The multiplayer game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt has ended development. Weeks after its one year anniversary, developer Sharkmob announced that the battle royale title would no longer have future content made for it.
Bloodhunt launched in April 2022 as a free-to-play entry in the popular tabletop roleplaying game. In its blog, Sharkmob was frank in saying that while the game has an “amazing and engaged community, we haven’t been able to reach the critical mass needed to sustain development.”
While the game won’t have any future releases, Sharkmob said it would endeavor to keep the online servers going for as long as possible. In an effort to “ensure the game continues to be interesting,” it plans to introduce an in-game voting system for players.
Voting systems are nothing new for multiplayer games, and Sharkmob aims for its implementation to “regularly unlock new things and keep Bloodhunt fresh.” The function will be distributed with the game’s final update, and subsequent patches will only cover maintenance.
It further stated that it plans to turn off the game’s purchase options using real world money by late September. Prior to that feature’s shutoff date on September 26, Sharkmob said it’ll make an easier way to acquire in-game tokens to buy cosmetic options.
“While we are as sad as you are that Bloodhunt development has now come to an end, please know that this was a difficult decision to make, and we take this experience with us in the development of coming games,” Sharkmob concluded.
The Vampire series’ future in games runs all over the place
The World of Darkness tabletop game first stepped into the video game space in the year 2000. Out of all of them, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines from 2004 remains one of the most well known titles from the brand.
A sequel for that game has been in the tumultuous works for years. Development on Bloodlines 2 hit indefinite hiatus back in 2021 after its initial developer Hardsuit Labs was taken off the project. Though in 2022, Paradox Interactive CEO Fredrik Wester implied the game has found a new developer and resumed development.
Beyond that, several recent releases have been interactive fiction or role-playing games for PC, such as Vampire: The Masquerade – Heartless Lullaby and Vampire: The Masquerade – Sins of the Sires. Other World of Darkness games include 2021’s Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood and Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife.