Is the game still being developed?

[RagnarokCzD]

I think we didnt understand each other ...
Hardsuit labs is not refusing to hire people ... they are just also loosing people.
The difference is small, some can call it quibble, but its there.

 

[Andrew28475]

I think we didnt understand each other ...
Hardsuit labs is not refusing to hire people ... they are just also loosing people.
The difference is small, some can call it quibble, but its there.

Yes, I know, the problem is staff retention

 

[RagnarokCzD]

Problem maybe ...
But irellevant to question wich company can afford miss to hire talented personal.

 

[Andrew28475]

Problem maybe ...
But irellevant to question wich company can afford miss to hire talented personal.

obviously they don't want to work for hard lab

 

[RagnarokCzD]

Or they simply get better offer.
We can never know for sure.

 

[SarahGabriella]

6 month of silence from HSL and Paradox over CDPRs constant talking about their game then failing to deliver any day. I think VTMB2 will blow the Cyberpunk 2077 fans away with how well it will be done when its out because clearly theyre not rushing out the game nor are they telling us lies about the state of the game, they simply work on it until its finished.
I have more trust in Paradox than in most studios.

 

[RagnarokCzD]

I think VTMB2 will blow the Cyberpunk 2077 fans away with how well it will be done when its out

Lets hope so ...
I mean im not quite able, but lets.

nor are they telling us lies about the state of the game

Nor are they telling us truths about the state of the game.

I have more trust in Paradox than in most studios.

I would call it naive thrust ...
But anyway i kinda envy you that you are still capable of any kind of thrust towards them.

 

[Kliwarrior]

I have more trust in Paradox than in most studios.

I trust in Paradox , their last titles were regularly released about a year after the official announcement.
When HOI4 was delayed (1 more year) Johan himself explained what was happening and they never stopped to keep us informed about the state of the game up to the release.
I trust a little less in HSL....

 

[Had a dad]

The fact that a community manager nor moderator will jump in to say at least "yes, it's still being developed" is even more worrying.

Moderators don't work for Pdx, we're volunteers. That said, I haven't heard anything to make me think they stopped work on it, as I do have more communications with PI than the other mods.

 

[Kliwarrior]

Moderators don't work for Pdx, we're volunteers. That said, I haven't heard anything to make me think they stopped work on it, as I do have more communications with PI than the other mods.

Forum moderators are not Community Ambassadors .
You are right about the first ones (not affiliated with Pdox) but the latter ones are employees.

 

[Had a dad]

You are right about the first ones (not affiliated with Pdox) but the latter ones are employees.

I'm aware, as I am a moderator, if you read what I quoted, my answer is in reply to it...

 

[Kliwarrior]

whoops... sorry, I replyed to the post without looking at WHO you are...
Anyway what I wanted to say is that Moderator are.. moderators on the whole Pdox forums and do another job ( that is moderate the thread, look at posts for correctness of terms etc. etc.. ).
They arrive is something goes wrong.

Community ambassadors should have another task that is support the community, eventually answer to the questions and be the point of contact between the community itself and the game developers.
And here, it's clear that none of them is actively present since Feeona leave.

 

[Fourthspartan56]

There's no way it's not being developed, Paradox has put money into this and they presumably want something back.

As for what state that development is in... well your guess is as good as mine. But I see no reason for optimism.

 

[RagnarokCzD]

On the contrary, there is a way for Bloodlines to "not being developed" anymore ...
And that chance is incerasing every single day. :-/

You are right that they spend a lot of money to make it happened ... but it all depend on current state of development, of wich we have litteraly no idea ... if the game will actualy be done and released in 2021, there is small reason for them to even think about ending it ... but if not, wich is also possible, it all depends on how many more time (read as: money) will development need. :-/

Think about it:
As far as we know, Brian confessed in his goodbye letter in mid 2019, that he was working on this game for last five years ...
It was suppose by the plan release in early 2020 ... that makes whole development plan somewhere between 5 and 6 years.
The game was allready delayed, and the most optimistic people expect it in Q4 2021 ... that would make almost 2 years delay ... and that is allready 1/3 more time than expected ... i dont think that there will be 1:1 ratio between time and money, but lets petend there is, for clarity ... and if that game will be delayed do 2022, it would mean for them incerase amount of needed resources by 50% abowe original plan.
That is situation where every manager starts to ask question: Is this really worth futher investment?
Yes, you allways want some money back ... but you also want to keep your eye for the price, or you may end up investing more than you get in the end.

Of course there are three possible outcomes if this will be the case:
- The game could either be cancelled ... wich would make a lot of people angry and will make very bad reputation to both HSL and Paradox.
- The game could be released in rushed state ... kinda common practice, since today main profit in game industry is from pre-orders and therefore most people are paying blindly. But again, lot of bad reputation for both studios, not so much as in previous situation, since patches are still posibility, but still.
- And final option, in my opinion the most unlikely ... studio decide to risk a little and keep investing in the development to deliver the best product they can ... that would mean try to skimp as much money as they can, or redirect them from all other departments, just to this project ... it would lead to satisfied customers, but for company it would mean to work with less profit (or maybe even tiny loss) and hope for futher gain if the game will be sucessfull.
Think about World of Warcraft ... sure they hoped it would be sucess, but who could imagine it will be so HUGE sucess? Many other studios tryed to do the same, and many of them misserably failed.

