Narrative designer and PR frontman, Brian Mitsoda, along with creative director Ka’ai Cluney, have both been fired from the development of Hardsuit Labs’ Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. The announcement about their departure was made by publisher Paradox Interactive over on the official website on August 19th, 2020.
In the post they briefly explain that Mitsoda and Cluney are “no longer part” of the development team and that they’ve brought on creative consultant Alexandre Mandryka to head-up creative development of the game.
In the post they explain…
“Lead Narrative Designer Brian Mitsoda and Creative Director Ka’ai Cluney are no longer part of the team at Hardsuit Labs. This was a joint decision made by the leadership of Hardsuit Labs and Paradox Interactive.”
For those of you who don’t know, Mitsoda was one of the instrumental writers for the original Bloodlines, and some fans were excited that he was working on Bloodlines 2. The topic was discussed in the latest stream by Raging Golden Eagle, which you can check out below.
However, based on the quote it’s obvious that the heads at Hardsuit Labs and Paradox Interactive no longer wanted him on the team. According to IGN even Mitsoda was taken aback by the news, where he was quoted as saying…
“That this came as a shock to me is underselling it. The pride in the work, the fan expectations, and the support from co-workers who started out as fans kept me going through this long five years. And I’m incredibly disappointed and frustrated to say that this is where it ends for me on the project.
“I was not part of the conversations that led to the decision to delay production, and to my knowledge, there were no delays caused by the Bloodlines 2 narrative development. I am confident and proud of the work that I and my team put forward. When that work will be seen and what form it will take is unknown to me.”
Mitsoda and Kluney’s firing come shortly after Paradox announced that Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 had been delayed from late 2020 to sometime in early 2021.
Originally the game was due for release during the first quarter of 2020 after being revealed in early 2019. However, they delayed the game from Q1, 2020 to Q4, 2020.
In mid-August, 2020 they then announced that the game had been delayed from Q4, 2020 to early 20201.
The gameplay that they demonstrated so far has been less than impressive, and most of what we know about the game has centered around Leftist politics.
Anyone who criticized the game for said politics found themselves banned or censored from the Steam forums.
At this point with the original creators ousted, and Cara Ellison heading up the writing – yes, the same Cara Ellison that complained enough about the rape scene in Hotline Miami 2 that resulted in it being censored – there’s no hope for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 turning out decent.
When the most prominent part of a game’s market mindshare is themed around woke politics, then it’s a disaster waiting to be released.
(Thanks for the news tip durka durka and MaverickHL)