Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 writer Paradox Interactive has written down SEK 355 million ($37.4 million) in capitalized improvement prices after the long-gestating sequel underperformed.
The Swedish writer mentioned the write-down relies on an up to date gross sales forecast made 30 days after the title launched.
Paradox mentioned it’s happy with the work of Bloodlines 2 developer Sumo Digital—which took cost of the undertaking in 2023 after a number of studios had been relieved of improvement duties—however confirmed the title has fallen wanting expectations.
“We’ve had excessive expectations for a very long time, since we noticed that it was recreation with a powerful IP in a style with a broad attraction. A month after launch we are able to sadly see that gross sales don’t match our projections, which necessitates the write-down,” mentioned Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester in a be aware to traders.
“The duty lies absolutely with us because the writer. The sport is exterior of our core areas, in hindsight it’s clear that this has made it troublesome for us to gauge gross sales. Going ahead, we focus our capital to our core segments and, on the similar time, we’ll consider how we greatest develop World of Darkness’ robust model catalogue sooner or later.”
Paradox nonetheless intends to launch two expansions for Bloodlines 2 within the coming 12 months. “Our post-release plan stays agency,” added Wester.
The previous few years have been chastening for Paradox, which final 12 months mentioned ‘overconfidence’ led to ‘undisciplined’ decision-making that finally resulted within the expensive cancellation of Life by You and the fractious launch of Cities Skylines II—the latter of which was lately handed over to a brand new developer after long-time custodian Colossal Order stepped away from the franchise.
