BioShock "franchise" ships 1.5m units; L.A. Noire bumped from fiscal '08

by Christopher Grant { Sep 10th 2007 at 8:27PM }

After what we imagine was a prolonged series of comically exaggerated high fives and hearty back pattings, the folks at Take-Two managed to sit down long enough to write up a report detailing their third quarter fiscal 2007 financial results. In fact, they were so excited after noting that critic's darling BioShock shipped an impressive 1.5 million copies – pulling the Xbox 360's attach rate even higher – they even called it their "new BioShock franchise." A franchise, eh?

Gamasutra notes that during a conference call with investors to discuss the results, they specified that BioShock could become a franchise on a "roughly two year interval," handily making up for the missing income their annual football franchise used to bring in. Of course, that's not all bad; the company's Grand Theft Auto games have followed a similar model and managed to remain well respected titles despite what could only be called some stagnation.

The execs also noted that the Rockstar and Team Bondi co-produced L.A. Noire, which was nowhere to be seen on the report's initial guidance for fiscal 2008, would not be released in fiscal 2008, which extends until 11/08. The game was previously listed as a PlayStation 3 exclusive for the fiscal '08 period.

Read – Take-Two Third Quarter Fiscal 2007 Financial Results
Read – BioShock Receives All-Time Highest Xbox 360 Ranking on Metacritic

Tags: BioShock, BreakingNews, LA-Noire, LANoire, Take-Two, TakeTwo

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

curtis estridge @ Sep 10th 2007 8:35PM

good for them...

phattie @ Sep 10th 2007 8:36PM

Its good to see good games sell well.

HB96st @ Sep 10th 2007 8:36PM

Bad for Sony's ApocalyPS3.

-got games?

HaleysComet @ Sep 10th 2007 9:49PM

You just made my day with that comment!

Egster @ Sep 11th 2007 5:51AM

sigh fanboys

Mike @ Sep 11th 2007 12:21PM

Ha, that's funny.

EihBeir @ Sep 10th 2007 8:37PM

BioShock franchise, eh?

I could deal with that. What went on in Rapture before and after the original? There's a couple games right there.

ssuk @ Sep 11th 2007 9:18AM

SystemShock 2 was vastly different to SystemShock, don't see why BioShock 2 would be any different...

blooh @ Sep 10th 2007 8:42PM

bioshock franchise is a good idea, as long as they don't try to speed them up much sooner than 2 year intervals. Don't wanna ruin the good karma by saturating the market

vagrantA @ Sep 10th 2007 8:43PM

I love Bioshock and Im excited for any kind of sequel, but a take 2 franchise... hmm I dunno. I can see a great game and gameworld being overly exploited and ruined. Lets hope that doesnt happen.

carg0 @ Sep 10th 2007 8:56PM

damn, could you have found a bigger Take 2 logo? bigger is better but...y'know...i'd like to be able to read the accompanying article without resorting to a dual-monitor setup.

: )

LaughingTarget @ Sep 10th 2007 9:01PM

Good to see they got some success with this. The System Shock series bombed in sales and, at least based on my opinion, really held back storytelling in games in general because of the sales failure. Third time's a charm and, hopefully, will demonstrate excellent storytelling within the FPS genre.

fightinfilipino @ Sep 10th 2007 9:23PM

the skeptic in me is reading the word "shipped" and not "sold".

hmm...

NorCal05 @ Sep 11th 2007 12:49PM

Oh please

Shipped is something that is easy for them to measure.

Sold is very difficult to measure.

RomeoDude @ Sep 10th 2007 9:38PM

I haven't gotten Bioshock yet, but I know as a 360 owner it's my responsibility to play it eventually.

Anyways, all-time highest 360 ranking? Good for Bioshock, but there's a pretty good chance it won't hold that title for long... (SEPTEMBER 25th).

Ska Oreo @ Sep 10th 2007 10:03PM

True.

We're all fucked when Master Chief gets back.

Mike @ Sep 11th 2007 12:23PM

Is it just me, or does anyone think that Halo 3 may not live up to the hype? Single player I mean. Multiplayer campaign or deathmatch is going to be awesome.

ukickmydog @ Sep 10th 2007 9:35PM

thank god Bioshock sold well, finally something innovative and actually a small evolution in FPS has succeeded in the market

Egster @ Sep 11th 2007 5:52AM

No disrespect but there is nothing evolutionary or innovative about it. It's just system shock 2 in a different jacket but less challenging (dumbed down).

xXFenixKnight13Xx @ Sep 11th 2007 8:54AM

STFU Egster! Comparing this to System Shock, your just a morron. Let me guess you own a POS3 right LOL!!

