2K Games has confirmed a new BioShock game is in the works as a new studio is being formed to produce it.
In a statement, the next installment of the first-person shooter series “will be in development for the next several years” as the first IP for Cloud Chamber, a new team under 2K’s publishing label and is made of “A collective of storytellers eager to push the frontlines of interactive entertainment by making unique, entertaining and thoughtful experiences that engage the world.”
Cloud Chamber is also 2K’s first studio coming to Canada, with Ken Schachter being asked to serve as the Studio Manager in Montreal, Quebec.
Schachter previously took on roles as a manager for Gameloft before founding independent Canadian game studio Trapdoor and overseeing projects with Zynga in Toronto.
Another team is being launched near 2K’s San Francisco Bay HQ, overseen by Kelley Gilmore as Cloud Chamber’s Global Studio Head since she joined the company in 2018. She had also been the Executive Producer and head of marketing for Firaxis Games for over 20 years.
“I am equally excited and cautious,” Gilmore told CGMagazine.
“It does not fall lightly on any of us on the Cloud Chamber team what a huge responsibility it is to be making the next BioShock game.”
Part of building a new BioShock includes working with their sister studio in Montreal, which became a point of interest for 2K after learning about the city’s own industry.
“We were excited to be able to set up the first 2K studio there and started to take advantage of the great game development community that exists in Montreal,” said Gilmore, adding that connecting BioShock with a global audience includes having every kind of game developer on board.
“So we’re really hoping to attract people to help us make this game, who represent people from all walks of life” she said.
According to job listings on Cloud Chamber’s site, a total of 36 new positions are needed to fill both development teams while half of them in Montreal require animators, level designers, writers and senior producers for their first IP.
The brand new team also joins the publisher’s variety of existing development teams such as Hangar 13 (Mafia III), Visual Concepts (WWE & NBA 2K series) and Firaxis Games (Sid Meir’s Civilization series).
For 2K, the publisher had been looking to create a new game “for a while,” on next generation systems that retains elements of what fans liked across the series.
“We understand like what some of the cornerstones of great BioShock experience are,” Gilmore said.
“Certainly one of them is a great narrative, and the other is an immersive game world. So that certainly will inform our vision going forward for this next game.”
Details of Cloud Chamber’s own version of Bioshock are still to be announced and the next game may follow the release of BioShock: The Collection in 2016 for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
The last game in the series, BioShock Infinite, was produced by Irrational Games and 2K in 2013 for older generation consoles.