BioShock is coming to an iOS device near you, and in the wake of this massive announcement, we sat down with Brian Lowe, Senior Producer at 2K to dig a little deeper into the decision to port the game, a possible future Android port, and the challenges that went into bringing the title to mobile gamers everywhere.
What led to the decision to port BioShock to iOS?
There is a growing demand for premium, core gaming experiences on the mobile platform, as showcased by the success of XCOM: EU on mobile. With such a strong following and positive reputation in the industry as one of the best first-person-shooters of all-time, it would be a missed opportunity for us to not have looked into bringing BioShock to a mass audience through the convenience of their mobile devices.
What makes iOS the ideal platform for the game, and how did you address concerns over controls? Will the game work with third party peripherals?
As I mentioned above, there is definitely a growing demand for premium, core gaming experiences on the mobile platform, as showcased by the success of XCOM: EU on mobile. Unlike XCOM however, BioShock will be a FPS, BioShock will feature dual-stick controls that have been optimized for iOS/touch-screen devices, in addition to full Made for iPhone (MFi) game controller support. While developing the touch controls, a key design goal was making sure that the Weapons and Plasmids worked well together.
Did you decide on price, and will there be any DLC? Do you expect the game to sell given the popularity of free-to-play in the mobile realm?
This will be a premium game, although we have not announced a price point just yet. As for DLC, t is always a possibility, but we do not have any plans to do so at this time.
Here's the inevitable question: what about Android?
We are focused on applying our resources towards providing a high-quality gaming experience for iOS gamers. Anything is possible, but we have no immediate plans to bring BioShock to Android at this time.
Will you look at porting BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite to mobile platforms as well?
Right now, we're only focused on making the original BioShock a successful mobile game. That said, anything can happen.
Updates play such a huge role on the App Store, from stability fixes to DLC. These days, players expect more content for free. How will you address that?
For one initial purchase price, BioShock on iOS is nearly identical to the PC and console version of the game as no game content was removed, and all enemies and enemy encounters play out exactly like they did in the original PC version. So, players will get a full AAA PC game on the convenience of their iPad. Given the size of the app, we likely we not be adding new DLC, but we will of course provide ongoing support to fans to make sure that the game is running optimally on their devices.
What challenges did you experience in bringing the game to mobile?
A lot of hard work went into porting Unreal 2.5 to mobile, and due to power and file size limitations of the hardware, we had to make some minor changes to the graphical features (such as removing dynamic shadows, or changing the way fog is displayed). But all of the content from the first game is there, so players will still get the full, authentic BioShock experience.
