Will There Be a BioShock 4? Everything We Know in 2025

The BioShock franchise is a beloved series with a cult-like following of the Art Deco/steampunk shooter narrative sim. But fans have been in a drought, with the last mainline title in the franchise being BioShock Infinite, which was released well over a decade ago.

Fans have been eagerly anticipating the latest and enigmatic ‘BioShock 4’ after we got confirmation of its development back in 2018, but since then, there’s been plenty of speculation on whether it’s ever coming out.

The good news is, we’ve had some recent developments that suggest that the game is safe and sound, and is ‘definitely’ not cancelled (for now).

So today, we’re taking a deep dive on the newest BioShock game, BioShock 4, to show you all the ‘real’ details of what we know, what we don’t, and the rocky history of development hell it’s going through.

Let’s jump right in!

Why is BioShock 4 So Highly Anticipated?

If you’re a younger gamer, you’ve probably heard of BioShock but never played the game. You might not know what makes the game such a beloved and ‘special’ game in the hearts of many.

For the more ‘concrete’ signifiers of success, the original BioShock title won over 20 prestigious awards, including 2007’s BAFTA Award for Best Game, 2007’s GOTY in Spike’s Video Game Awards, and a slew of Game Critics Awards and nominations.

That’s the first game alone, with the two sequels earning their prestige through the years.

Aside from these nominations, though, BioShock came at a time when things felt ‘stale’.

BioShock had an extremely compelling narrative and socio-political messaging, an immersive, unique world to explore that looks fantastic on a 24-inch 4K monitor, with its innate philosophical theming sparking conversations about the ‘meaning’ of it all, even in 2025.

Not to mention its fantastic blend of crisp, well-thought-out combat with responsive FPS shooting, combined with ‘Plasmid’ powers allowing you to shoot bolts of lightning, telekinesis control, freezing enemies to shatter them to pieces, and much more, made the entire package far more compelling.

It’s simply a unique blend of extremely satisfying combat and gameplay, mixed with the overarching, compelling narrative that so few titles at the time (and even now), can aspire to be.

The Latest Development Updates of BioShock 4

After the initial confirmation of the game’s development in 2018, we recently learned from a new report from Bloomberg that the game has been in active development for over a decade.

But since then, there have been quite a few major “overhauls”, in particular, with the game’s story.

According to the Bloomberg report, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., the parent company to the current studio working on BioShock, Cloud Chambers, has ‘failed’ the latest review by executives at 2K Games.

This relates mostly to the “game’s narrative,” which was identified as “particularly in need of improvement and will be revamped in the coming months,” the report mentions. This led to the removal of the studio head of Cloud Chambers, Kelley Gilmore, which seemingly thrusts BioShock 4 even further into turmoil.

The report also mentions that the 2K was also working on a brand-new remake of BioShock 1, but the idea was also scrapped in early 2025.

This doesn’t spell well for the BioShock franchise because a new, refreshed BioShock with modern mechanics and graphics would be just the push it needed to come back into the market with a bang.

While the report brings into question what’s going on with the newest BioShock game, it also highlights that it might not be smooth tidings with fans reacting that this is leading to a cancellation of the project altogether.

But we also got another interview with the CEO of Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, after the latest 2025 quarterly earnings, where IGN asked if BioShock 4 would be canceled. Zelnick then reiterated that:

 “It’s going to come out. That I can say hand on heart, no question”.

He then goes on to speak on why BioShock 4 is going through such uncertainty and in part, it’s due to the legacy of the franchise, explaining that “We have had some ups and downs along the way.”

“We have had changes in studio leadership,” he acknowledges, but mentions that “we have very big shoes to fill on BioShock because of the legacy of Ken Levine,”. Ken Levine served as the Creative Lead for the original BioShock and BioShock Infinite with Irrational Games, the developers of the two games.

He’s since departed from the project (BioShock 4) to work on another similar game, titled ‘Judas’, which is slated to release this year, but we haven’t heard much of since.

Strauss then mentions that part of the challenge with BioShock 4 is ensuring the “experience is true to the BioShock DNA” while simultaneously being “a massive step forward” in the gaming space.

He concludes with “That’s always challenging. We think we’re up to the challenge, but it has not been seamless”.

What the Interview Didn’t Tell Us

From Bloomberg’s report and IGN’s interview, we’ve got a glimpse into the inner workings of the studio working on BioShock 4. The main message here while there are changes, the game is still a reality and will come out eventually.

But aside from that, it’s a lot of vague corporate speak to possibly appease fans, but we don’t really know too much else about BioShock 4’s timeline, release, or even the slightest details.

The takeaway is, at the very least, the game isn’t canceled just yet. But it is concerning that we now know that a complete remake of the original, BioShock, has been canceled just this year, which typically is a slam dunk release based on history:

Final Fantasy VII Remake, Resident Evil 2, Demon’s Souls, The Last Of Us Part I, to name a few, are all fantastic reimaginings and updates to cult classics, which the BioShock Remake could have been part of.

