In its statement on the official website, the studio reveals that plans to end development on the game came from the game not getting the critical mass in players it needed to sustain development. While Sharkmob hasn’t stated exactly how long the game’s servers will stay live, it promises to keep Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt going as long as players are still playing.

“Ever since launch, we have been on a journey to excite and delight our players, however, while we have an amazing and very engaged community, we haven’t been able to reach the critical mass needed to sustain development,” the developer wrote. “This has led us to the decision to stop further development of Bloodhunt.

“With that said, Bloodhunt servers will stay up and the game will remain available to play. Our aim is to keep the servers going for as long as we have an active player base and community. For those who enjoy the game and want to continue playing, we have worked on some solutions to ensure that the game continues to be interesting.”

Players will continue to unlock new content and cosmetics in the game through a new in-game player voting system. The studio is also planning on disabling real currency purchasing on September 26. The game is slated to get a way for players to earn in-game tokens so that they can continue to unlock cosmetics.

“An in-game player voting system will be deployed to regularly unlock new things and keep Bloodhunt fresh,” Sharkmob wrote. “We will share more granular details about how this system works when we get closer to releasing our next update, which will be the last planned patch for Bloodhunt. Beyond that update, patches will only be related to maintenance.

“We are also looking at turning off real currency purchasing on September 26th. Before this happens, we will implement a way to earn in-game tokens more easily so players can continue to play and unlock cosmetics beyond this date.”

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt was originally released back in April 2022. The battle royale has since seen quite a few updates, including the addition of a team deathmatch game mode, as well as a move away from seasonal content schedules to facilitate faster development of new content.

So, as producer David Sirland told VG247, the studio is moving away from seasons with its Summer Update. “The biggest change here is we are essentially saying that we’re not going to do seasons anymore in the traditional sense. When we launched the game, we did a 12-week standard season with a Battle Pass of 100 levels and similar value to other competitors out there.

“We realized, quite quickly into the season, that we can’t really sustain this as the team we are – and it’s also hurting us because the content plan is essentially holding us back from making quicker gameplay updates faster, and fixing the key aspects of the game that our core players are screaming for in some cases.”

The new goal is “time to player” with the target being to “get into a monthly cadence for gameplay updates. It might not be that initially, but that’s the goal for those updates. Bug fixes and responses to issues will be separate from content updates too. That sort of thing that will go straight into the game and be worked on continuously.”

Another change is to the Battle Pass, which is getting smaller but will also be cheaper. “We want to try and see if it’s better to do 100 ranks and make it cheaper? Are shorter passes released more often better? That’s something we will work on for sure as we go forward, and we don’t expect this one to last the full 12 weeks,” said Sirland.

The Summer Update introduces a new mode in Team Deathmatch which sees two teams of eight players fighting for supremacy. There are five maps based on Prague with unlimited respawns and the first team to reach the score limit wins. It’s starting as a beta since “We want to make sure that we really adjust the new mode based on how players play. The core audience will probably look at Team Deathmatch as a nice warm-up. And, you know, a really good way to sort of hone in on the mechanics of all our archetypes and the guns, and so on.

“While our casual player base, which is also a target for this mode, probably views Team Deathmatch as a really good way to figure out the base game much faster than playing a royale where you die really quickly.”

As such, royale players aren’t being excluded. The update will also include the Ventrue train in the Train Station among other new additions. It’s out on July 14th so stay tuned for more details when the update goes live.

The highlight of Bloodhunt‘s Summer Update is the new Team Deathmatch mode coming to the game. It will be launching as a beta, and will feature two 8-player teams that will fight it out. The game mode will have unlimited respawns, with the goal being for the teams to reach the score limit. Team Deathmatch will have five unique areas in Prague as its maps: Slaughterhouse, Disco, Hotel, Construction, and Harbor.

The main battle royale game mode will also be getting a few additions to its map, including the Ventrue train in the Train Station. As part of the update, players will now be able to meet the Ventrue primogen Em in Elysium’s new Ventrue area.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt is a free-to-play game available on PC and PS5.

As a vampire, you have enhanced mobility for navigating the city, resulting in more fast-paced combat. Along with ranged and melee combat, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt lets you swear allegiance to one of four vampire clans for unique abilities. In terms of firearms, you’ll have access to assault rifles, crossbows, SMGs and whatnot.

Solo and Trios modes are available along with a Ranked playlist.  Of course, customization options for different outfits, hairstyles and whatnot are available to create your own unique bloodsucker. The first Bloodhunt Battle Pass goes live on April 29th for 950 Tokens ($10) and offers over 85 cosmetics to earn. For more details, head here.

Both PC and PlayStation 5 players will be able to play with each other, with cross-play being supported across both platforms. On thePS5, players will also be able to buy the Founders’ Ultimate Edition, which will include an exclusive epic Samurai mask, two exclusive killer outfits, hundreds of outfits, and 1000 Tokens to spend in-game.

Additionally, the PlayStation 5 version comes with exclusive features, such as Tempest 3D audio technology support, and two image modes, with Quality mode running in 4K at 30 FPS, and Performance mode running in 1440p at 60 FPS. Support for the DualSense’s features is also confirmed.

“After a successful Early Access period, Sharkmob has been implementing feedback from the game’s community and we can’t wait to show fans how the game has progressed,” the game’s producer David Sirland said in a press release. “We’re delighted to be bringing the game to a new audience of PlayStation 5 players and are excited to be launching the full game this April in all its glory.”

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt will be free-to-play on both platforms.

Sharkmob announced via the official PlayStation blog that they are planning to release the game for Sony’s PS5 later this year, shortly after getting a gameplay reveal trailer at the PlayStation showcase (which you can see in full below). This version is said to make full use of the console’s SSD and 3D audio. It’s unclear if there is also plans for a Xbox Series X/S release at this time.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt is planned to release later this year for PlayStation 5 and PC. The game is currently in early access on Steam and is free-to-play if you want to try it out.

The current goal is to be in early access for a few months with the title still slated to release later this year. Serves will be running 24 hours a day, seven days a week (aside from maintenance days like September 14th). Players can purchase a battle pass during early access, which will help fun development and items will transfer over to the full game when it releases.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt takes place in Prague during a lockdown and sees different Clans of vampires fighting it out for supremacy. Each Clan offer their own unique looks and abilities. Stay tuned for more details and updates on development in the coming days.