BioShock 4 Gets Official Update After Years Of Waiting
A lot can happen in thirteen years. But Take-Two Interactives' ability to capitalize on one of their hottest franchises isn't one of them. The Bioshock franchise brought us three hits, starting with the first game in 2007 and ending with Bioshock Infinite way back in 2013. The mind-bending shooter brought Booker DeWitt's tale of parallel permutations to a satisfying close and left gamers looking forward to what the team could produce next. Alas, we've been holding our breaths longer than Comstock around a baptismal font. Thirteen long years have passed, and we've seen precious little of Bioshock 4. With Ken Levine departing and working on his own game, it has felt like Bioshock 4 has been stuck in development hell for all these years. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-two Interactive, has finally shared his two cents with Game File and, in the process, steadied the ship somewhat. Bioshock 4 suddenly looks like it's in a good place and may be here sooner than you think.
First-person image of a machine gun being fired at a mechanical Big Daddy from BioShock.
The interview mainly focused on the expected GTA 6 delays but Bioshock 4 also got some limelight. Strauss was quizzed about his feelings on how long Bioshock 4 has been in development and what his feelings were on the matter, and he gave surprisingly honest answers to the questions presented to him. Similar to the fans, Strauss Zelnick was surprised at how long the game was taking. After all, work began on the fourth installment in the franchise back in 2019, and we've seen virtually nothing ever since. When asked if he was surprised by all the delays, Strauss responded:
“Think about what ‘surprise’ implies. That’s like, one day, everything’s awesome, and the next day, I’m like, ‘Holy sh*t.’ And I don’t run the business that way. But I think if you’re saying ‘disappointed,’ yes. Deeply disappointed.”
But it's not all doom and gloom for Bioshock 4, as last year, veteran game's producer Rod Fergusson jumped on board as head of the franchise. In the past, Rod has worked on the Gears of War franchise, Diablo and even Bioshock Infinite, making him supremely qualified to get the project back on track. With Rod Fergusson now leading the team, Zelnick says he's "Feeling a lot better" about the progress of the game. He also reflected on the past and said:
“I think finding the right creative purchase was hard, as it turns out,” he said. “I think we, in retrospect, wasted a lot of time and money chasing down some creative alleys that turned out to be dead ends.”
Rapture in BioShock
With an already near-perfect trilogy on its hands, Take-Two Interactive may have an uphill battle to try and capture that lightning-in-a-bottle experience for a fourth time. That said, each of the previous titles were so unique and different from each other that, creatively, the skies are the limit for Rod Fergusson and his team.
Hopefully, we get a sneak peek of what's to come soon to further put our minds at ease. In the meantime, we can always look towards another Take-Two property as there's currently free content for Red Dead Redemption 2 to be enjoyed by all. Or better yet, mark your calendars for GTA 6 pre-orders and PS5 bundles to become available. With no content to look at, the next Bioshock game is still a mystery to us gamers, which is a cause for concern. One person, at least though, is feeling pretty confident about Bioshock 4, and its potential. Strauss Zelnick rounded things off by saying:
“Right now, we have a good game, but we are committed to delivering a great one. We are working closely with leadership at the studio to define this path.”