We know it works, but to see it canceled means there are far more problems than we might realize. The remake could have served as a basis for the new release, which isn’t unheard of, but for now, we don’t have details on why that project was canceled.

A Recap of BioShock 4’s Development So Far

The origin of BioShock 4’s development started in 2014, when 2K Games stated that the BioShock franchise would continue following Ken Levine’s decision to work on smaller games. Rumors suggest that a studio, Certain Affinity, took the lead on BioShock 4 in 2015, until it eventually went back to 2K’s in-house team in 2016.

Then, in December 2019, it was officially announced by 2K that a new BioShock title was in development by ‘Cloud Chamber’, a new internal studio dedicated solely to BioShock.

They started with a prestigious lead staff, many of whom worked on the original BioShock and BioShock Infinite.

In 2020, we heard word from job listings for Cloud Chamber, in particular looking for Senior Voice Designer and Systems Designer to work on an “ambitious, narratively-driven project full of character and personality.”.

There were also positions open for new developers, particularly with experience working with RPGs to work on ‘dialogue systems’, similar to other RPG titles such as Baldur’s Gate 3 and Fallout.

All this hints at a reimagining of the BioShock games, working to stick to its core identity of personable and highly-acclaimed character writing and world-building, while evolving with flashy new RPG mechanics to bring it to the modern era.

We also saw roles for Game AI Programmers to work on “meaningful AI urban crowd system”, possibly hinting at more densely packed worlds or possibly an open-world concept for BioShock 4, which would indeed be revolutionary.

Since then, there have been serious ramp-ups to Cloud Chambers’ growth and hiring, and in 2024, it was reported that their team had grown to a similar level to BioShock Infinite's development team size.

But as mentioned earlier, due to failing an internal review in 2025, the studio underwent leadership restructuring in hopes of improving the development. For now, we’ll have to wait and see how things shake out for BioShock 4’s development hell.

Will BioShock 4 Still Live Up to the Hype After a Decade?

With all this said, while fans of the series are eagerly anticipating BioShock 4, does it truly have the appeal left to capture new and old fans alike?

In an era where many narrative-driven games blend open-world design, systemic gameplay, and branching storylines, BioShock’s traditionally linear and tightly scripted formula may feel dated unless it evolves in meaningful ways.

We’ve had fewer and fewer games following BioShock’s revolutionary style at the time.

But if done well, there’s still plenty of space for BioShock 4 to take over the gaming realm. That’s assuming that BioShock 4 doesn’t spare the thing that makes it so popular in the first place; it’s intricate, enveloping storytelling, gorgeous aesthetics that look great on a portable gaming monitor, and world-building.

That alone is enough to capture a gamer’s attention if done perfectly, especially considering we haven’t seen games like BioShock since then. Save for a few tries, like Atomic Heart, Dishonored, and Prey, all of which are critical successes in their own right but which BioShock 4 can outdo if they nail the game’s style and atmosphere.

The Problem With BioShock 4: A Seemingly Impossible Challenge

At this point, it’s been around a decade since BioShock 4 has been in ‘development hell’.

Studio and leadership changes and a seemingly lacklustre narrative, as highlighted by the Bloomberg report, reinforce that there are issues with the game’s story, which the series may have backed itself into with the culmination of events in the original trilogy.

At this point, the BioShock universe may simply have become too complicated & convoluted to the point that moving forward with an entirely new game based on the original canon story may be impossible.

No spoilers here, but based on our experience, this couldn’t be truer.

Especially considering the fact that the original trilogy was meant to be just that, a trilogy, as Ken Levine envisioned, only for 2K Games, who own the IP to continue development of the next game in the series.

And as CEO of Take-Two Interactive, Strauss Zelnick mentioned to IGN, “Good is the new bad, great is the new great. And our goal here is to make everything exceptional.”

All the while, we’ve heard only on the ‘narrative’ side of things.

But it could also be that the dev team is having a hard time adapting BioShock’s signature style that truly pops on a gaming monitor,  to the modern gaming landscape with new mechanics, RPG elements, branching narratives, open-world setups, etc.

In truth, there’s a lot working against BioShock 4 and the team. It’s a balancing act to forge its own creative identity, all while balancing modern systems without diluting the authentic feeling that made the original BioShock franchise so compelling and special.

A far easier task said, than done.

Conclusion: Will We See BioShock 4?

After years of secrecy, leadership changes, and shifting creative visions, BioShock 4 remains one of gaming’s biggest mysteries. While the top brass insists that the game is still alive and “absolutely” coming, there’s a lack of concrete details that suggest that we’re still years away from a release.

All that said, we firmly believe that BioShock 4 will become a reality at some point.

The question remains when that will be, but barring further setbacks, the end of 2027 to 2029 is the most realistic window. That too is being generous, but we hope to see something new before then, hopefully.