It's often said that patience is a virtue, but even so, waiting is hard. When it comes to sequels to games, sometimes it takes many years of fan agonizing before the sequel is finally released. There's lots of franchise entries and free standing games that are begging for sequels that have yet to arrive. In some cases, the sequel is announced, but takes a long time to emerge, like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. In other cases, it's a matter of anxiously waiting to find out if there will be a sequel at all. That's what's going on with Bloodborne right now.
Bloodborne is a deeply beloved Soulslike action RPG, and was so acclaimed by fans and critics alike that it's well deserving of a sequel. However, Bloodborne came out in 2015. The lack of an announced sequel says a lot about how developer FromSoftware will handle sequels to its other huge successes. After all, now it also has Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice to consider a sequel to, and its worthy sequel prospects are starting to pile up the more standalone games it releases. At this rate, FromSoftware might be the next studio with a reputation for slowly developed sequels, much like Bethesda.
Slow and Steady
It's easy to compare FromSoftware to Bethesda for Bloodborne's sake. Bethesda has famously taken an incredibly long time to develop another entry in The Elder Scrolls. The studio rode the success of Skyrim and re-released it constantly for nearly a decade before it even announced The Elder Scrolls 6. Even then, fans know nothing about The Elder Scrolls 6, and it's bound to be years before the game is actually out. The same thing goes on for Bethesda's Fallout, which regularly goes four or more years between entries. Bethesda always releases titles important to it genres, but it takes a long time to develop them.
The same thing can be said for FromSoftware. What Bethesda contributes every so often to fantasy and science fiction, FromSoftware contributes to the Soulslike genre -- after all, FromSoftware made Dark Souls. Even outside of Bloodborne, FromSoftware has slowed down a little bit in its release schedule. Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice released three years apart, compared to tighter releases of major games in the years previous. Elden Ring, FromSoftware's only known AAA project right now, has yet to get a release date, and could still take a long time to reemerge. FromSoftware seems to have less and less projects running concurrently, which means releases of any given game will be slower than before.
Playing the Long Game
At face value, a long time between game releases seems disheartening for fans. However, in order to make sequels that really live up to the first games, it'll make a difference. FromSoftware's slow development schedule shouldn't be seen as tardiness, but diligence. The studio really seems heavily focused on making blockbuster titles, considering Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne, and Sekiro out of the last five years. Expectations from the studio are high, so it's only logical that FromSoftware would rather give itself a lot of time to perfect a game, rather than releasing it quickly to appease fans.
Bloodborne 2 is far from confirmed. In fact, some feel hope for this sequel is dwindling, considering Bloodborne's limited support on the PS5. Still, it's always possible that FromSoftware isn't spending many resources on the first game to quietly focus on the second. Assuming there is a sequel in development, though, it says a lot about the way FromSoftware will approach game development from here on out. For fans, patience really will be a virtue worth having. Even the best studios can take a long time to release their masterpieces.
Bloodborne is available now on PS4.