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Bloodlines 2 lead writer Brian Mitsoda fired.

Ivory Blood

Member


And here are the words from the man himself.

“Until recently, I was the Narrative Lead on a videogame called Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 for Hardsuit Labs, Inc being published by Paradox Interactive (which owns 30% of Hardsuit Labs). After almost five years involvement with the studio, I was suddenly terminated on 7/16/20.

That this came as a shock to me is underselling it. I’ve worked on Bloodlines 2 for almost five years. The story and main cast was initially conceived in my living room. I helped develop the pitch for Hardsuit Labs and helped pitch the project to Paradox in Las Vegas. I’ve been in charge of the narrative since the beginning, working long days and sometimes weekends to deliver a successor to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, and I’ve never been led to believe that I hadn’t succeeded. Very obviously, I have also been involved in the PR and marketing side of things, even though it was one of the most difficult parts for me. I’m a pretty private person – press and crowds tend to heavily trigger my social anxiety (which, if you’ve ever wondered about the gloves, they are “armor” that make me feel less exposed in situations that trigger my anxiety).

Bloodlines and the fandom of the game mean the world to me. So I lent my legacy with the franchise, my name, and my participation in marketing efforts for the game, even when it was intensely difficult and took a mental and physical toll. This is all because I wanted to do what was best for the game and the team.

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.

It was a pleasure to work on this game and with many people at Hardsuit Labs and Paradox and I’m sorry I won’t be able to see it to the end. I spent years on some of the best characters and dialogue that I ever wrote. It’s meant a lot to hear from the Bloodlines community and I do hope that what’s finally delivered is as satisfying as I intended it to be. Thanks to all of you who supported me throughout the project.”

Well, it was nice hoping for the revival of the classic, but with Avellone and Mitsoda gone this game is dead in the water.
 
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MiguelItUp

Member
Eeeeesh, wtf? I'm really hoping this game comes out decent... But man, it's only looking like it's going to get worse and worse with each occurrence.

I'm wondering the reasoning behind this, especially for it to feel so sudden and shocking. I mean, he was in a pivotal position there for years. Surely they wouldn't just axe him for no reason.
 
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teezzy

Banned
I really hope this game doesnt end up sucking. Hearing the announcement of a sequel to Bloodlines split my wig. Wonder why this guy got canned. We're either missing something major or theres more holes in the ship than it seems. Not a good thing one way or the other.
 

Nickolaidas

Banned


And here are the words from the man himself.



Well, it was nice hoping for the revival of the classic, but with Avellone and Mitsoda gone this game is dead in the water.
Was he involved in any 'sexual harassement' metoo stories from a few months ago, or was he sacked because he 'served his purpose' in the eyes of the dickhole publishers?

I seem to remember this game mentioned in those 'scandal' stories.
 
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K.N.W.

Member
FUUUUUUUUUUUCK
EDIT: Sad to acknowledge that it might be related to harassment episodes. I was having great hopes for this game.
 
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Chiggs

Member
If the details are never made public, which they likely won't be, then I think the only right thing to do here is to NOT purchase the game. I basically don't want to support the writer if he did something massively unethical or illegal; nor do I want to support the publisher or developer if they did this to just appease the Twitter mob, even if there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
 
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Vlodril

Member
Was so excited for this game. Have it pre-ordered. Welp. Most of my excitement was for Avellone and Mitsoda.
 

Ivory Blood

Member
I'm guessing they were fucking about in development if they've hired a AAA guy to correct the ship.
Yeah, that's my take on it as well, but still.

Paradox were relying on nostalgia so much during the announcement, hyping it as a revival and all that. And now out of the blue they fire the only decent writer on their team, the one heavily featured in all marketing, leaving us with fucking Cara Ellison and say - "it's allright guys, we got the dude from Ubisoft and a raging SJW is now narrative lead, don't you worry!". Shit's fucked.
 

Denton

Member
Everything about this is

utterly
fucking
bizzare

Either Mitsoda is lying and knows why he got sacked, or Paradox are despicable assholes.
I mean, even if the writing and narrative was all done and Mitsoda had nothing else to do, you don't just fire people like that.
 

