2K will reveal a new game from one of its “biggest and most beloved franchises” at Summer Game Fest – What could it be?

Summer
Game
Fest
is
less
than
a
month
away
now,
and
with
it
comes
the
promise
of
big
announcements
and
surprises
from

its
55
confirmed
partners.

One
of
those
partners
is
2K
Games,
and
the
official
Summer
Game
Fest
Twitter
account
is
teasing
that
2K
intends
on
debuting
the
next
game
in
one
of
its
“biggest
and
most
beloved
franchises.”

Zero
hints
were
given
as
to
what
it
could
be.
So
let’s
take
a
few
educated
guesses.

First,
there’s
the
Mafia
franchise.
This
one
tops
the
list
because
last
month

a
fairly
reliable
source
by
the
name
Kurakasis
stated
that
they
heard
that
Take-Two,
the
parent
company
of
2K,
was
gearing
up
for
a
Mafia
announcement.

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“I
can
tell
you
that
a
few
days
ago,
Take-Two
began
preparations
for
an
announcement
regarding
the
Mafia
series”
wrote
Kurakasis.

A
new
entry
in
the
Mafia
series
has
been
rumoured
for
years,

but
was
officially
confirmed
in
2022.
Various
reports
have
indicated
that
it
could
be
a
prequel
to
the
first
Mafia
game,
set
in
Italy.

The
last
time
we
saw
a
new
entry
in
the
Mafia
series
was
2016
when
Mafia
3
launched
to
a
fairly
lukewarm
critical
reception.
Despite
it
scoring
lower
than
its
predecessor,
Mafia
3
vastly
outsold
Mafia
2,
shipping
4.5m
copies
in
just
the
first
week.
It
went
on
to
sell
7m
copies
by
2020,
indicating
that
there’s
a
lot
of
people
who
enjoy
the
Mafia
franchise.

The
next
game
on
the
suspect
list
is
a
new
entry
in
the
Borderlands
series.
Developer
Gearbox
was
recently
bought
from
Embracer
by
Take-Two.
2K
had
previously
handled
all
the
publishing
rights
for
the
Borderlands
series.

The
last
time
we
heard
from
Borderlands
was
actually
a
spinoff
in
2022
called
Tiny
Tina’s
Wonderlands,
which
took
the
looting
and
shooting
of
the
main
series
and
combined
it
with
a
Dungeons
&
Dragons
parody.
However,
when
Take-Two
bought
Gearbox
a
few
months
back,
it
also
announced
that
the
next
entry
in
the
Borderlands
series
was
in
development.
While
it
was
not
specifically
referenced
as
Borderlands
4,
it
seems
like
a
fairly
safe
bet
that
it
is.
And
since

Borderlands
3
was
launched
in
2019,
it
would
be
about
the
right
time
for
a
new
entry.

Plus,
Borderlands
is
easily
the
biggest
franchise
in
2K’s
arsenal
if
you
don’t
count
their
sports
titles.

Then
there’s
BioShock.
2K
formally
announced
way
back
in
2019
that
a
new
BioShock
game
was
in
development
by
an
internal
team
called
Cloud
Chamber.
Boasting
several
members
of
the
original
BioShock
team,
but
not
the
creative
madman
that
is
Ken
Levine,
Cloud
Chamber
was
setup
specifically
to
craft
the
next
game
in
the
BioShock
franchise
which
saw
its
last
release
with
BioShock
Infinite
in…2013!?
Are
you
shitting
me?
God,
I
feel
old.

At
the
time,
2K
stated
that
BioShock
would
be
in
development
for
“for
the
next
several
years”.
Since
then
we’ve
heard
practically
nothing
from
2K
or
Cloud
Chamber.
There
have
been
numerous
insider
reports
but
nothing
concrete,
leading
people
to
wonder
if
2K
is
just
keeping
it
under
wraps
for
maximum
dramatic
effect,
or
if
its
in
development
trouble.

Moving
on,
we
have
two
strategy
series
that
2K
publish,
both
of
which
could
easily
be
described
as
“beloved”.
I
am,
of
course,
talking
about
Civilization
and
XCOM.

In
recent
years
the
XCOM
series
has
been
reimagined
in
several
ways,
such
as
the

small-scale
XCOM:
Chimera
Squad
in
2020
which
acted
as
a
sequel
to
XCOM
2’s
War
of
the
Chosen
expansion.
With
that
said,
developer
Firaxis
said
Chimera
Squad
was
“neither
a
sequel
or
expansion
to
XCOM
2”
and
instead
positioned
it
as
a
spin-off
exploring
new
gameplay
and
story
ideas.
The
smaller
scale
and
smaller
price-tag
were
intended
to
help
bring
in
a
new
audience.

The
last
proper
XCOM
game
was
XCOM
2
in
2016,
so
its
a
while
since
we’ve
seen
the
brutally
hard
strategy
series.
However,
I’m
not
sure
2K
view
XCOM
as
one
of
its
“biggest”
franchises,
so
I
think
the
chances
XCOM
3
being
announced
are
slim.
As
much
as
I
adore
the
series,
it
doesn’t
feel
like
2K
has
the
same
level
of
confidence
in
it.

I
think
a
new
Civilization
game
is
the
more
likely
of
the
two
2K
strategy
franchises.
Civilization
VI
came
out
in
2016
and
was
supported
by
a
wealth
of
expansions,
with
Firaxis
finally
ending
support
just
a
couple
of
years
ago.
Since
then
the
company
has
struggled
a
little,
releasing
the

excellent
Marvel’s
Midnight
Suns
which
sadly
didn’t
find
a
lot
of
commercial
success.
Firaxis
has
also
been
hit
by
layoffs
since
then.
But
a
new
Civilization
game
could
be
the
boost
they
need,
and
we

learned
in
2023
that
Civilization
7
is
indeed
being
worked
on,
as
confirmed
by
Firaxis
themselves.

Ultimately,
it
comes
down
to
either
Mafia
or
Borderlands,
in
my
opinion.
In
terms
of
just
sheer
popularity,
a
Borderlands
4
would
make
the
most
sense
for
the
grand
stage
of
Summer
Game
Fest,
but
the
recent
rumours
of
a
new
Mafia
title
are
compelling.
When
you
get
down
to
it
though:
Borderlands,
Mafia,
BioShock
and
Civilization
are
all
possible.
There’s
been
enough
time
between
entries
in
all
of
these
series
for
new
games
to
be
ready,
and
we
know
that
are
new
games
in
development
for
each
of
them.
XCOM
seems
the
least
likely
of
the
bunch.

For
the
sake
of
having
some
fun,
I’ll
pick
just
one:
Mafia
5
will
be
shown
at
Summer
Game
Fest.
The
recent
rumours
are
compelling
enough
to
make
me
thing
its
the
most
likely
candidate.