One of the most beloved FPS franchises of the modern gaming age, BioShock has gone just over a decade without a new release. Making a monumental wave upon its debut in 2007, and somehow managing to stand out as one of the best games of the year in what is widely considered to be the greatest year in gaming, BioShock is like nothing else on the market, both back then and now. Though imitations and copycats have come and gone, none have managed to live up to the legacy of BioShock, and Cloud Chamber has quite the task on its hands trying to replicate that same level of quality with its own BioShock 4.
A sequel that's been speculated on and rumored about for years, BioShock 4 is now officially in development over at Cloud Chamber. A new studio formed by 2K for the sole purpose of creating BioShock 4, Cloud Chamber has some talented names behind it, with ex-Firaxis executive producer Kelley Gilmore at the helm, and multiple former Irrational Games devs alongside them. Currently, no official details are available for BioShock 4, but as is the case with just about every major AAA video game nowadays, there are plenty of leaks and rumors in their stead.
Every BioShock 4 Leak and Rumor as of July 2023
Despite being announced almost four years ago now, BioShock 4 has received no gameplay, no cinematic trailer, and absolutely no official news at all. All that's been officially confirmed is that Cloud Chamber is working on the next installment in the BioShock series, and that 2K will be publishing it. But that doesn't mean there haven't been plenty of leaks over the last few years, with the first major one coming in December 2021 from ex-IGN staff member Colin Moriarty on his ongoing podcast Sacred Symbols. Moriarty stated that BioShock 4 was aiming for a 2022 release window, and would be set in an Antarctic city named Borealis, set during the 1960s.
It would be a while before fans would hear anything more about BioShock 4, but when they did, it was big. In September 2022, a Twitter user by the name of OopsLeaks dropped a supposed promo image from the next BioShock, along with a lengthy thread containing a wealth of alleged details about the project. The image - clarified to be part of the game's pre-production and concept phase - states that the sequel would be named BioShock Isolation, and would indeed take place in a fictional city somewhere in the Antarctic. According to OopsLeaks, BioShock Isolation was meant to be fully revealed at the start of 2022, but due to over 30 employees leaving the studio, it had to be pushed. While OopsLeaks mentions that BioShock Isolation is planned for a release no later than the end of 2024, they also mentioned that quality is the biggest focus of Cloud Chamber and 2K, stating that a release date won't be given until the teams are sure it'll be a quality product.
In the same thread, OopsLeaks mentions some of BioShock Isolation's alleged gameplay mechanics. They state that the artstyle will be similar to Deathloop's, and that the game will be open-world, with a main story and side quests. The main theme of the game will apparently revolve around shifting states of water, and the setting will include two main areas, Borealis and Aurora, with the latter being Soviet city built by slave laborers, whom the protagonist is one of.
Back in May of this year, however, OopsLeaks took to Twitter once more to claim that BioShock 4 was in development hell. According to OopsLeaks, in Summer 2022, BioShock 4 was rebooted for the fourth time, and although the setting would be retained, the entire story was apparently being rewritten. With some alleged structural issues and mismanagement on top of that, OopsLeaks states that BioShock 4 is in a state of "limbos," and if it isn't announced this Summer, then it likely won't hit its new release target of fiscal year 2025.
BioShock 4 is in development.