Take-Two has confirmed in its
financial report that
BioShock 2 is coming, as well as leaving a spot of ambiguity around what we should expect from episodic content for
GTA IV.
Of the game, Take-Two's CEO and director, Ben Feder, said in an earnings conference call, "We are very pleased to announce today
Bioshock 2, the sequel to our wholly-owned and internally developed from 2K that has sold over 2 million units since its launch in August. The title is being developed by 2K Marin and is planned for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009."
In the announcement of the earnings itself, Feder is also quoted as saying, "We also have significant visibility into fiscal 2009, which includes additional episodic content for
Grand Theft Auto IV,
Mafia II,
Borderlands,
BioShock 2, our complete sports lineup, additional Nick Jr. titles under our agreement with Nickelodeon, and several new brands.”
So there's "additional" episodic content coming to
GTA IV, eh? While SPOnG would love to proclaim that this means previously unannounced (and possibly non platform-exclusive) downloadable content will be released for
GTA IV in fiscal 2009, we remain cautious. Remember the
hoohah when Feder said in a previous call, "In fiscal 2009, we’ll also be offering additional episodic content for
Grand Theft Auto IV in Xbox 360", but it turned out it was the previously announced content that had slipped? It's all very familiar.
Feder's choice of words in his latest statement means there's further ambiguity over whether several or all of the afore-mentioned titles will get the episodic treatment. Could
Mafia II,
Borderlands,
BioShock 2 and the rest all be getting episodic? While the statement could certainly be interpreted that way, SPOnG reckons Feder's just talking about the release of the games themselves and that the "episodic content" is just in reference to
GTA IV.
BioShock 2, after all, has only just been announced.
SPOnG has contacted Take-Two for confirmation, but no comment was available at the time of press.
You can read SPOnG's latest
GTA IV hands on
here and find out what we thought of the first
BioShock game
here.