EA’s recent moves have left a lot of room for speculation in the industry and among fans of it, some worried that their recent offer to acquire Take-Two, 2K’s parent company, will affect the future of both. Ken Levine commented on the situation in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.Biz, in which he stressed the key to making great games still lay in the hands of the development team rather than the changing of ownership. Here’s a bit more:
“Look at the Call of Duty guys who came over from the Medal of Honor franchise. It’s the talent,” he explained.
“You can do a game, but if you don’t have the talent – maybe you’ll sell a lot of a sequel or something, but you need the talent to keep it going.
“The question is, are you building up the brand or are you damaging the brand? You have to be very careful with brands.”
Good stuff, Ken. Of course, I’d expect nothing less from the man behind BioShock, but it’s still nice to hear a prominent developer sticking up for what he believes in. Perhaps the 2K team will be able to keep a clear mind while being gobbled by the vast jaws of EA. At any rate, the full interview is due to be posted at GamesIndustry.Biz tomorrow, so that may be one worth keeping an eye out for.
[Thanks, Justin]
