Take Two Says BioShock 2 on the Way

Recently, Take Two has revealed its financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2008. In business terms, they were less than spectacular. Sales went down to around 240 million dollars while losses crept up towards the 38 million mark. Game wise it was a marvelous day, with some interesting info coming from Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick and from CEO Ben Feder.

First off, there was clear confirmation that BioShock 2 is coming in late 2009 and that Ted Levine, the brains behind the first game, was still on-board, involved in making the sequel. Development is now handled by the 2K Marin studio and parts of 2K Boston and 2K Australia are also involved. Further details on the game were promised as soon as the development is out of alpha phase.

Zelnick confirmed that Rockstar was getting ready to do another "triple A title" following the release of GTA IV in late April, although he would not confirm any name for the game or even the franchise it would be part of. There's also talk of Take Two doing a new Max Payne game, although no confirmation or details were available. It might get released at the same time as the Max Payne movie.

Even if financially Take Two is losing money, it has managed to acquire Czech studio Illusion Softworks, the maker of Hidden and Dangerous and of Mafia. Now restyled as 2K Czech, the studio will begin working on Mafia II, a game designed for next-gen consoles.

With game sales going down and losses reaching new heights, Take Two must be pinning its hopes on the release of GTA IV later in the year to turn its fortunes around. Grand Theft Auto is the best selling series that Take Two has, amassing over 60 million units in sales, and it needs to sell big when it hits shops to bring Take Two into the green, as far as finances go.

There was nothing in the press conference yesterday about EA's takeover offer. Is this a sign that the deal is now dead or a sign that the people at Take Two want to play their cards close to their chest?