Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 developer The Chinese Room appears to have been hit by layoffs less than four months before the game is due to release in October. Despite the concerning timeline, publisher Paradox Interactive claims the cuts will not impact the game’s intended release.
Game Developer first reported that UK studio The Chinese Room, known for its unique original titles like Dear Esther and Still Wakes The Deep, has suffered a wave of layoffs. While not publicly announced, at least nine now-former employees of the company posted to LinkedIn about losing their jobs, with the posts’ wording implying they were far from the only ones impacted.
When reaching out to The Chinese Room’s parent company Sumo Digital about the cuts, Game Developer also discovered that a number of employees have been cut from Sumo’s communications team. Sumo Digital announced it would be restructuring earlier this year, as part of a plan to pivot away from original projects entirely to focus on co-development work. Sumo also cut 15% of its total global workforce in an earlier round of layoffs this time last year.
The Chinese Room are currently in the final stages of work on long-awaited sequel Bloodlines 2, which has been delayed and interrupted multiple times now. Most recently the game’s release window was delayed to October, with the game’s executive producer saying the game was already finished, but in need of more work to fix bugs and improve stability.
The Chinese Room took over development of the title in 2021, when Paradox reassigned the game from its original developer Hardsuit Labs, and insiders say the game almost didn’t survive the transition between studios.
Despite layoffs at The Chinese Room, Bloodlines 2 will still release as planned, a Paradox spokesperson has said in a statement to PC Gamer. “Development on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is unaffected by the recent staffing changes at The Chinese Room; the game is still scheduled for an October release,” the statement said. “We wish those affected the best of luck on their future endeavors.”
