Aqua man

Despite the disbandment of Irrational Games, the BioShock brand will go on bamboozling fans – this time under the watchful eye of 2K Marin. Those of you with strong memories may recall that the Californian studio was partly responsible for the divisive sequel BioShock 2, which this author actually preferred to the original. Not everyone agrees.

Take Two gaffer Strauss Zelnick revealed the tidbit during a speech at the Cowen & Company analyst conference earlier this week, and added that he doesn’t believe that the series has reached its full commercial potential yet – even if it is a fan favourite. “I think that there's a lot of upside in that franchise,” he beamed. “It hasn't necessarily been realised yet.”

While that quote may worry some of you, the affable executive added that it has no desire to disassemble the wildly creative core that the property is known for. “The question for the future, assuming that we decide to answer the question, would be, 'How do you stay true to that creatively?'; 'How do you do something exciting?'; and 'How do you expand the market?'" he pondered. “We're starting from a good point on it.”

Zelnick also clarified that the series has been profitable for the publisher – but perhaps not quite to the degree that it had originally hoped. It’s worth remembering that BioShock Infinite had an epic development cycle, so its six or so million sales may not have made the publisher a huge amount of cash. We suspect that future instalments will be made in much shorter timeframes.

Nevertheless, if the series is ever to return, we doubt that you’ll be playing it on the PlayStation Vita. While creator Ken Levine announced a handheld title a few years back, it never really got started. Now, with Irrational Games no more, the chances of it occupying your microscopic memory card are slim to none. Feel free to wail like a Little Sister in the comments section below.

[source gamespot.com]