Two of what were supposed to be 2K’s heavy hitters this year, BioShock 2 and Mafia II, were pushed back to 2010 about a month ago. At the time of the announcement, the reason given for the BioShock 2 delay was so the title could have “additional development time,” but with several titles being pushed back to stay clear of the crowded holiday season, 1UP though it would be a good idea to ask 2K president Christoph Hartmann if that’s really the case or whether strategic market placement could’ve had something to do with the decision.

“Only quality. We want to ship the highest quality games we can make, and while I’m sure we’re not going to get it right all the time, we’re going to kill ourselves to get there,” Hartmann said and pointed out that 2K isn’t afraid of any launch windows or going up against heavy competition, “like X-Men and Harry Potter on the same weekend — you’ll go out and see two movies rather than just one, so I’m not afraid of it if you have the quality there.”

So the answer couldn’t be more clear. At the end of the day, “The games were just not ready, and it was simply a quality issue.”