Paradox Interactive has announced a further delay for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. The Chinese-Room-developed action-RPG sequel will no longer meet its previously announced “first half of 2025” release window and is instead now aiming to launch in October this year.
“Paradox Interactive and The Chinese Room are committed to delivering this game, and we believe that ensuring great technical quality is more important than sticking to a specific date,” Paradox explained in a post on the Bloodlines 2 website. “The game is currently in a late development stage, and feedback from the community has been taken into account during this time. The Chinese Room is working hard on quality assurance to ensure it is stable and free of bugs that could disrupt the player experience.”
“Bloodlines 2 will launch in October 2025 when the game meets the technical quality standards that you, our fans, rightfully expect and deserve”, Paradox added in its statement, noting an exat release date will be shared at a later date.
Today’s news marks a second delay for Bloodlines 2 under The Chinese Room’s stewardship , after its release was moved out of its original “late 2024” launch window into the “first half of 2025”. At the time, Paradox said the game was in “a good enough place that we could have maintained our planned release window”, but that pushing it back would “create a quality assurance buffer” and give The Chinese Room time to “prioritise polish.”
Paradox has, of course, faced a string of high-profile development disasters in recent years, leading to CEO Fredrik Wester candid admission last October that, “It is clear that we have made the wrong calls in several projects… and this must change.” Bloodlines 2 was almost cancelled under the watch of its previous studio before The Chinese Room took over the project, while 2023’s The Lamplighters’ League was enough of a flop that Paradox opted to part ways with its developer Harebrained Schemes.
Since then, Paradox has cancelled its Sims-like Life By You, indefinitely delayed Prison Architect 2, and struggled to deal with the ramifications of Cities: Skylines 2 catastrophically premature launch. Cities: Skylines 2’s troubled console release still appears to be some way off, for instance, following developer Colossal Order’s admission it was struggling to overcome “hardware limitations” – despite having originally been targeting a release in 2023.