Publisher Take-Two All But Confirms New Red Dead And Bioshock Games

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick provided answers at an analyst conference earlier this week that indicate it plans to continue several of its more high-profile game series.

When asked about the company’s biggest franchises, Zelnick offered the following, “I pretty much know the ones that I can assure you are permament. It’s obvious that GTA is a permanent franchise as long as we keep delivering this incredible quality;”

Take-Two is the owner of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, one of the best-selling games of the year, as the game sold record-breaking numbers in many ways, and that a next-gen Rockstar game would be coming out before April next year.

He continued, however, “it seems obvious that Red Dead is a permanent franchise, against with the same caveat, or Borderlands, for examples, and NBA and others.”

Rumors have been floating around regarding a followup to the very popular Red Dead Redemption for some time. Given that major announcement season is upon us, it doesn’t come as a surprise that this sort of information would be cropping up soon. Granted, Rockstar has a strong habit of not having their own presence at E3, but I wouldn’t rule out an announcement during one of the two front-runner press conferences.

On that Borderlands front, we’ve already got the upcoming Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel inbound this year, so that’s also understandable.

When it came to Bioshock‘s future, though, things are bit more tumultuous, but Zelnick seems to think the franchise is here to stay, at least for now.

Bioshock Infinite was a huge success critically, selling a respectable number of copies. The game had some budgetary concerns, however, which negatively impacted the profits from the game. In the end, the studio that created the game (as well as the rest of the series), Irrational Games, was shuttered.

Zelnick indicated that the reigns may change hands, however, “We haven’t given any color on how you should think about it yet except we do believe it’s beloved; we think it’s important [and] certainly something that we’re focused on; 2K Marin will be responsible for shepherding going forward.”

2K Marin were the creators of Bioshock 2, the entry in the series generally considered to be the weakest of the bunch. The game wasn’t terrible, by any stretch, but given Zelnick’s comments on needing to deliver consistently high-quality experiences, it may be cause for some concern.

That being said, I find the comments more comforting than not. Games in the –Shock series have a strong resonance with me; I very much enjoyed Bioshock and Bioshock 2, as well as Bioshock Infinite (though less mechanically and more narratively). I even spent quite a bit of time with System Shock, the spiritual predecessor to the series as a whole.

The closing of Irrational Games was a tough blow to take, though I agreed with studio head Ken Levine’s new direction, and am glad he’s staying with Take-Two as a whole.

If you haven’t had a chance to do so, Red Dead Redemption and Bioshock Infinite are both available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and the PC. Both are games that should absolutely be experienced, especially given the news we might be getting soon at E3.