During a conference call discussing quarterly financial results, Take-Two has officially announced that BioShock 2 is in the works. The original underwater shootfest was developed at 2K Boston, but this time around the rains have been handed to the newly formed 2K Marin studio in northern California. The sequel, which has been rumored to be a prequel, has been given a Q4 2009 release date.

With a new studio working on the project, it begs the question, will 2K Boston’s creative director Ken Levine be involved in the development process? The answer is yes, though in what capacity is not yet known. What we do know is that 2K Boston, Ken’s home studio, is said to be working on another all new intellectual property. So how much time Ken will have to give to the game is also unknown at this point.

A phone conference is kind of an odd way to announce a title of this magnitude. One would think the game would at least get the usual cinematic CG teaser trailer treatment that sequels to popular titles often do. But, perhaps this was done quickly to rise the value of the Take-Two even more and throw another obstacle at EA’s evil acquisition plans.