BioShock Series Could Switch Developers

While Take-Two Interactive still intends to "support the [BioShock] franchise," the publisher has revealed that the next entry could be handled by a different developer.

"We think BioShock is still one of the most important franchises in the industry," Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said in a recent conference call to investors, as picked up by IGN. "We do intend to support it; doesn't necessarily have to be at [BioShock 2 maker] 2K Marin, but we do intend to support the franchise."

Irrational's BioShock and 2K Marin's BioShock 2

The original BioShock, released in August 2007, was created and developed by 2K Boston, which recently switched its name back to Irrational Games and is currently working on an unannounced project. The sequel, released in February 2010, was developed by XCOM maker 2K Marin, with Digital Extremes handling the multiplayer.

Various downloadable add-ons for BioShock 2 are in the works, with the company having already released some multiplayer add-ons and promised more single-player content.

The company also noted that, despite BioShock 2 shipping three million copies as of March 2010 and turning a profit, sales "slowed down sooner than we had expected."

"We think the franchise has a long life indeed," added Zelnick, who previously stated that a third entry in the series was likely to arrive alongside the feature film. "If we spin [BioShock] the right way and get the right twist of innovation, we can make six parts of it, as Star Wars did," 2K Games president Christoph Hartmann has previously said.