BioShock 4 won’t see the light of day for at least a couple more years, at best. The BioShock franchise has a major footprint in the gaming medium, despite not having had a new game in almost a decade and a half. It has rich, politically-charged storytelling set in dystopian societies under the sea and in the clouds. There’s not really anything else quite like it and its storytelling is matched with strong, powerful, and violent gameplay. Despite being one of the most successful video game franchises out there, Take-Two has failed to launch any sequels to it since BioShock Infinite in 2013.
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A new article from Bloomberg touches on all of the things that have gone wrong on the development of BioShock 4, which began sometime in 2014. Multiple different teams and leadership have worked on the game in various capacities with executives feeling really enthused about the game after multiple milestones. However, engine changes and problems with the narrative have sparked multiple internal delays. We technically don’t even really know anything about the game officially speaking, even the title of BioShock 4 is just tentative and there’s no logo, synopsis, or other official details about the title beyond the fact it exists.
BioShock 4 Is Reportedly Still Years Away from Releasing
With that said, Bloomberg has reported that about 80 people or a third of developer Cloud Chamber has been laid off from the studio amidst a restricting of the studio. As a result, BioShock 4 has also been internally delayed from a planned release window of late 2026 and early 2027. Bloomberg didn’t say what the new release window would be, but it could now be more like late 2027 or early 2028 to allow the team more time. 2K President David Ismailer offered a statement to Bloomberg about the matter, revealing that they are reducing the team give the game more development time.
“While we’re excited about the foundational gameplay elements of the project, we’ve made the decision with studio leadership to rework certain aspects that are core to a BioShock game, and in doing so are reducing the size of the development team to focus on this work and give the game more time in development,” said Ismailer.
This comes as Blizzard’s Rod Fergusson joins BioShock 4 as the Head of the BioShock franchise after he successfully navigated BioShock Infinite out of development hell in 2013. It seems the goal is to use his skills as a developer who can ship troubled games to get BioShock 4 across the finish line. Some have speculated that BioShock 4‘s decade plus of development will inevitably lead to a cancellation, but Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick noted he is confident that the game will release.
It’s all a bit bizarre, but it does indicate that Take-Two wants this BioShock game to release. It has been reported that BioShock 4 is a good game, but Take-Two wants it to be great and exceed expectations. These expectations will likely only grow the longer we wait, though. Either way, it must speak to the fact that the game shows real potential for the plug not to be pulled.
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