Do you think there’ll be a BioShock announcement later this year? (pic: 2K)



A new rumour claims BioShock 4 won’t launch until mid-2025 at the earliest, due to an extremely troubled development cycle.



Back in 2019, 2K formally announced a new BioShock game was in the works at new developer Cloud Chamber, one which it said would be in development for ‘several years.’



It’s almost been four years since then and neither 2K, Cloud Chamber, or parent company Take-Two has said anything else about it. Old job listings and rumours suggest it’ll feature an open world and be set in a city in the Antarctic , but official details are non-existent.



There may be a reason for the long silence, though, as a new rumour claims that BioShock 4 (or BioShock Isolation as it’s been referred to) is experiencing a very turbulent development, having been rebooted no less than four times.



This is according to Twitter account OopsLeaks, who has been the main source of BioShock 4 rumours for the past few years.



They state that the sequel has actually been in development since before 2017 (apparently it was originally worked on by Halo multiplayer developer Certain Affinity) but was then moved to Cloud Chamber.



In the summer of 2022 the project was rebooted for the fourth time. The constant changes in development teams and concepts do not bode well for the future of the series. The setting is probably staying the same but the game is currently being drastically rewritten.
— Oops Leaks (@oopsleaks) May 18, 2023



The project was rebooted for the fourth time last summer, though OopsLeaks believes the Antarctic setting will stay. However, they suggest the game is undergoing a drastic rewrite, which they seem to think doesn’t bode well.



‘The work structure is highly disorganised,’ they claim. ‘Unfortunately, development has been affected by complications such as the pandemic and Quebec’s Bill 96 [which made French the official language of Quebec]. There is a very high staff turnover, with numerous contract workers whose tasks are then redone by less qualified specialists.’



They add that it’s the narrative team that’s struggled the most since they’ve been ‘unable to write a script worthy of a renowned franchise,’ implying Take-Two has extremely high expectations for the project.



OopsLeaks does mention that things appeared to be getting back on track following the summer reboot, mentioning how Take-Two’s recent investors call implies that it’s aiming to launch BioShock 4 in its 2025 fiscal year.



What Take-Two specifically said was that that year could see the release of games it had announced but not shown anything of, which definitely includes BioShock 4.



However, OopsLeaks believes that if BioShock 4 doesn’t get a new announcement this summer, then it’s ‘most likely facing a total clusterf*** and has zero chances being released at FY2025 as initially planned.



‘Poor management, uncertainty about financial success, and questionable staff decisions are the reasons why the development of this game is going so difficult and taking so long.’



OopsLeaks’s claims have yet to be corroborated by any other sources, although troubled development would explain why there have been no updates on BioShock 4 for the past few years.



Summer is set to be full of major game reveals, with showcases from both Sony and Microsoft scheduled for the coming weeks. Whether or not BioShock 4 will make an appearance at either of them remains to be seen.



After almost a year since this reboot everything seemingly started to getting back on track. Cloud Chamber trademark was reapplicated this March. Yesterday’s T2 investor call indicates that they are still planning to ship it in fiscal 2025. The amount of job listings is at ATL.
— Oops Leaks (@oopsleaks) May 18, 2023



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