Bioshock 4 has been previously reported as having quite a bit of development struggles after failing an internal review by 2K Games executives and the game currently undergoing a full narrative overhaul by the studio, according to a recent Bloomberg Report. But Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has confirmed to IGN that despite all of it’s current development woes, Bioshock 4 is in no danger of getting cancelled, “It’s going to come out,” he stated. “That I can say hand on heart, without question.”
He also admitted that the new Bioshock game is indeed having a rocky development period: “We don’t talk about how long our development cycles are,” Zelnick began. “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.”
But still, Zelnick has assured that they aim to make the new Bioshock as great as it could possibly get: “The strategy of this company has always been to make the best entertainment, not necessarily the most entertainment. Of course, sometimes we’ve fallen short, but frankly a precious few times.
“And I think some of our competitors have realized maybe a little late in the day that consumers are not okay with okay. Good is the new bad, great is the new great. And our goal here is to make everything exceptional.”
The new Bioshock title’s ongoing development troubles have also led to the removal of Cloud Chamber Games’ studio head Kelley Gilmore, along with the shifting of creative director Hogarth de la Plante in a publishing role. According to Bloomberg, the developers were also told that the studio needs to become “more agile and efficient,” which has made some of the employees fear layoffs in the near future.
The Bloomberg report has also revealed that a Bioshock Remake was in development but got cancelled earlier this year.
