What was supposed to be the big open world comeback of the cult vampire RPG has instead turned into a textbook financial fiasco: Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has performed so poorly that Paradox openly admits it does not expect to recover its investment and has even pointed at its own mistakes as the main reason.

It has been a very long and messy road from the announcement of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 to its eventual release. So much time passed in between that the open world vampire RPG switched developers and had to weather constant rumors of outright cancellation. The final product failed to live up to what had been promised for years, launching to mixed reviews, and even a member of The Chinese Room admitted that the team was not really ready for a project of this scale. Now we also know that the Bloodlines 2 debacle has cost a fortune, and Paradox itself has acknowledged that it is a failure.

Just a month after launch, Paradox informed its investors that Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 had sold far below expectations, forcing the company to write off a large portion of its development budget as a loss: 355 million Swedish kronor, or roughly 37 million dollars. This accounting move signals that “the company does not expect to recoup this investment, and therefore officially reduces the project’s value in its accounts.”

This complicated situation has prompted Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester to take full responsibility and make it clear that The Chinese Room is not to blame, since the studio inherited a project that was already in trouble, and that the responsibility lies with Paradox as the publisher. In that context, the executive defended the work of the creative team but admitted that Paradox misjudged the commercial potential of a game that moved away from its historical specialty in large scale strategy titles.

Paradox Will Reconsider What To Do With The Vampire Universe

Even so, Paradox does not plan to walk away from the latest Vampire game overnight. Although Bloodlines 2 still has two expansions coming as part of its Premium Edition, the publisher’s immediate priority is to redirect its investment towards genres where it has historically been successful, such as Europa Universalis, while exploring how to further develop the World of Darkness brand.

This harsh reality for Paradox echoes comments from former creative director Dan Pinchbeck, who confirmed that the team tried to convince the publisher not to call the game Bloodlines 2, arguing that it was impossible to build a true, direct sequel with the available time and budget. “We cannot make Bloodlines 2; there is not enough time, there is not enough money,” he explained on the Goth Boss podcast.

Source: 3djuegos