 

[EvilHamster]

On the contrary, there is a way for Bloodlines to "not being developed" anymore ...
And that chance is incerasing every single day. :-/

You are right that they spend a lot of money to make it happened ... but it all depend on current state of development, of wich we have litteraly no idea ... if the game will actualy be done and released in 2021, there is small reason for them to even think about ending it ... but if not, wich is also possible, it all depends on how many more time (read as: money) will development need. :-/

Think about it:
As far as we know, Brian confessed in his goodbye letter in mid 2019, that he was working on this game for last five years ...
It was suppose by the plan release in early 2020 ... that makes whole development plan somewhere between 5 and 6 years.
The game was allready delayed, and the most optimistic people expect it in Q4 2021 ... that would make almost 2 years delay ... and that is allready 1/3 more time than expected ... i dont think that there will be 1:1 ratio between time and money, but lets petend there is, for clarity ... and if that game will be delayed do 2022, it would mean for them incerase amount of needed resources by 50% abowe original plan.
That is situation where every manager starts to ask question: Is this really worth futher investment?
Yes, you allways want some money back ... but you also want to keep your eye for the price, or you may end up investing more than you get in the end.

Of course there are three possible outcomes if this will be the case:
- The game could either be cancelled ... wich would make a lot of people angry and will make very bad reputation to both HSL and Paradox.
- The game could be released in rushed state ... kinda common practice, since today main profit in game industry is from pre-orders and therefore most people are paying blindly. But again, lot of bad reputation for both studios, not so much as in previous situation, since patches are still posibility, but still.
- And final option, in my opinion the most unlikely ... studio decide to risk a little and keep investing in the development to deliver the best product they can ... that would mean try to skimp as much money as they can, or redirect them from all other departments, just to this project ... it would lead to satisfied customers, but for company it would mean to work with less profit (or maybe even tiny loss) and hope for futher gain if the game will be sucessfull.
Think about World of Warcraft ... sure they hoped it would be sucess, but who could imagine it will be so HUGE sucess? Many other studios tryed to do the same, and many of them misserably failed.

Paradox have several times now said that they want to make this into a franchise, so if they make a tiny loss on the first game in a huge franchise it wont be a problem, better to make a tiny loss in the beginning to later have an entire franchise that is a goldmine, and after how CPPR also wanted for CP2077 to be the start of a franchise but rushed it out the gates and are still adding fuel to the fire that is killing those chances...I can at least say that my hype for Bloodlines 2 have increased thanks to CP2077 as it shows that the radio silence is not an absolute bad.

 

[Gezz]

Didn't the CEO of Paradox or something high-up say in an interview that the game was now being ported to the new consoles.

The plan was to get the game out before the new consoles, but now that is too late and such a job takes time.

 

[RagnarokCzD]

Paradox have several times now said that they want to make this into a franchise, so if they make a tiny loss on the first game in a huge franchise it wont be a problem, better to make a tiny loss in the beginning to later have an entire franchise that is a goldmine, and after how CPPR also wanted for CP2077 to be the start of a franchise but rushed it out the gates and are still adding fuel to the fire that is killing those chances...I can at least say that my hype for Bloodlines 2 have increased thanks to CP2077 as it shows that the radio silence is not an absolute bad.

You should definitely read post before reacting on it ...
Unless you find "50% incerase" to be "tiny loss".

 

[EvilHamster]

Didn't the CEO of Paradox or something high-up say in an interview that the game was now being ported to the new consoles.

The plan was to get the game out before the new consoles, but now that is too late and such a job takes time.

Add the entire pandemic on top of that, everyone is working from there homes on a regular basis, that must be a huge time thief when it comes to any deadline as you can't just ask a co-worker on the fly when/if you need help or anything else like that

 

[EvilHamster]

You should definitely read post before reacting on it ...
Unless you find "50% incerase" to be "tiny loss".

In the long run any loss is tiny if your goal is to create a franchise, CDPR tried to make a short term profit and to establish a franchise that is a long time profit.

Anything that is meant to be a long time profit should and can afford to be less profitable in the beginning as hunting for short time profits are not where you make money and keep a steady fanbase, the only companies that manages to keep focusing on short term profit are companies like Activision and EA (and we both know that they are having problems especially Activision).

If anything companies like Rockstar, Paradox (no Paradoxs DLC policy is not short time profit focus as it keeps old games alive even past there expiration date, yes I am looking at you EU4), Firax and Creative Assembly are proof that focusing on a long term profit can be just as if not more profitable than focusing on constantly making a profit by rushing things out the door.

 

[Kliwarrior]

Paradox acquired the World of Darkness IP in october 2015. I guess that the development started in early 2016, so with an initial planning of 4 years.
@RagnarokCzD is right ( assuming the worst case scenario of a release in early 2022 ) of a near +50% time (and costs).

But it's a terribly long time, after all ?
I don't know, actually.
RDR.2 (which by the way was a "sequel" so you don't have to start completely from scratch) started in 2010-11 to be released in 2018 for consoles and 2019 for PC. You may say "but Red Dead Redemption 2 is HUGE!" and actually it is.
CP2077 development started about 2016, to be released in late 2020. You all know the outcome: not a bad game but good-average , and clearly sub-par especially if you compare with the expectation of such a title.
What about Baldur's Gate 3 ? An early access after 3 years of development with the first chapter and about 1/5 of the map. Let's say other 3 years to have the full game? (and the developers can use dozen of thousands of "beta testers" and feedback to fix/improve stuff )

So, again and again, it's not the overall delay to be "absurd" , but all the marketing moves concentrates toward the 1Q/2020 release and than a sudden stop and the "port of the mists" approach: silence , shadows and darkness.