Aside from a remastered collection, the BioShock series has been on ice since the release of the Burial at Sea downloadable content for BioShock Infinite in 2013, but it appears publisher 2K Games hasn’t given up on the narrative-fueled shooter franchise yet.
According to a report from Kotaku, a secret studio located next door to Mafia III developer Hangar 13 is currently working on an unannounced BioShock game. We’ve reached out to 2K Games regarding the report and will update this post should we receive additional information.
Details on the project are scarce at the moment, but the unannounced studio has reportedly kept the project completely under wraps, even hiding details from Hangar 13 — following development turmoil after the release of Mafia III, some of Hangar 13’s employees have gone to work at the studio on the BioShock game, which is code-named “Parkside.” The game appears to still be in the early stages of development and will make use of the Unreal engine, as did the three previous games in the series.
It isn’t clear who is directing the new BioShock project, but it’s very unlikely to be BioShock and BioShock Infinite director Ken Levine. Following Infinite‘s release, Levine drastically reduced the size of developer Irrational Games, eventually renaming it Ghost Story Games. The studio’s mission is to “create immersive, story-driven games for people who love games that ask something of them,” and though it’s still under the Take-Two umbrella, Ghost Story Games’ small size makes it unsuited for a AAA project like BioShock.
Should the fourth BioShock game follow the continuity of the first three games, its developers will have their work cut out for them. Infinite introduced us to an infinite number of universes with infinite outcomes — allowing for elements of Rapture to make their way into the city of Columbia — but it’s unlikely another game will be able to use this trick and make it effective.
We will keep our ears open for news regarding BioShock during E3 in June. It’s far more likely that 2K Games will announce another shooter sequel, Borderlands 3, which has slowly been teased by developer Gearbox over the last year.
