Today, Paradox Interactive and Hardsuit Labs released an announcement regarding its highly anticipated World of Darkness game, and fans are in shock. Two members of the Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 team, Creative Director Ka'ai Cluney and Narrative Designer Brian Mitsoda, have been let go.
It was, apparently, a joint decision between the Swedish publisher and the studio developing the World of Darkness game. "We appreciate, and value, the contributions of Brian and Ka’ai," says the announcement. "We wish them both the best in their future endeavors." It then welcomed to the team Creative Consultant Alexandre Mandryka, whose experience includes Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Warhammer 40k.
Brian Mitsoda released a statement to Rock Paper Shotgun. "That this came as a shock to me is underselling it," he began, then described the experience of investing five years of his life into the development process. "I’ve been in charge of the narrative since the beginning, working long days and sometimes weekends to deliver a successor to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, and I’ve never been led to believe that I hadn’t succeeded."
Just last year Mitsoda and Kipling made the announcement delaying Bloodlines 2 together, talking about how the first Bloodlines had "famously launched too early," and they wanted to "ensure we would not repeat its mistakes." It seemed at the time to be a prudent move, and fans were more than willing to be patient for the successor to their favorite World of Darkness video game.
The sudden inexplicable termination of the two long-standing team members casts a dark shadow over the whole project. This decision may have something to do with the call last week to delay the release of Bloodlines 2 even further until 2021 because of the "quality bar and ambitions." Mitsoda said he was not part of the discussion that led to this particular delay, nor the decision to let them go.
Fans are harshly criticizing the move to replace Cluney and Mitsoda since it is a massive change that comes too close to the end of Bloodlines 2 development, saying it could be a bad sign for the game, or even the whole franchise going forward. World of Darkness relies heavily on narrative and cooperative storytelling, and it takes a certain kind of mind to conceive the complex network of plot lines and characters that fans have come to expect from Vampire: The Masquerade. To drop not just one, but two founding team members less than a year from release is foreboding, even without taking into account the multiple delays.
For the sake of Mitsoda at least, it may be a good idea to let this event pass with minimal fuss. "I’m a pretty private person," he wrote. "Press and crowds tend to heavily trigger my social anxiety." Being fired unexpectedly definitely doesn't help, but hopefully, he can be comforted by the fact a lot of fans are willing to come to his and Cluney's defense. "It’s meant a lot to hear from the Bloodlines community and I do hope that what’s finally delivered is as satisfying as I intended it to be."
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will release in 2021 on the PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun