Paradox Takes the Blame for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 Sales Flop, Announces $37 Million Write-Down

Publisher Paradox Interactive has contiguous taken the blasted for the mediocre income of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2.

The agelong successful improvement sequel launched successful October and was met with a ‘mixed’ Steam idiosyncratic reappraisal response, with fans saying it failed to conscionable the expectations they had for the sequel to Troika’s 2004 cult classical Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. IGN’s Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 reappraisal returned a 7/10. We said: “Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 takes different flawed but unsocial and singular wound astatine the jugular, with plentifulness to emotion and loathe alike, but I surely enjoyed my clip arsenic an elder vampire astatine the precise least.”

Now, aft 30 days connected sale, Paradox has issued a enactment to fiscal markets signalling a write-down valued astatine 355 cardinal SEK (approx. $37 million) of capitalized improvement costs for Bloodlines 2. This write-down, Paradox said, was based connected an updated income forecast present it has had a period to look astatine Bloodlines’ commercialized performance.

Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive, said the blasted for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2’s nonaccomplishment laic astatine the publisher’s door, not that of The Chinese Room, which had been drafted successful to prevention the task aft years of improvement hell.

“Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is simply a beardown vampire phantasy and we are pleased with the developers’ enactment connected the game,” Wester said.

“We’ve had precocious expectations for a agelong time, since we saw that it was a bully crippled with a beardown IP successful a genre with a wide appeal. A period aft merchandise we tin sadly spot that income bash not lucifer our projections, which necessitates the write-down. The work lies afloat with america arsenic the publisher. The crippled is extracurricular of our halfway areas, successful hindsight it is wide that this has made it hard for america to gauge sales. Going forward, we absorption our superior to our halfway segments and, astatine the aforesaid time, we’ll measure however we champion make World of Darkness’ beardown marque catalogue successful the future.”

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has 2 expansions planned arsenic portion of the game’s Premium Edition, and Paradox said it remains committed to delivering them. “Our post-release program remains firm; we volition present updates and the promised expansions to the crippled successful the coming year,” Wester added.

Swedish crippled institution Paradox’s main absorption is connected expansive strategy games, which person proven enormously palmy implicit the years. Games specified arsenic Stellaris, Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings, and Cities: Skylines person each enjoyed large sales, and, successful total, Paradox games person six cardinal players each month.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, however, falls extracurricular that halfway expansive strategy genre, and ever looked similar it would conflict upon release. And portion its improvement occupation began years ago, it suffered issues close up to launch. In September, a period earlier release, Paradox and The Chinese Room announced that the Lasombra and Toreador clans would beryllium disposable successful the basal Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 acquisition pursuing a backlash from players.

Paradox announced Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 each the mode backmost successful 2019 with then-developer Hardsuit aiming for a Q1 2020 merchandise window. That, of course, ne'er happened, arsenic Paradox would spell connected to denote an indefinite hold alongside Hardsuit's departure from the project. The Chinese Room was past announced arsenic its caller developer successful 2023.

In a caller interrogation with the Goth Boss podcast, erstwhile originative manager Dan Pinchbeck said the improvement squad tried to enactment retired however to get Paradox to not call the crippled Bloodlines 2.

"The tricky question astir it was Bloodlines 1," Pinchbeck said. "Are you making a sequel to Bloodlines 1? We utilized to beryllium determination and person these readying sessions of however bash we get them to not telephone it Bloodlines 2? That feels similar the astir important happening we bash here, to travel astatine this and accidental this isn't Bloodlines 2. We can't marque Bloodlines 2; there's not capable time, there's not capable money.”

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].