Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 was clearly high on many gamers wish lists for the year, but sadly it has turned out to be a disappointment for many. A sequel to the 2004 classic game, it still boasted a solid crime story set in modern-day Seattle. But its bland RPG elements and poor gameplay, plus a buggy launch, most have put off many players since its release in late October.
And now its publisher Paradox Interactive has revealed via a note on its website that the game did not sell as expected in its first month in the market. So much so in fact, that the Swedish company has announced a write down of MSEK 355 (which is about $37 million US dollars) in connection to the game, meaning it does not expect to recoup Bloodlines 2’s development costs.
Paradox, a game publisher whose shares trade in the Stockholm stock market, also took full responsibility for the game’s failure.
“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”, said the company via president Fredrik Wester.
The man is right here, as the company is well-known for its simulation and strategy games like Cities: Skylines and the Europa Universalis series, the latest instalment of which recently hit the shelves.
But perhaps Bloodlines 2’s failure was something of an inevitability despite this, given that it spent a considerable amount of time in development hell, with British studio The Chinese Room inheriting the project from another developer. The probably did not have the means to make a big open-world vampire game which is also the sequel to a bona fide classic, with studio co-founder Dan Pinchbeck revealing this in an interview (via PC Gamer).
“We can’t make Bloodlines 2, we can’t make Skyrim, but we can make Dishonored. And if we look at something which is not an RPG and is not fully open world, but is really tightly focused and true to the mythos, and it’s a good ride, we get a Bloodlines title out in the world”, said Pinchbeck in the interview.
However, some players likely still found Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 appealing (me included) and will be looking forward to the expansions, which Paradox CEO Wester said are still in the pipeline. Both of these add to the game’s story, include new combat mechanics, and also a new outfit for the main game’s protagonist Phyre.
The expansions (titled “Loose Cannon” and “The Flower & the Flame”) feature new protagonists though, meaning players get to experience the new story content from different perspectives, which could certainly be interesting. These are expected to arrive by the second quarter of 2026 according to Paradox’s website.
The upcoming expansions plus all the patches and updates the game has been receiving might help redeem Bloodlines 2 somewhat, but sadly for Paradox, fans of the original and those who were looking forward to this sequel to the classic vampire game, it has failed to set the world alight this year.