It seems that the wait for Hardsuit Labs’ Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will continue further into the new year than what was originally expected. That’s according to publisher Paradox Interactive’s CEO, Ebba Ljungerud, who spoke last month to Swedish publication Placera, saying that she did not believe Bloodlines 2 will release until the second half of 2021.
This is already on top of the news earlier in the year that the title was getting pushed back from its original 2020 release date. According to Ljungerud, a lack of development kits for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, compounded with the coronavirus pandemic, has affected not only Bloodlines 2‘s development, but also the industry’s overall productivity.
“To be able to develop for the next generation, you have to have development kits from the manufacturers. And I’m pretty sure that both Sony and Microsoft were affected by the pandemic because they did not have that many development kits,” said Ljungerud. She also said that unannounced Paradox titles would be subject to delays, but that delays are part of the gaming business, and that they are “something we are used to handling.”
And while Ljungerud is absolutely right in terms of the delays happening across the industry as a result of the pandemic and the adjustment to working remotely, it’s also nonetheless frustrating for those wanting to finally see a continuation of a series that holds a lot of potential. At the very least, fans can always check out the strong modding community, or check out some of the recently-released visual adventure games in the series, such as Coteries of New York.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is currently in development for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.