Product Mini Profile BioShock in: Action Shooter (PS3) links » p/reviews

Many may remember a time during which rumours were floating about regarding a PS3 version of BioShock. Particularly, I recall an interview with creator Kev Levine on Joystiq some time ago - being questioned about such a thing, Levine responded basically with a "no comment." Of course, as we all know, no comment is a comment, and now that the dust has cleared, we can see why he had to respond as such. Anyway, VideoGamer got ahold of 2K to discuss what happened, being now they're at liberty to say:

"Originally we announced BioShock as a next-gen game and didn't specify platforms," stated [Markus Wilding, International PR director, 2K]. "Then we were approached by Microsoft and at that time that deal made perfect sense for everybody, so we did it. As far as exclusivity deals go these days, they expire after a certain time, and then it was up to us to decide if it would make sense to release a PS3 version such a long time after the 360 version. BioShock has such a huge fan base and we literally got emails almost every day from people requesting, asking for a PS3 version or asking if it would be possible.

"Basically we chose the right time and we had the opportunity after a while, and we said all right, we'll go for it. Obviously we couldn't announce it for a while. Had we announced it at the time we launched the 360 version, basically we'd nullify that deal, so we had to work it so both parties would be pleased. That's the basic story. There's no big surprise in there. As long as you have an exclusivity, you cannot talk about other platforms."

As for when it started, Wilding says it was a ways after the 360 version was done:

"The development basically started, let's see, I can't put a finger on it, but certainly not right after we shipped the 360 version, because at that time we didn't know if it'd make sense to release a PS3 version. BioShock was a big team, but it wasn't like 200 people working, so it wasn't like we could say "hey, let's work on a version that might not even come to light". So I can't give you an exact date, but after the 360 version was done. When the right time came we could announce it and we did."

Now, regarding BioShock 2, he says nothing will surface on it at least until the PS3 version is released late October, as that's what the team is focusing on right now. Stay glued to your seats, BioShock fans.