BioShock Infinite will sink or swim on its own merits, not its release date, says Levine

Irrational Games boss Ken Levine isn’t concerning himself with the October release date for BioShock Infinite, which could see the title going up against any number of major releases, instead focussing on creating a game which will sell off its own back.

“I don’t think there’s a tonne of science in our industry about these things at this point,” Levine told Eurogamer. “A lot of it is your gut. You hear, you have to release at Christmas. Others say, you can’t release at Christmas. At the end of the day, the product is pretty unique and will sink or swim on its own merits.

“If it’s a great game I think it will do great. If it’s not a great game, it won’t do great. It’s pretty simple with BioShock.”

Levine also believes his game in a unique position.

“It’s hard to categorise BioShock for people in their heads. It has its own vibe. It’s a strange and different game. In the same way Portal didn’t compete directly with anything,” he explained. “So you don’t worry so much about, oh my god, we’re competing directly with this, what are we going to do?”

BioShock Infinite launches October 19, followed by Medal of Honor: Warfighter on October 23 and Assassin’s Creed III a week later.

With so many triple-A titles coming to market this autumn/winter some will inevitably fail to meet sales expectations, but we don’t predict BioShock will be one of them.