According to a report from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Cloud Chamber, the studio that's working on the next game in the BioShock series that we currently know as BioShock 4, is laying off some of its staff, and former general manager of the Diablo franchise, Rod Fergusson, will be taking over as Cloud Chamber's studio head.
Schreier shared the news in a quick post on Bluesky, and also pointed out that Fergusson is seemingly finding himself in a similar position compared to the last time he worked on the BioShock series, since he was brought in at the eleventh hour to help cobble together BioShock Infinite when it was facing development struggles.
This report also follows Schreier's reporting from the beginning of August, when he shared that the game was in development turmoil and had undergone major leadership changes after it failed a milestone check-in with Take-Two.
Fergusson is taking over for Kelley Gilmore, who was removed from her role as studio head and pushed into a position on the publishing side of things earlier this month. It's unclear how much of the team Cloud Chamber is losing, but all these changes, save for Fergusson coming in, don't exactly spell good things to come for BioShock 4's development.
At least Fergusson has the chance to be a bright light for Cloud Chamber. He has a reputation for being able to save projects stuck in development hell, after famously doing it for BioShock Infinite, Gears of War, and Diablo IV.
On X (formerly Twitter), Fergusson shared the news that he'd be returning to the series as the new head of BioShock at 2K, saying that it's a meaningful moment for him because BioShock is a series that "means a lot" to him, but understands that he's coming in at a difficult time.
"While I’m excited to get started in the coming weeks, I recognize the studio restructuring is a difficult time for the team. I’m deeply grateful for the work done so far, and I’m committed to building a BioShock game we’ll be proud of and that our players will love," Fergusson wrote.
BioShock 4 has been in the works in one way or another since approximately 2015, and with no near end in sight for what's clearly been a marred development period, there's now a bit of hope for the game's future. Right now, it seems like if anyone can fix the issues it is having, Rod Fergusson is the one to do it.
Let's hope he can keep earning his reputation as a 'closer' to troubled projects, with the help of the rest of the remaining team at Cloud Chamber.
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