floating city of Columbia, which won over 80 awards pre-release. In February 2014, Levine announced Irrational Games would be closing down, with fifteen staff members to follow him to focus on digital only, narrative-driven games for Take-Two. On February 23, 2017, Irrational Games was rebranded as Ghost Story Games, with Levine remaining as president and creative director. On December 8, 2022, they revealed their game, the first-person shooter Judas.

Did You Know?

• Levine was born in Flushing, New York, on September 1, 1966, to a Jewish family and raised in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
• He studied drama at Vassar College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama in 1988, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a film career.
• Before getting into gaming, Levine worked as a computer consultant on Wall Street but admitted he was not very good at it, describing his attitude as a 'slacker'.
• Levine played Oscar Madison in a high school production of 'The Odd Couple'.
• He was named one of the 'Storytellers of the Decade' by Game Informer and received the inaugural Golden Joystick 'Lifetime Achievement Award'.

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