eat.sleep.geek.

Unless the news of Michael Jackson’s untimely death still has you curled up in a blubbering ball on the couch listening to Thriller 24/7, by now you’ve heard that Bioshock 2 has been delayed until Take Two’s fiscal first quarter of 2010, and in fact it looks like the game will miss the calendar 09 holiday season. Ben Feder, Take Two’s CEO had this to say about the disappointing news in a financial update to the company’s shareholders.

We felt that it was essential to invest the additional time to ensure that this title will deliver what its fans expect and deserve.As a result, we will now be launching sequels to several of our strongest franchises – including BioShock 2, Mafia II, Max Payne 3 and Red Dead Redemption – during the next fiscal year. These titles will anchor our lineup for fiscal 2010, and along with other products planned for next year, provide a platform for enhanced financial performance in what we hope will be an improved retail environment

The announcement shouldn’t really come as a surprise; delays have become fairly standard practice for high profile games. What I can’t help but wonder though is whether or not these quality concerns have to do with Bioshock itself or the quality of titles on store shelves this Christmas. Now don’t get me wrong, this is in no way a criticism of the Bioshock franchise. If there’s one game in development that makes my trigger finger itch, it’s Bioshock2; I want to play this game badly. I can’t help but wonder though whether the folks at Take Two were worried that a high profile holiday launch would be a bad move for the franchise and sought to push it into a time of year where it won’t be competing directly with Mario, Sam Fisher, Nathan Drake, or The Beatles for Christmas shopping dollars.

Lets face it, while Bioshock was a great game, it didn’t exactly kill at the cash register. Take Two have openly said that they feel a Bioshock game should be able to sell 5 million copies. That’s some pretty big expectations when the first game only sold 3 million. There’s also the uber violent nature of the game and how holiday shoppers might respond to it. I know that for me personally, no matter when the game was released it wouldn’t have wound up on my Christmas wish list for Granny Chickenbone. I have to think that the folks at Take Two aren’t convinced that Bioshock is an A+ commercial video game franchise, I’m not sure I disagree with that concern either. There was a degree of artistry woven into the very fabric of of the first game that permeates every facet of Rapture and the experience of playing Bioshock that I think prevents it from being successful like Halo or Gears of War; it’s to thought provoking for that type of mass appeal.

Ultimately I guess I’ll never know if I’m right about Take Two’s decision to delay the second Bioshock game but if you ask me quality isn’t the reason you won’t be returning to Rapture this Christmas. The real reason is that the developer didn’t think the game would stand out with the quantity of Christmas titles coming our way this holiday season. It’s to bad because I’m pretty sure not many of them will be as good as Bioshock 2