Take-Two Interactive’s 2K Games division has eliminated about 80 positions at its wholly owned studio Cloud Chamber, the team developing the long-awaited fourth instalment of BioShock, according to a memo cited by Bloomberg. The cuts represent roughly one-third of the 250-person workforce. In the same communication, 2K president David Ismailer said the publisher is "reworking certain aspects that are core to a BioShock game" after the project failed an internal review. As a result, BioShock 4 has been shifted from an internal release window of late 2026 or early 2027 to at least mid-to-late 2027, extending a development cycle that began in 2019. To oversee the overhaul, 2K has hired industry veteran Rod Fergusson—most recently general manager of the Diablo franchise at Blizzard Entertainment and previously a key figure on BioShock Infinite—as senior vice president and head of the BioShock franchise. Fergusson now leads Cloud Chamber and is charged with steering the project through its restructuring.
You’ve seen a lot of games shut down lately. If you were the founder, what would you do differently to make sure yours doesn’t end the same way? 🤔
BioShock 4 might not launch until late 2027 as Cloud Chamber reportedly loses 80 people in layoffs. https://t.co/obF3Ni3fV7
The game studio building a new BioShock just had mass layoffs https://t.co/NJQWiwv0TM