*insert comment about something sucking*
Paradox Iteractive has made the decision to remove Hardsuit Labs from the development of Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.
The news comes from Paradox’s 2020 year-end report. And, if you thought this related to COVID, congratulations, you earned yourself a cookie.
At the same time as we have had a record year, the ongoing corona pandemic has, as mentioned before, had a mixed effect on our business. The inflow of new players was during the beginning of the pandemic high, which initially had a positive impact on our sales, but the increased player base also creates a long-term remaining value. At the same time, our studio organization in particular has found it difficult to maintain the usual production pace. We have therefore chosen to postpone several planned but not communicated releases to ensure the right quality, which postpones the release dates during 2021. For us, it is crucial that our games are well received by the players, so we always choose, if possible, to give our development studios the time required to achieve our quality goals.
This also affects the development of Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, where we communicated a delay during the third quarter of 2020. We have now chosen to postpone the release of the game further, and we will not be launching the game in 2021. We have also decided that Hardsuit Labs will no longer be leading the development of Bloodlines 2, and we have started a collaboration with a new studio partner to finish work on the game. This has been a difficult decision, but we are convinced that it is the right way forward to do the game justice.
The Bloodlines 2 Twitter account also issued a statement saying much the same, and thanking Hardsuit Labs for their work on the game.
It’s worth noting that Paradox plans to finish work on the game, rather than start over. So while the decision to remove Hardsuit seems a bit raw to the observer, their work on the game will still be there. It’s entirely within the realm of possibility that the ongoing pandemic. After all, it was planned for a 2020 Q1 release, but the best laid plans…
On the other hand, it is the sequel to a game that had a notoriously troubled development cycle. So its hard not to see where things could potentially go off the rails.
Source: IGN
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