Earlier this week, 2K Games acknowledged a shake-up at Cloud Chamber–the studio behind BioShock 4–following reports that the game failed an internal review. Now, a new report suggests that the game could have come out as soon as next year if BioShock 4 had been more favorably received by the company.
According to Bloomberg, BioShock 4 was planned for a debut in either late 2026 or early 2027. However, the subsequent layoffs at Cloud Chamber will likely delay the next BioShock game even further. Bloomberg notes that 80 employees from Cloud Chamber were let go, leaving approximately 170 people remaining at the studio.
Studio head Kelley Gilmore was ousted from Cloud Chamber after the game’s internal review, according to the report. In his place, 2K Games has hired Rod Fergusson to take over the studio following his own departure from Blizzard. In addition to leading the Diablo franchise for Blizzard, Fergusson previously worked on BioShock Infinite and helped get that game’s production on track.