Everything we know about BioShock 4

Rumors about BioShock 4 have been circulating since shortly after the release of BioShock Infinite in 2013. The once-ubiquitous retrofuturistic first-person shooter series has effectively disappeared off the face of the earth since then, but alleged leaks and unconfirmed reports have periodically surfaced. BioShock 4 Rumors started shortly before the release of InfiniteThe second DLC of Burial at Sea: Episode Twowhen series creator Ken Levine announced it would be the last Bioshock game developed by his studio, Irrational Games. Now called Ghost Story Games, it is currently working on a Bioshock– inspired title called Judas.

Publisher 2K soon took over the Bioshock mantle, promising another title soon. This iteration of Bioshock 4 was initially developed by in-house studio 2K Marin, but was later outsourced to third-party studio Sure Affinity, and then brought back under the 2K umbrella with the help of a new in-house developer. It is difficult to separate rumors from facts in the case of BioShock 4and 2K’s restriction on revealing information about this doesn’t help. However, by comparing a long list of unconfirmed speculations with the cold, hard facts, it is possible to get an idea of ​​what is going on.

BioShock 4 leaks and rumors

What we don’t know about BioShock 4

After five years of radio silence, the issue of BioShock 4 was increased again in 2018. A Kotaku an article from that year on development studio 2K Hangar 13 revealed that some of its employees had been hard at work on a top-secret project given the working title Next to the park. Rumors spread, first internally and then through the resulting Kotaku profile, which Next to the park was actually a codename for BioShock 4. Of course, this has never been confirmed by anyone at 2K or Hangar 13. If this version of Next to the park it really was BioShock 4 disguised, it appears to have been reset.

Later in 2023, leaks emerged claiming BioShock 4 it was in development hell. This revealed a new supposed title – BioShock: Isolation. It also corroborated previous leaks from the same source claiming the sequel had an Antarctic setting. These leaks further claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic and high staff turnover had stagnated BioShock 4production, but it was still technically an active project. None of this has been officially confirmed, but it seems the leaks got at least one thing right: despite the paucity of news, BioShock 4 It is still technically under development.

What followed was another year of silence, until an image supposedly the first screenshot of BioShock 4 leaked online in July 2024. The image is generic enough that it could certainly be of Bioshock 4but it could also be from any game with a slightly retrofuturistic feel in which players use weapons and elemental powers against enemies. The main focus of the screenshot is on a lighthouse of sorts, placed atop a Space Needle-style arched pedestal against a cloudy sky.

The player holds a ricochet shotgun, and in the bottom left corner, three abilities appear in a small hot bar: one with a magnet for an icon, one with a timer, and one with a lightning bolt. Again, these could certainly be the next evolution of Bioshockplasmids, but they are generic enough that they can be abilities in almost any game. The most obvious evidence is the fact that the caption “Demonstration in the park” appears at the bottom of the screenshot. This is certainly compelling, but it also could have easily been edited out.

Confirmed news about BioShock 4

What we know about BioShock 4

In December 2019, after the emergence of Next to the park rumors, 2K confirmed this BioShock 4 was in development. It would be handled by a new internal studio, Cloud Chamber. Several Bioshock alumni signed up, including Bioshock and BioShock Infiniteart director Scott Sinclair and series veteran Hogarth de la Plante.

Little else has been announced by 2K or Cloud Chamber on the matter. In July 2024, the BioShock 4 the team apparently started “increasing” developmentaccording to a series of job advertisements that suddenly appeared on the Cloud Chamber website. These listings made it very clear that they were for open positions in the Bioshock development team, but were quite vague on the details, making it difficult to infer anything about the actual contents of the BioShock 4 based solely on job listings.

When BioShock 4 might be released

Potential BioShock 4 Release Date

Frankly, there is absolutely no way of knowing when BioShock 4 you can leave. Nothing in any of the leaks or official confirmations has revealed anything resembling a release window. It almost certainly won’t be released in 2024, given that it’s October at the time of writing and no announcement has been made. It may not be released until 2025, or even 2026. With all the reboots it has undergone, and just in development”increasing” still in July, Bioshock 4 could easily still be several years away.

In truth, there is no guarantee that Bioshock 4 is being released during the current console generation. If the PS6 and the next Xbox don’t come out until 2027 or 2028, as they say, BioShock 4 It could easily be a launch title for one or both consoles.

Thus, despite many rumors and some official confirmations, little else is known about the current status of the next Bioshock than it was when 2K first announced its intentions to develop one. It may be several years before any additional information about BioShock 4 is revealed, and its release date will likely still be in the distant future – for now, fans will just have to wait.

Sources: Kotaku, Cloud Chamber