Ivory Blood

Member
So is Bloodlines 2 going to be about some fat vampires with green hair complaining about Trump?
Oh, they got something even better than that.

D2PBDC0U8AMOprE.jpg
 

MiguelItUp

Member
I'm guessing they were fucking about in development if they've hired a AAA guy to correct the ship.
Yeah, looking into this some more this is looking less like a "they need to be fired because they did x" kind of situation. But the whole thing is very bizarre, not to mention if they're trying to hook fans of the series. Mitsoda is one of the main reasons people were interested in this sequel in the first place.
 
WHAT. IN. THE. FUCKING. FUCK??? Is Bloodlines some cursed IP from CAIN himself? I literally pre-ordered the deluxe edition on Steam the moment it was available - that was how hyped I truly was. Now, the development is just spiraling down to near concerning levels; controversy followed by delay followed by a change of a major contributor the franchise.

OH, FUCK ME.. I SWEAR IF EPIC GAMES IS SMELLING BLOOD IN THE WATER :lollipop_angry_face: 🗯🗯 and after Shenmue III, ... NO, I... I can't take it. This will be the last time I will ever pre-order a game regardless of the bonus items.
 

MiguelItUp

Member
We don’t understand because you’ve explained fucking nothing.
No shit, right? There's a different between telling people why things were done as opposed to just doing them, lmao. People don't care about the replacements, they want to know what happened with they dude that basically kept your fan base intact. Reading that sounds like they don't realize how much of an impact he had on the series. I've already seen quite a few folks saying they want to cancel their preorder, lol.
 
Yeah, that's my take on it as well, but still.

Paradox were relying on nostalgia so much during the announcement, hyping it as a revival and all that. And now out of the blue they fire the only decent writer on their team, the one heavily featured in all marketing, leaving us with fucking Cara Ellison and say - "it's allright guys, we got the dude from Ubisoft and a raging SJW is now narrative lead, don't you worry!". Shit's fucked.

The studio being comprised of danger hairs that hate eachother is probably why it's in this mess in the first place. 5 years is a long time on a AA tier looking title with a AAA budget.


I wouldn't be so annoyed if I didn't know for a fact that paradox are going to bleed CKIII customers dry to rebuild their warchest after this flops.
 

Kokoloko85

Member
The original was one of my favourite pc games.
Did he leave or fired? Im confused

Hopefully enough was done so that its not effected too much
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Fired - I posted his statement under the official announcement. He didn't know until the moment he was axed.

Apologies, I missed the first line. And read “And I’m incredibly disappointed and frustrated to say that this is where it ends for me on the project.“
Damn
 

sobaka770

Banned
My assumption is that writing on the game is basically "done" therefore lead writer is no longer necessary and studio is cutting costs because of the delay.

If so it's a shitty thing to do but maybe it'd save company from not delivering the game at all. If it's just a sacking because of creative changes, this game will be a mess at release.
 

Ivory Blood

Member
My assumption is that writing on the game is basically "done" therefore lead writer is no longer necessary and studio is cutting costs because of the delay.

If so it's a shitty thing to do but maybe it'd save company from not delivering the game at all. If it's just a sacking because of creative changes, this game will be a mess at release.
That's beyond heinous, even for Paradox.
 

hyperbertha

Member
Gaming is a field where sadly very few good writers exist. Mitsoda was one of those writers. How creatively clueless do you have to be to fire the only guy in your whole crew who could make your game worth playing? Pathetic. But there were signs that the game's top decision makers where braindead right from the beginning, so not too surprised.

You mean like this? Cara "Critique My Dick Pic" Ellison is the only writer left.

dexFIOe.png
I looked her up and she has zero creative writing experience. Some journalism on a few sites. How is she qualified to work on this game?
 
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Teslerum

Member
Lost his wife and now lost his job. Hurts.

"it's allright guys, we got the dude from Ubisoft and a raging SJW is now narrative lead, don't you worry!". Shit's fucked.

Mitsoda has already been converted into a raging SJW to begin with. In his very first interview for Bloodlines he cited the *We only punch up with Bloodlines 2 jokes, not down*. rethoric and criticised his own work from Bloodlines 1 as not being woke enough.

Seattle man, Seattle.
 
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