Paradox pulls Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 from dev, cans pre-orders
Let that sink in.
Paradox has pulled development of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs, delayed the game indefinitely and cancelled new pre-orders.
In a statement, Paradox said "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".
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will now not release in 2021 as planned. Paradox said it has signed a new developer to pick up development duties, but it sounds like the wait for the game could be a long one.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has suffered a troubled development. It was initially due out during the first quarter of 2020 before being delayed twice, and has been dogged by controversy.
In June 2020, Paradox confirmed any content designer Chris Avellone had contributed to the game would be removed following allegations of sexual assault.
A shake-up of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2's development team was then hinted at in August 2020, when developer Hardsuit and Paradox announced a delay "to ensure the best player experience possible". Its statement also made references to "organisational changes" within the team that it would share at a later date.
Later that month, lead narrative designer Brian Mitsoda and creative director Ka'ai Cluney were fired from the action-RPG project, with the former saying the decision by Hardsuit and Paradox "came as a shock" and that he had "never been led to believe that [he] hadn't succeeded" in his role.
Then in October 2020, Paradox confirmed senior narrative designer Cara Ellison had left the project and was no longer working with Hardsuit.
Paradox confirmed Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 back at GDC 2019, where our Martin checked it out. It's the sequel to one of the cherished PC games of all time: 2004's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Hardsuit Labs is previously of Blacklight: Retribution fame.