The future of the BioShock franchise now appears less ambiguous than it was back in February this year, when Ken Levine announced the shock closure of Irrational Games.
Speaking during the Cowen & Company Analyst conference this week, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick indicated that the cerebral FPS franchise may yet continue under the guidance of 2K Marin — the developer behind the celebrated BioShock 2.
Specifically, Zelnick observed that the series has yet to reach its full potential, commercially speaking.
“We haven’t given any colour on how you should think about it yet except we do believe it’s beloved; we think it’s important [and] certainly something that we’re focused on; something 2K Marin will be responsible for shepherding going forward,” said Zelnick.
"I don’t want to say much else except to agree with you. I think there’s a lot of upside in that franchise," he continued. "It hasn’t necessarily been realized yet."
"The question for the future, assuming we decide to answer the question, would be ‘How do you stay true to that creatively?’; ‘How do you do something exciting?’; and ‘How do you expand the market?’. That would be the natural drill. We’re starting from a good point on it. And certainly it’s been a great piece of business for us; it’s been a profitable piece of business."
BioShock was originally released in 2007 under Levine’s Irrational Games, and was followed in 2010 by BioShock 2. The latest chapter in the series, BioShock Infinite, was released in March 2013 and has shipped north of six million copies globally.
Levine announced at E3 2011 that he was planning a BioShock game for PlayStation Vita, though sadly, we’re unlikely to see it ever released given recent developments.
Would you like to see BioShock continue under 2K Marin? Where would you like to see the series go next? Share your thoughts below.