Levine: Gamers don’t need dumbed-down narratives

BioShock creator Ken Levine has said publisher Take Two signed off on the game's complex themes without hesitation.

"God, no," Levine told VG247 when asked if narrative had to be dumbed down for gamers.

"With some of the stuff we're doing on Infinite, I need to dumb it down for me."

The Irrational games head said Take-Two had been very supportive.

"Take Two in particular, is pretty bold on this stuff. [Take Two chairman and CEO Zelnick] Strauss and the gang signed off immediately," he continued.

"Frankly, in their shoes, I don't know if I would have written a check for [BioShock 1]. 'Trust me! The kids love objectivism!'"

Asked whether Take-Two had faith in the intellectual prowess of gamers, Levine said the company has faith in developers.

"I think for them its about 'We pay the talent to be, you know, talented, so let's trust them,'" he explained.

Despite its unusually weighty and layered premise, BioShock was a major success, selling over four million copies and earning lashings of critical praise as one of the few core games to further artistic exploration of the medium - while shooting things.

BioShock Infinite, the third in the series and second to be developed by Levine's team, is due on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012.