Company News Paradox has acquired White Wolf and the World of Darkness IP, including Vampire: The Masquerade

Infinitron · Oct 29, 2015

Tags: CCP Games; Paradox Interactive; White Wolf; World of Darkness

Paradox Interactive announced today that they've acquired the White Wolf Publishing brand and its famous horror-themed World of Darkness roleplaying universe from EVE Online developer CCP Games, under whose ownership it has been languishing aimlessly for the past nine years. The World of Darkness, as you probably know, encompasses multiple tabletop roleplaying games including Vampire: The Masquerade, which has been used in one or two CRPGs. Paradox's press release has the details on the deal:

Paradox Interactive Acquires White Wolf Publishing from CCP Games
New Paradox Subsidiary will Operate Independently and Manage All White Wolf Properties, Including World of Darkness and Vampire: The Masquerade

STOCKHOLM - Oct. 29, 2015 - Paradox Interactive, a global games developer and publisher, today announced the acquisition of White Wolf Publishing from CCP Games in an all-cash deal. Now a subsidiary of Paradox Interactive, White Wolf Publishing is a licensing business that owns and manages intellectual properties including World of Darkness, Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse. Led by CEO Tobias Sjögren, former EVP of Business Development at Paradox, White Wolf Publishing will operate as an independent entity with a dedicated team.

White Wolf Publishing has a long history of producing gaming universes that span mediums, including tabletop and collectible card games, PC games and books. Paradox Interactive acquired all of White Wolf’s brands, and its new subsidiary will pursue development opportunities across relevant categories of games under the White Wolf Publishing name.

“Like Paradox’s games, White Wolf’s properties have dedicated, passionate communities. While there are similarities in spirit, White Wolf’s IPs have very different themes than Paradox’s titles, and deserve their own brand and team,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO and President of Paradox Interactive. “We have great respect for White Wolf’s gaming worlds and see big opportunities for their expansion in the future under our new subsidiary.”

“Over the last 20 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with beloved studios like DICE and Paradox on the business management side of games, and as a developer earlier in my career. I look forward to bringing my experience to bear as we pursue new ways to interact with White Wolf’s universes,” said Tobias Sjögren, CEO of White Wolf Publishing. “The White Wolf IPs are well suited for all kinds of media and we see great potential to expand them in the future.”

"At CCP, we have great admiration for the White Wolf brands and communities, and it was extremely important to us that the acquiring company share the same respect and understanding,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. “With Paradox, we know we are leaving the brands in good hands."

For more information about White Wolf Publishing, please visit www.whitewolf-publishing.com.

So what does this mean for CRPGs? At Gamasutra, the new White Wolf CEO says "the plan is to keep the division working primarily as a licensing business", while the company's website promises "multiple digital games titles". So it looks like Vampire: The Masquerade is free at last. And seeing as Obsidian already have a good working relationship with Paradox...hopefully, we can expect good news in the near future.

likaq · Oct 29, 2015

Bloodlines 2 by obsidian / inxile

:love:

Volrath · Oct 29, 2015

Obsidian doesn't have the talent anymore to tackle something massive as WoD.

Excidium II · Oct 29, 2015

Volrath said:
Obsidian doesn't have the talent anymore to tackle something massive as WoD.

Who else is there?

Volrath · Oct 29, 2015

Excidium II said:
Who else is there?

Exactly.

cRPGs are dead jim.

undecaf · Oct 29, 2015

Oo, this is exciting news. Possibilities that will never happen piling up....

Excidium II · Oct 29, 2015

Volrath said:
Exactly.

cRPGs are dead jim.

Well somebody oughta make it since they didn't get the IP for nothing. Nobody is more qualified than Obsidian with hopefully some appointed creative people who really get the setting (phone grotsnik).

Infinitron · Oct 29, 2015

CD Projekt could probably make a good popamole World of Darkness game, but that's not what we want, right (right?)

Excidium II · Oct 29, 2015

Infinitron said:
CD Projekt could probably make a good popamole World of Darkness game, but that's not what we want, right (right?)

Right...and I don't think they want to work with 3rd party IPs after Witcher, they even bought CP2020 to make their videogame.

Infinitron · Oct 29, 2015

Excidium II said:
Right...and I don't think they want to work with 3rd party IPs after Witcher, they even bought CP2020 to make their videogame.

Oh, so they did. So there's another videogame developer that owns its own PnP RPG.

Excidium II · Oct 29, 2015

Infinitron said:
Oh, so they did. So there's another videogame developer that owns its own PnP RPG.

There's a lot of stuff with decades of source material that can probably be acquired for peanuts, I'm not sure why more companies haven't done it.

DarkArcher · Oct 29, 2015

There's a few companies that could do it right. Seems like people have been trying to build a huge game and it might work better to get some smaller titles out there like HBS did for Shadowrun.

Caim · Oct 29, 2015

The real question is to which degree Paradox will cut the SJW sickness out of White Wolf.

Excidium II said:
Right...and I don't think they want to work with 3rd party IPs after Witcher, they even bought CP2020 to make their videogame.

Yeah, they did that a couple of years ago. They have gone on record saying that there won't be anything to show for it until 2017.

So it's nice to see that they bought Mike Pondsmith's work ethic as well. :troll: