BioShock was both a "blessing and a curse" for sequel, says 2K

2K's vice president of marketing, Matt Gorman, and marketing director Tom Bass, stated during an interview that because of the massive success of BioShock, the team felt pressure trying to convince the public it needed to revisit Rapture.

Speaking with the[a]listdaily, Bass told the site that the success of the first outing was both a "blessing and a curse" for BioShock 2.

"One of the main things that was 'a blessing and a curse' was BioShock 1," he said. "You had many scores that were 100 and you had a lot of people who felt it was a contained, finite experience.

"So you had hardcore fans that weren't convinced that they needed a sequel and here we were two years later with BioShock 2. There were also people that never got on board and it was a challenge to detail to them they don't have to play the first to enjoy the second.

"It wasn't a given our fanbase would buy this, just like there's no guarantee that those who buy Modern Warfare would buy Modern Warfare 2.

"So we had campaigns for the hardcore and we had one for those who weren't fans, with the understanding that the same message would not work for everyone."

Apparently, it worked, because BioShock 2 has shipped 3 million units worldwide as of March, and while not has highly lauded as its predecessor, it's still gotten good reviews overall.

Via Industry Gamers.