Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has failed to meet the expectations of publisher Paradox Interactive and so, it’s being written down to the value of SEK 355 million (AUD $57.347 million). Per Paradox, the decision was based on the sales forecast made 30 days after the game was released, which indicated significant underperformance.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 write down – quick links
What happened to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2?
The news is another blow for the long-gestating game, which recently found its way to launch after a development period of around ten years. In that time, it suffered major setbacks and delays, and eventually, it was taken from original developer Hardsuit Labs and given to The Chinese Room for completion.
Whispers dogged its development cycle, with early speculation and reports of constant change flagging the game as a potential failure, painting it into a corner. As early previews arrived and critics expressed concern about the game’s direction and gameplay, those whispers only grew in intensity, fuelling a lukewarm launch.
While the game had its appreciators, and reviews were decidedly mixed, it appears even those who had been keen for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 had their minds made up by the long wait and relative lack of excitement around release.
Paradox Interactive blames itself for low sales of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
For its part, Paradox Interactive has taken the blame for poor sales, although it maintains confidence in the final product and what developers were able to achieve.
‘Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a strong vampire fantasy and we are pleased with the developers’ work on the game,’ Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive said. ‘We’ve had high expectations for a long time, since we saw that it was a good game with a strong IP in a genre with a broad appeal.’
‘A month after release we can sadly see that sales do not match our projections, which necessitates the write-down. The responsibility lies fully with us as the publisher. The game is outside of our core areas, in hindsight it is clear that this has made it difficult for us to gauge sales. Going forward, we focus our capital to our core segments and, at the same time, we’ll evaluate how we best develop World of Darkness’ strong brand catalogue in the future.’
As noted, Paradox Interactive is now re-evaluating its partnership with Vampire: The Masquerade rights holder World of Darkness, to figure out next steps or otherwise analyse what went wrong in the ten-year development cycle of Bloodlines 2.
The next steps for Paradox will likely be more reflective, after a year of significant challenges and major changes. Recently, the company announced a split with long-time partner Colossal Order, transferring ownership of Cities: Skylines 2 to a new developer.
Prior to this, the company also announced the cancellation of its highly-anticipated life sim, Life by You, which it partially attributed to ‘overconfidence’ and undisciplined decision-making, which it aimed to address.
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