Paradox assumes a loss of $37 million with Bloodlines 2

A Paradox Interactive announced the release of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 fell short of sales expectations, forcing the publisher to cancel SEK 355 million (about US$ 37 million) in development costs. Data from GameDiscoverCo suggest that the game only sold 121,500 copies on Steam, totaling a net revenue of approximately US$ 4 million. The title received "mixed" reviews on the platform and on Metacritic.

The CEO Frederik Wester took full responsibility for the outcome: "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is a strong vampire fantasy and we are pleased with the developers' work on the game," he said in a statement. "We had high expectations for a long time, as we saw that it was a good game with a strong IP in a genre with broad appeal. One month after the release, we can sadly see that the sales do not match our projections, which requires the cancellation."

Wester admitted that the responsibility lies with the publisher, which failed to measure the sales because the game was "outside of our core areas". Paradox assured that the two planned expansions for the game will be delivered. Looking to the future, the publisher stated that it will focus its capital on its "core segments" and evaluate the best way to develop the "strong catalog of World of Darkness brands".

The mixed response to the game was already anticipated, given its turbulent development history. Paradox originally approved the game in 2015, with Hardsuit Labs developing a sequel closer to the original RPG cult-favourite from 2004. After two delays and the departure of creatives Ka'ai Cluney and Brian Mitsoda, Paradox terminated the agreement with Hardsuit. The UK-based studio The Chinese Room took over the project, delivering a more linear narrative experience, which deviated from the original RPG formula.

The former creative director of The Chinese Room, Dan Pinchbeck, revealed on the Goth Boss podcast that the team anticipated the negative reaction from fans and tried to get Paradox to change the name of the title: “The tricky issue was Bloodlines 1. Are you making a sequel to Bloodlines 1? We used to sit there and have these planning sessions on how to make them not call it Bloodlines 2? [...] We can't do Bloodlines 2; there's not enough time, there's not enough money.”

Despite the stumble with Bloodlines 2, Paradox reported in its most recent business update a 20% increase in operating profit in the first nine months of the year, and predicted that Q4 would be the "most intense period in Paradox's history", driven by three releases and updates to its core titles.