The Game of Angst: Vampires in Space! CCP and White Wolf Merge - Angst-Ridden Commentary on Video Games, MMOG's, Politics, Movies, Comics and Other Diversions by Haemish McLennan aka Gary Ballard

Vampires in Space! CCP and White Wolf Merge

Posted on Monday, November 13, 2006 by Gary A. Ballard

There are some corporate mergers that make me shake my head, and there are others that make a lot of sense. Then there are mergers that at first glance seem like a "HUH?" moment, but on further reflection are good for the consumers of that industry. This is one of those mergers.

White Wolf, the makers of the World of Darkness pen-and-paper/live-action RPGs (Vampire, Werewolf and Mage) and CCP, makers of the indy hit MMOG Eve Online, have agreed to just such a merger. From the press release:

CCP hf. and White Wolf Publishing, Inc. today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement to merge. The creators of the singlelargest persistent online role-playing world and the world's second-largest developer of offline role-playing, strategy and collectable card games will create the industry's largest independent Virtual World developer. CCP is the publisher and developer of EVE Online, the world's largest virtual gaming universe. White Wolf is the creator of some of the world's most recognized role-playing titles including: World of Darkness (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage) and Exalted. The combined company will introduce new online and offline gaming
products across the science-fiction, horror, and fantasy genres.

The merged company will enable CCP to integrate White Wolf's leading expertise in offline gaming development to enhance and create physical products for its MMOG, EVE Online. Products to be introduced in 2007 will include strategy guides, enhanced collectable card games, role-playing systems, and novels all based on EVE Online. White Wolf will leverage CCP's industry-leading technologies to bring its offline role-playing titles online. Conceptualization and early development has begun to bring White Wolf's World of Darkness, one of the world's strongest gaming properties, into the online world.

...

The combined company will continue to operate under their respective names. White Wolf will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CCP. Hilmar Petursson, Chief Executive Officer of CCP, will be CEO of the combined company. Mike Tinney, President of White Wolf, will continue as President of the independent subsidiary. Further, White Wolf will continue development and enhancement of their entire portfolio of gaming products.

Though I've never much liked the game systems White Wolf produces, nor the players of those game systems, I have always been intrigued by the backstory of the World of Darkness products. Similarly, EVE's mechanics bored me to tears, but I appreciate its design, its insistence on PVP as a main focus, and CCP's commitment to build the game slowly and surely. The MMOG medium could use a whole lot more of that.

With CCP creating the World of Darkness MMOG, I have some measure of hope that the game will be stable, and might actually be fun. I only hope it goes beyond the typical MMOG kill/level/kill formula and embraces a PVP-focus. White Wolf could have done a lot worse than CCP in picking a development company.

Now if only they could sterilize the player base of the World of Darkness games, the future would look bright.

Labels: MMOG, Video Games