The Hardsuit Labs studio, which previously worked on the Paradox Bloodlines 2 problem project, was purchased by the Irish company Keywords Studios.
According to Gamesindustry.Biz, Hardsuit was purchased for an unsolved amount, joining 70 other developers and becoming part of the Keyword service area "Create", which offers assistance to other developers and publishers in solving problems such as porting, remastering and joint development. This corresponds to most of the Hardsuit work since the company’s founding in 2015: the studio has supported such series as Call of Duty, Gears of War, State of Decay and Crash Bandicoot 4.
Of course, Hardsuit Labs is most famous for its unsuccessful development of Bloodlines 2, continuing the cult classical game Vampire: The Masquarade – Bloodlines. In 2019, it seemed that everything was going well. But after repeated delays and removal from the project, such key figures as the screenwriter Brian Mitsoda and the creative director of Ka’i Clooney, Bloodlines 2 was deduced from under the control of the studio and postponed for an indefinite period.
Since then, the story of the game has been extremely foggy. At some point, she risked being completely canceled, and Paradox publisher refused to inform the new game developer, but, apparently, the game is in reliable hands, and there is still a tiny chance that we will see her this year.
The reasons why Hardsuit lost the right to develop Bloodlines, were never voiced. But the disputes obviously did not interfere with Keywords, and the founders of Hardsuit Andy Kipling and Russell Nelson will continue to lead the business after the acquisition. In the statement by Keywords, too, everything is sunny and rainbow.
Hardsuit is a high -quality studio that works on some of the world’s largest franchises, and we are pleased to welcome Andy, Russell and their team in Keywords. This business fits perfectly into our line of Create services and strengthens our existing offer for some of the most powerful intellectual objects in the field of digital entertainment.