OK, that's being way too harsh. Backing up a bit, I'm referring to an interview 2K global president Christoph Hartmann gave to MCV. Here's the relevant bit, where he's talking about the franchise's potential for sequels beyond the first upcoming one, Sea of Dreams.
For BioShock, because it’s so story driven, the question obviously arises: how long can you do it without turning into The Matrix? The first Matrix was great, the second one was weird and the third one, you thought: ‘Who [making this] is on crack and who isn’t?’. But, then again, look at Star Wars. It’s a fight between good and evil, just like BioShock. If we spin it the right way and get the right twist of innovation, we can make six parts of it, as Star Wars did.
But we have to be careful not to cash in.
Yes, yes you do. The only way I'd really feel comfy with so many BioShock games is with a smartly plotted story arc that actually supports such a lengthy series. But since Ken Levine is off doing his own thing and a largely new team is now working on the franchise, we can't know if that kind of tightly paced storytelling will be in place going forward. (Though, I'm generally optimistic about this first sequel, to be fair.)
There's a fine line between milking your cash cow and beating it to death. Luckily, 2K seems to grasp that particular wisdom. For the sake of BioShock's legacy, let's hope they don't choose to ignore it.
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