Paradox Interactive has postponed Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 indefinitely. Hardsuit Labs, has also been removed from the project.
During an earnings call, Paradox CEO Ebba Ljungerud explained that the pandemic caused the publisher to delay several “planned but unreported” projects in 2021. Bloodlines 2 was removed from the group of projects expected to be released this year. The game will also be finished by a completely new team.
Here is the official statement from Paradox Interactive:
GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE
As you have noticed, we’ve been keeping pretty quiet for a while. With this in mind, the first piece of news we have for you is to confirm that Bloodlines 2 is still in development.
Secondly, we have made the hard decision that Hardsuit Labs will no longer be leading the development of Bloodlines 2 -which also means that we will not be releasing in 2021 as previously planned. Since we cannot at this time communicate a new release date, we’ve also decided to stop accepting pre-orders for the time being.
This game is very important to us and it has been an ambitious project from the very start. In order to meet our goals for it, we’ve come to the conclusion that a change is needed and, as a result, more development time is required.
We’d like to take this opportunity to honor Hardsuit Labs for their efforts and thank them for their hard work on the project. The studio has done a tremendous job in laying the foundations for the game and we hope that you, the community, will also appreciate their contribution to Bloodlines 2.
We’re thankful for your continuous support throughout the game’s development. We understand how important this is to you, and we’d love to share more with you. As soon as we can, we’ll let you know what the future development team of Bloodlines 2 will look like.
PARADOX INTERACTIVE
The game’s lead author, Brian Mitsoda, was abruptly fired along with creative director Ka’ai Cluney, a week after the game’s delay in 2020. A few months later, senior story writer Cara Ellison also left the Bloodlines team. This all happened a year after the half-hour Gamescom demo. The demo was visibly bad at several points, but still held some potential.
The situation at the Hardsuit Labs has looked problematic ever since. removing the entire studio from the project, however, is really troubling news. Paradox has not revealed who will continue developing the game. Hopefully, after the game’s painful development, the new studio can deliver a Bloodlines 2 that lives up to expectations.
