Paradox aired its year-end report—where it chats all the money it has and hasn’t made for the benefit of investors—earlier today, but don’t worry, I watched it for you. Long story short? Paradox raked in a whole lot of cash this quarter: 23% more than it earned in the same quarter last year, making it Paradox’s “second-best quarter ever”. Hooray! Also, it managed to make 162% less operating profit for an overall loss of 245.4 million Swedish kronor (around $28 million). Uh oh!
And the reason is, well, yeah, it’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.
“The profit line, or EBIT [earnings before interest and taxes] is affected by a big writedown of the game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2,” said Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester. If you’ll recall, Paradox announced last November that its troubled sequel to cult classic Bloodlines 1 hadn’t sold as well as it had hoped, leading to a write-down of 355 million kronor.
Absent the write-down, Paradox’s profit would’ve shaken out to around 110 million kronor—still a hefty chunk less than its operating profit in the same quarter last year (395.3 million kronor), but, you know, still a profit.
Now, to be fair, vampires weren’t the only thing taking a bite out of Paradox’s bank account last quarter. Wester and Paradox CFO Alexander Bricca pointed out that the volatility of foreign exchange rates has also been doing a number on the company. “The dollar was down, I think 12% if you look at the quarter average, [the] Euro down 5, 6%—so, all in all it impacts our top line quite significantly,” Bricca told investors.
It’s hard to see past that Bloodlines 2 iceberg, though. Wester tried to put a positive spin on things, mind you: “On revenue, it’s our second-best quarter ever!”
Poor Bloodlines 2, is all I have to say. Sure, it should never have been saddled with that name and the attendant expectations, but I rather liked The Chinese Room’s take on Vampire: The Masquerade. It wasn’t perfect, but I enjoyed my time with it. At least Paradox doesn’t blame the studio for the gaping hole in its finances: “The responsibility lies fully with us,” it said at the time of the write-down. Still, I’m not expecting Bloodlines 3 any time soon.
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