3 years 1 month ago
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Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has been delayed out of 2021, with developer Hardsuit Labs no longer leading the game's development.
The news was revealed in publisher Paradox Interactive's 2020 year-end report. Paradox revealed it has "started a collaboration with a new studio partner to finish work on the game." In a statement issued by the Bloodlines 2 Twitter account, Paradox said that in order to meet its ambitions for the game, the publisher came to the conclusion that "a change is needed, and, as a result, more development time is required."
Paradox thanked Hardsuit Labs for its work on the game so far. "The studio has done a tremendous job in laying the foundations for the game and we hope that you, the community, will also appreciate their contribution to Bloodlines 2." The year-end report indicates that the studio will "finish" work on the game, meaning this doesn't seem to be a full restart for development.
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Bloodlines 2 was initially pegged to launch in Q1 2020, but was postponed in to later in the year, before being officially delayed into 2021 in August of 2020. This was just the start of the game's development troubles, as later that month, the game's Narrative lead and Creative Director were dropped from the project unexpectedly. The game's Senior Narrative Designer left shortly after in October.
The publisher can no longer pin down a release date for the game due to the development reshuffle, so Paradox has also decided to stop taking pre-orders for Bloodlines 2. "As soon as we can, we'll let you know what the future development team of Bloodlines 2 will look like," the statement reads. We'll be sure to let you know more about the fate of the game as the project develops under a new, unannounced studio.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.