Paradox Interactive has introduced it’s making a multi-million greenback write-down of developments prices for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 after poor gross sales.
After quite a few delays the sport was lastly launched on October 21, however Paradox says an up to date gross sales forecast made 30 days after launch suggests it received’t hit the numbers it anticipated.
In consequence, it’s determined to make a non-cash write-down of 355 million SEK ($37.4 million), which suggests it’s lowering the worth it beforehand assigned to the cash spent on creating the sport.
The choice is an acknowledgement that the funding within the sport’s improvement was value lower than it thought it could be, and on account of the write-down solely 40 million SEK ($4.2 million) of the sport’s improvement value will stay recognised as an asset on Paradox’s stability sheet.
The seemingly results of this might be a major loss within the firm’s subsequent monetary outcomes, which Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester says is the fault of the writer, not developer The Chinese language Room.
“Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a robust vampire fantasy and we’re happy with the builders’ work on the sport,” Wester mentioned in an announcement.
“We’ve had excessive expectations for a very long time, since we noticed that it was a great sport with a robust IP in a style with a broad enchantment. A month after launch we will sadly see that gross sales don’t match our projections, which necessitates the write-down.
“The accountability lies absolutely with us because the writer. The sport is exterior of our core areas, in hindsight it’s clear that this has made it troublesome for us to gauge gross sales.
“Going ahead, we focus our capital to our core segments and, on the identical time, we’ll consider how we greatest develop World of Darkness’ robust model catalogue sooner or later.”
Regardless of the sport’s sluggish begin, Wester insists that the sport’s continued post-launch improvement, which incorporates two expansions deliberate as a part of its Premium Version, will nonetheless be honoured.
“Our post-release plan stays agency,” he mentioned. “We are going to ship updates and the promised expansions to the sport within the coming 12 months.”
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 was met with a middling vital reception at launch, with a present Metacritic rating of 63.
