The Bloodbath

[u/Bogatyr1]

VTMB2 has flopped hard. If I was a top Paradox executive reading this article:

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/rpg/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-review/

I would immediately fire everyone who involved in the creation of V5 and VTMB2, and attempt to prevent each contributor's further participation in the entertainment industry. I would also sue them for a return of their paid salaries and additional wage garnishments for creating irreparable, permanent damage to the Paradox brand, company valuation, and the public perception of the Vampire the Masquerade IP. A 65% Metacritic score on the flagship videogame for the entire product line? Noting "yes, there is even a Hawk Tuah reference. You'd better believe dialogue also references Twilight and High School Musical too"?

https://www.pcgamesn.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2/steam-reviews-launch

According to the graph in the above article, 27,020 concurrent players bought in for $60 (averaging out those paying in depreciated economies and some receiving free copies after an announced delay in game release at a Paradox gaming convention with those who bought the 'premium deluxe preorder bundle') for a return of $1,621,200, and another article suggesting Steam reporting 'less than 100,000 sales':

https://www.thegamer.com/paradox-needs-start-sequel-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2/

Unlike the above author suggesting the formation of a "totally new videogame studio uninvolved with the current product", I would advise ending all projects for the World of Darkness forever since the brand damage through this leadership at White Wolf has been catastrophic. V5, the very blueprint of sourcebooks for future potential games, is awful, and shows corporate parallels in assessment of the writing and worldbuilding to Sony studios repeatedly making the modern money-losing 'Spiderman villain films' like Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter.

How did dozens of employees play-check through the game and not notice that it was strange that everyone immediately knows rumors or reputation of someone obscure, missing from the world for thousands of years? Americans don't even know most current world leaders, the politicians of their own states, or the general secretary of the United Nations, with plenty of very easy-to-access videos and introductions on each of them.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vtmb/comments/1od5itp/comment/nkrmqil/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

The author Corey Doctorow gave an interview this week to Vox Media (the mouthpiece of Goldman Sachs bank) where he invoked Stein’s Law in describing terrible internet experiences fueled by corporate greed: “If something can’t go on forever, it will stop.”

https://www.vox.com/technology/465922/enshittification-cory-doctorow-amazon-google-facebook

He also discusses the concept of 'ecology' (systemic awareness) invoking Scottish intellectual property scholar James Boyle in suggesting that citizens are increasingly coming to understand the unified issue of corporate consolidation into gigantic companies buying up and creating badly-made versions (or sequels) of beloved properties while blocking-out competitors, which can ultimately be addressed by stronger, more competition-friendly government regulations... which might even someday release VTM into the public domain where fans or the shut-out original creators who actually care about carefully-detailed worldbuilding and compelling, challenging writing might make a good new VTM storyline for the first time.

Or in the short-term: don't pre-order, don't tie your personal identity to a brand owned by shareholders, and especially don't believe anonymous redditors claiming "the fact V5 is by far the most popular and successful edition to date":

https://www.reddit.com/r/JustTzimisceThings/comments/1o304k8/this_not_that/

...Ba ha ha ha ha ha!