BioShock fans may be understandably curious about the fate of the next game in the series following leaks that BioShock 4 failed an internal review and Cloud Chamber studio head Kelley Gilmore was reportedly ousted by 2K Games as a result. However, Strauss Zelnick–the CEO of 2K Games’ parent company, Take-Two Interactive–has essentially promised fans that BioShock 4 is still on the way and it won’t be canceled.
“It’s going to come out,” Zelnick told IGN. “That I can say hand on heart, without question … We don’t talk about how long our development cycles are. We have had some ups and downs along the way. That is accurate. And we have had changes in studio leadership. That said, we have very big shoes to fill on BioShock because of the legacy of Ken Levine, the legacy of what has gone before, which has been so successful. And we need to make sure that this experience is true to the BioShock DNA on the one hand, and a massive step forward on the other hand. That’s always challenging. We think we’re up to the challenge, but it has not been seamless.”
The same report that noted BioShock 4’s latest setback also indicated that a remake of the original BioShock was canceled earlier this year. 2K Games acknowledged the original report and called Cloud Chamber’s BioShock 4 “good game,” but reiterated its commitment “to delivering a great one.”
There hasn’t been a new game in the BioShock series since 2013’s BioShock Infinite, and a proposed BioShock movie has also had difficulty breaking out of development. Francis Lawrence is attached to direct BioShock at Netflix, and he recently revealed that a new draft of the film has been written by Terminator: Dark Fate scribe Justin Rhodes.
As for BioShock creator Ken Levine, his next title, Judas, remains in development at Ghost Story and it will eventually be published by Take-Two. However, a release date for Judas has yet to be announced.
