With some 1.5 million copies of BioShock shipped to retailers and Take-Two boasting the "All-Time Highest Xbox 360 Ranking on Metacritic" for the game, it would seem that a sequel is a lock. In today's conference call discussing the company's third quarter earnings, Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick said of the game's success "Clearly, we have a new hit franchise on our hands." Zelnick was pretty pleased with BioShock, 2K Games and his colleagues, telling the collected analysts that they're "proving our ability to diversify Take-Two's product portfolio."

Zelnick dropped the F-word later when discussing the now-gen Grand Theft Auto development cycle. "BioShock is shaping up to be a very important franchise" said the chairman, underscoring the importance of the game to Take-Two. Zelnick added that he expects a "three year schedule" for the BioShock IP.

Set your clocks for 2010, kids. BioShock II will hopefully be just about wrapped up by then.

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