BioShock 2 Is Take Two's Best Bet for 2010

Take Two is one of the videogame publishers that have had a tough year in 2009, postponing the releases of several high profile titles and announcing an increasing loss over 2008. And it seems that next year, which does not feature the release of a new installment in the wildly popular Gran Theft Auto series, might also be a tough one.

Todd Greewnwald, who works as an analyst of the videogaming industry for Signal Hill, has said about BioShock 2 that “The original was one of the best-rated games when it first came out in August 2007 and sold nearly 3 million units. Bioshock 2, due out on February 9, has great brand awareness, should be supported by a huge marketing campaign, and is one of the most highly anticipated titles of 2010.”

Despite the good prospects for the shooter set to take players back to Rapture, Greenwald does not have similar high hopes for other big releases from Take Two. He believes that Red Dead Revolver, the Wild West open world experience that should arrive on April 27, will not manage to sell more than 2 million units during its entire shelf life, while Mafia 2 and Max Payne 2 might also struggle to reach the same figure, in spite of the high profiles of the franchises they are part of.

One of the problems might be that the new titles arrive in the first half of the year, when some gamers are still busy playing the big blockbusters from the previous autumn and don't have the disposable income to pick up new items.

Take Two has not offered any hint on when a new GTA videogame could arrive but an announcement is rumored to be prepared for the E3 trade conference, which will take place in 2010. This probably means that fans of the open world pioneer might have to wait until 2011 to get a new game.