Rubang B @ Sep 10th 2007 9:37PM

So they expect me to believe they shipped 1.5 million copies of the game in 19 days? Why would they even do that? They've sold maybe a third of that, and the game will have no legs, considering that other big 360 FPS just around the corner.

ExMcloud @ Sep 10th 2007 9:57PM

Actually its very possible....If you looka at the music industry they ship just as many units into market in 7 days so I believe that they can ship well over 1.5 million if they expect the title to do that well. Also this just isn't just a 360 title either it's also a PC game so you have to take that into count also

blooh @ Sep 10th 2007 10:15PM

well most cd players don't cost as much as a 360 or a gaming PC

HaleysComet @ Sep 10th 2007 9:54PM

When I bought my copy I had to go thru 3 Best Buys, 2 Walmarts, and then I got lucky and got it at Circuit City so I have no doubt this is true.

And I'm very happy for the makers of Bioshock. Truly a revolutionary game and a unique gaming experience. I definitely want a sequel and I look forward to it.

As for sony and that psTRIPLE...LOLZ! The sony fanboys are already hyping up LA Noire just off one video that made it look like GTA Old School. And now its being pushed back it seems....

Oh sony...desperate times call for desperate measures it seems.

Jeff @ Sep 10th 2007 10:24PM

I love Bioshock and its setting, but I just can't imagine how they're going to create a game that's nearly as interesting as the original. The story is basically why the game is so good and I just don't see how they could replicate the success of the first story. I could maybe see a prequel where you play as a henchman for one of the opposing sides (as least spoiler-y as I can be here). A sequel... doesn't seem like it makes too much sense. There's a little wiggle-room I suppose with one of the main characters that I won't get into here (so as not to spoil anything) but would it make for as interesting a story? Seems highly unlikely...

Color me skeptical.

-Jeff
http://alinktothefuture.com

ukickmydog @ Sep 11th 2007 10:56AM

multiplayer mebe? it seems like it would be a killer multiplayer game with all the plasmids and whatnot

Kibbles @ Sep 10th 2007 10:27PM

Boo prequel/sequel.

Yay for new projects.

YoRone22 @ Sep 10th 2007 10:35PM

I saw the trailer for LA Noire, and am really looking forward to it. Hopefully it comes to the 360. No room for another console.

Jeff @ Sep 10th 2007 10:44PM

Yeah, I really don't want anything else set in the BioShock universe. Expansions, DLC, whatever for this game. I really don't feel something else set in that universe can do it justice.

At this point, I'd buy anything they pump out; it doesn't have to have 'shock' in the title, or be part of a series.

pandaboy99 @ Sep 10th 2007 11:45PM

I beat bioshock in one day through a gamefly rental. Now I have to wait two years for another one? lol

lots @ Sep 11th 2007 1:53PM

ATTENTION TAKE 2: MAKE THIS BIOSHOCK GAME:

SO just put out a game that show what Rapture was like on the day it opened and Ryan began to loose it. The story would be of a private detective (Ryan hated the FBI aftr all) there visiting his daughter who is then asked by Ryan to solve the very first murder at Rapture.

In this game you'd explore the working underwater city looking for clues and then witnessing the early experiments in genetic mutationand augmentation and be forced to augment yourself, pilot subs and bathospheres, and explore the working beautiful art deco city...

THen it all begins to fall apart and the detective has to fight his way to his daughter and then to get out...

You get the idea...

Send me a note for more ideas at lotsofun@Hotmail.com

Malarkey @ Oct 12th 2007 7:44PM

I also want to see how Rapture existed before the civil wars, and I've got the ultimate idea: a time machine, which for Andrew Ryan could have been the ultimate weapon. That would allow the gamer to go back and forth in time and potentially set up a lot of fascinating possibilities. So, yeah, contact me Mr. Levine and I'll write a treatment for you.

SeriousKriss @ Sep 11th 2007 4:05AM

This kind of figure isn't very telling now that digital distribution is in the picture. Do we know how many of the 13+ million Steam users purchased it for example?

Autopsy15 @ Sep 11th 2007 8:06AM

You know, I always thought that 2K was it's own company, but that is cool that Bioshock is getting some sequels, prequels, or alternate-realities.
Grand Theft Auto: Rapture, anyone?

xXFenixKnight13Xx @ Sep 11th 2007 8:56AM

Definately Glad they will prob do more Bioshocks, maybe just a Trilogy =) Until the next Xbox comes out so they can make an all new IP

Mike @ Sep 11th 2007 12:25PM

Well, I only got 2 levels into Bioshock and then my launch system 360 died on me. I was screaming curse words and I'm not one to scream. Sucks for L.A. Nowhere game. PS3 is really getting hammered by all these delays. I know all systems have delays, but it seems to be a very high percentage of games when it comes to the PS3.