BioShock film and MMOG possible

By Robert Purchese Published 27 March, 2008

Take-Two looking at Civ opportunities, too.

Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has said MMOGs based on Civilization and BioShock are "potential opportunities".

The publisher is also looking at the possibility of a BioShock film, as well as more episodic GTA IV content, micro transactions and in-game advertising.

Word comes by way of a slide presentation at the Bank of America 2008 Smid Cap Conference to justify the reasons behind yesterday's rejection of the EA acquisition offer, concluding, "Take-Two is worth significantly more than USD 26 per share."

So far these are conceptual ways to stoke up more revenue, but Sid Meier revealed earlier this year that he was working on ideas for a massively-multiplayer online game.

Central to the Take-Two cause is, of course, Grand Theft Auto, which is due out on 29th April.

However, the presentation also touched on key games such as Midnight Club: Los Angeles with a Q4 2008 release, plus star attractions BioShock II, Mafia II and Borderlands all set for release in fiscal 2009 (beginning 1st November, 2008).

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About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • wayn3h #1 4 years ago

    Let the milking commence!

  • Eraysor #2 4 years ago

    Why bother? World of Starcraft will destroy all other concepts!

  • anomagnus #3 4 years ago

    man, the words cash cow never seem so relevant

    if take two's whole future now lies in the hands of Bioshock, then their investors should be worried

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #4 4 years ago

    Finally! A game to film concept that doesn't actually suck balls.

    It'll still be gash if it's made, but at least they're starting with a IP with a meaty story and a interesting take on a world.

  • Freek #5 4 years ago

    Doing more Bioshock isn't going to be easy. The story was pretty much completed by the end of the first game.

    Adding stuff onto that would feel a bitt forced.

  • MBar #6 4 years ago

    1. Take current game.
    2. Convert to MMO.
    3. Profit.

    It's a pity it never works like that.

  • monkie_king #7 4 years ago

    This is just Take2 talking up their IP portfolio to increase their perceived value pre-takeover.

    i.e. expect to see a Bioshock film and MMOG never.
    Edited by 1 at 27/03/08 @ 12:06

  • anomagnus #8 4 years ago

    @ Mbar

    It worked for WoW, but i agree with you, thats no excuse for this desperate plan of theirs.

    How would a Bioshock MMO work anyway?

    The whole story of Bioshock was an intensely personal story.

    I didn't even enjoy it that much anyway.

  • Arcadiian #9 4 years ago

    @ anomagnus.

    Clearly we'd end up with a Rapture populated by people playing as Splicers, or something. Being able to trade items and upgrade yourself to a Big Daddy, maybe. It's probably quite possible, but a little pointless. Their efforts need to concentrate solely on BioShock II imo. If they get that wrong, the franchise is fucked as a series anyway.

  • SleepyMagpie #10 4 years ago

    Bioshock wove it's spell perfectly in a very personal way, not least due to it's confined, claustrophobic nature. You were inside the dream-city in ruins, and minds, of a couple of brilliant and twisted fictional individuals. The game spoke directly to you, to your mind, and was in that way intellectual like no FPS had been before it (I would argue more so than the System Shocks). Of course you could disregard all the philosophy, but then you would have a much lesser Bioshock experience.

    A Bioshock MMORPG? Hell no. Probably the worst setting for a MMORGP I've heard in a long time.

    A Bioshock movie? Possible, and in the right hands, could be made into something truly great. But it will most certainly be properly fucked up.

  • Mindstorm #11 4 years ago

    it seems that the latest trend among PR spinners in the game industry is: "We'll make a film and a MMOG out of >>add game title here

  • Khanivor #12 4 years ago

    A Civ MMO.

    OMG.

    Combining the single-most time-sapping game with the genre that makes virtual widows and orphans sounds like a recipe for the end of the world.

    I cannot wait.

    Be interesting to see how it would be handled. Surely it would have a time limit of some sort, unless they went the whole hog and incorporate Alpha Centauri as an expansion pack, allowing you to take your Civs to the stars and well into the future.

    Gaming nirvana that would be. The final game.

  • gingerlink #13 4 years ago

    *sigh*

    ok, so a company finally makes a fairly original game that brings a fair few new concepts to the mix and is all round a fairly good experience, that's why people like it.

    later making tons of sequels/mmogs will not work in most cases.


    What's with so many companies and wanting to make mmogs all of a sudden anyway? Our internet's still too rubbish to make anything decent...

  • kangarootoo #14 4 years ago

    I think we are taking the suggestions a little too literally here. The Bioshock world could form the basis of a great film or mmo. Events don't need to take place at the exact same time as those in the game.

    The city of Rapture was depicted as being far larger than the areas explored in the game, and an mmo could easily be set prior to the meltdown that occured before the main character arrived.

    Think how much backstory was presented as Bioshock played out. Could that backstory not form the background to an mmo set at the time the events actually took place?

    Use your imaginations people :)


    And also, all this talk of cash cows... It is the job of these people to find ways to generate revenue from existing IP. If a game can generate several rounds of revenue, it is more likely to get made in the first place, and we are all glad Bioshock got made right? So long as the resulting products are of quality, I don't mind one bit. A cash cow is inly a problem if the product is crap, right?

  • mikeck #15 4 years ago

    Isn't Bioshock II going to be a prequel anyway...I can't see how else it would work, well in a logical way at least. And a MMO of the title...I'm yet to be convinced this would be a good idea.

    As mentioned above, this is a very personal story, that I doubt could work as a evolving, community based game.

    The film is an interesting idea, but it would have to be in the hands of a master of tone, and story-telling. My vote would go for David Fincher for this one, whilst there are many other great directors about, I think this is the perfect kind of film for him to get his teeth stuck into.
    Edited by 2 at 27/03/08 @ 13:28

  • Lebowski #16 4 years ago

    Would you kindly not ruin BioShock.

  • muscleblade #17 4 years ago

    @Lebowski

    You said it!

  • Triggerhappytel #18 4 years ago

    Will every big publisher out there please shut up about making all their franchises into MMOGs?!

  • erp #19 4 years ago

    Aw. I thought this was about a Civ movie.

  • westcoast2009 #20 4 years ago

    i think they shold concentrate on making and publishing really high-quality games and dump real f#cking shit like charley and chocolate f#ck or zathura!!!they have lots of great games!!!i really enjoyed their Darkness , Family guy and sport games,which are best in game industry...And if you don't like EA stop buying different shit from it...i,for example,dont have any license games fom EA in my collection...but most games from other companies are licensed)))i play them,and if i like it,go and buy the game)))

  • Aysir #21 4 years ago

    "People are saying EA buying Take-Two would be bad, and yet this report sounds exactly like a company similar to EA for me. "

    Surprise surprise. Same thing happened with Ubi-soft a while back. Everyone was up in arms at EA's apparent attempt to buy out Ubi. Now look at the situation, Ubi-Soft are the biggest peddlers of shit ever on the DS. They've milked all thier franchises to buggery.