Consolidated Bloodlines 2 Designer/Writer Firings and New Hires

[Bear Squared]

Since most of the threads about the troubles with the firings and hirings at Hardsuit and Paradox got locked because they went off-topic, I wanted to consolidate them here and urge people to please not veer off topic or start insulting others or the staff - as it's really hard to sort through the main Organization Changes sticky and find the specific writing and design firings and hiring updates.

Critiques and commentary are fine.

Plus, it'd be easier to have an actual thread that focuses on the design and writing (and things that impact those disciplines) vs. the much broader thread.

Brian Mitsoda was fired on July of 2020, Lead Writer at Hardsuit
Martin Cluney was apparently fired on July 2020, Creative Director of Hardsuit
Christian Schlutter, Paradox's RPG Director, was apparently fired in July/August of 2020 and already had a new job in August of 2020 for JAGER in Berlin
Cara Ellison resigned and left in September of 2020, Contract Senior Writer at Hardsuit

New hires:

Samantha Wallschlaeger, former Mass Effect: Andromeda writer, was hired to replace Brian Mitsoda in October of 2020, now new Lead Writer at Hardsuit
Alexandre Mandryka of Ubisoft was hired to replace Martin Cluney in August of 2020, now Creative Director at Hardsuit
A new senior writer definitely working on Bloodlines 2, Jordan Lemos, was announced in late October 2020 now Senior Writer at Hardsuit

Questions:
Not sure who is replacing Schlutter at Paradox or if there's a lead designer being brought in to assist the Creative Director, but there is a posting for a Lead Designer on Hardsuit, apparently.

Please keep the discussion focused on design and writing-specific organizational changes and shifts - for more general stuff, there's the Organization Changes in general in the Sticky Thread!

 

[Blood Nugget]

Cara Ellison is now at League of Geeks, hope she is happy there.

Mitsoda is on a new project, right? Good for him, hope he's recovering after what feels like a pretty brutal turn of affairs.

Then again, things may have been different behind the scenes, but if he was a nightmare to work with, then they shouldn't have squeezed all the hype they could out of him, it just feels hypocritical.

 

[Gezz]

wasn't there something about someone from Hare brained schemes getting a bigger role as well?

 

[Demon Investor]

wasn't there something about someone from Hare brained schemes getting a bigger role as well?

Kevin Maloney Senior Content Designer

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1319405314081345536

Was on lend before he joined. So maybe not really getting a bigger role, who knows other than him

 

[Bear Squared]

I don't know if that was a bigger role vs. the role being made permanent, which would make sense (especially if there's a lot more work to do, might as well settle in).

 

[mdqp]

Mitsoda is on a new project, right? Good for him, hope he's recovering after what feels like a pretty brutal turn of affairs.

I didn't hear anything about that. What's the new project about?

 

[Bear Squared]

I didn't hear anything about that. What's the new project about?

I don't know, I think it's a secret/in pre-production, probably both.

Am glad he's still working, though, the Bloodlines firing must have hit hard, but he kept on his feet. Good for him.

 

[mdqp]

I don't know, I think it's a secret/in pre-production, probably both.

Am glad he's still working, though, the Bloodlines firing must have hit hard, but he kept on his feet. Good for him.

Do we know because he mentioned it or did he get hired somewhere?

Yeah, I am glad for him as well, I hope he gets to work on an interesting project.

 

[Blood Nugget]

I know Cara is at League of Geeks, but has she said what she's working on?

 

[Bear Squared]

I know Cara is at League of Geeks, but has she said what she's working on?

I don't know, but I can't be bothered to check (I may have said this, but League of Geeks, as much as their stuff seems cool, feels like a step down from Bloodlines 2, but I'm guessing Ellison had a good reason to quit).

 

[Bear Squared]

And it looks like a new audio director is being hired as well. Maybe they are redoing sections of the game?

 

[Blood Nugget]

I hope not. Not just more delays, but I want as much of Mitsoda's work retained as possible with no Mass Effect: Andromeda contamination from the new lead writer.

 

[Bear Squared]

I think they're in too far to replace all of Mitsoda's work, but I think they'll likely do some cuts - it's still at least (probably more) six months from release or news of a release, but I suspect the new lead writer will want some changes made, even if they are "Mass Effect Andromeda" style changes, which is unfortunate.

 

[Blood Nugget]

In the Discord, there was mention of some writer that came on board for a week, then left? Was there any news of that? Was it the Mass Effect: Andromeda writer?

 

[Bear Squared]

In the Discord, there was mention of some writer that came on board for a week, then left? Was there any news of that? Was it the Mass Effect: Andromeda writer?

I don't know, but I don't think it was the Mass Effect: Andromeda writer, she's apparently still there.

It looks like the Lead Designer position they posted is still up, though, along with Audio Director. A few producer positions, too, but I really don't think hiring more managers is going to fix Hardsuit's problems.

 

[satyrlord]

"Mass Effect Andromeda" was crap

 

[RagnarokCzD]

I actualy quite enjoyed it ...
True, the gameplay was repetetive, story kinda dull, and clearly unfinished for continue, wich will probably never happen. :-/
But on the other hand, combat was great, idea of jetpack was awesome, and scenery was breathtaking ... and then there was that one mission in space with changing gravity, that was funny as hell.

It certainly suffered a lot from overhype about mass effect sequel. :-/
I would never say it was anyhow awesome game, but it certainly was not so bad as people make it sound theese days. :-/

 

[Bear Squared]

I actualy quite enjoyed it ...
True, the gameplay was repetetive, story kinda dull, and clearly unfinished for continue, wich will probably never happen. :-/
But on the other hand, combat was great, idea of jetpack was awesome, and scenery was breathtaking ... and then there was that one mission in space with changing gravity, that was funny as hell.

It certainly suffered a lot from overhype about mass effect sequel. :-/
I would never say it was anyhow awesome game, but it certainly was not so bad as people make it sound theese days. :-/

My only issue is I don't want the writing and story work in BL2 to be of Mass Effect: Andromeda quality. When I heard Samantha Wallschaelger was replacing Mitsoda (which I think was a bad move to announce so soon after he was fired), I was very, very sad for what comes next in Bloodlines 2.

 

[RagnarokCzD]

I completely understand that and agree ...
BUT (and its a big butt) there is two tiny whiny problems in this predicament:
- The only person who will ever be able to know how much of the story was changed, will be Brian himself (and his team), and im affraid that he will never be able to tell us. :-/
- She didnt write ME:A allone, so we actualy cant even know how big part of that story is her work ... she could be either horrible writer, or excelent writer with horrible narrative leader. Chances are 50:50. :-/

So our options right now is either thrust Paradox & HSL no matter who is working on this game that they will supervise the process to create best game possible ... or not.
(ofc. talking only about Pre-order ... we can also wait for some rewievs and buy it later, but i presume that is not the case since then there is no reason to stress about any outcome)

 

[Kliwarrior]

I completely understand that and agree ...
BUT (and its a big butt)

“No pun intended”