 |
|
|
| |
CCP Cuts Staff By 20%, Refocuses On EVE Universe
by Kyle Orland [Console/PC, Social/Online, Production, Business]
|
|
| |
|
October 19, 2011
|
| |
EVE Online maker CCP has announced it will be reducing its staff of over 600 by roughly 20 percent as part of a "realignment" away from long-in-development MMO World of Darkness.
The staff reductions will be concentrated primarily in CCP's Atlanta office, the company said in a statement, but some staff from the Reykjavik, Iceland headquarters will also be affected.
CCP says the move will lead to a "significantly reduced team" for the continuing development of World of Darkness, an MMO project based on White Wolf's pen-and-paper RPG that was first announced back in 2006.
The company will instead put increased focus on continued expansion for the highly popular EVE Online and its upcoming massively-multiplayer FPS spin-off Dust 514 on the PS3.
"We are very sad to lose some of our talented and dedicated colleagues to this necessary process," CCP said in a statement. "Decisions like these are difficult for all those involved and extraordinarily sad for all of those whose lives are affected."
"While our decision to refocus is a solemn one, it will benefit our players through a renewed commitment to the EVE universe and its fans," it continues.
CCP's announcement comes after the company faced sharp player criticism over the summer for the introduction of microtransaction-based vanity items and other features in EVE Online that seemed secondary to the game's traditional space-faring gameplay.
CCP has since apologized for what it calls "our own mistakes and poor communications with our players," which it says have led subscription levels to decline from record highs in the past two months.
|
| |
|
|
*sniff* Man, that is weak sauce. This means death for the WOD MMO. 5 years of dev time and this is what it all comes too? Thanks a lot CCP for getting us WOD fans hopes up. CCP also bought out White Wolf just to do this game so it would be a pain to sell the IP to another company so they could make the WOD MMO a reality.
This was the next MMO I and lots of people I know were looking forward to. Star Wars:TOR and WOD. It has the potential to be unlike ANY MMO out there. A gothic horror MMO with massive amounts of clan warfare. So sad, so very very sad.
Condolences to people losing their jobs too. Hope they find something new soon.
EDIT: Not to mention the potential of adding the Werewolves, Mages, Ghosts, and Fae later on as expansions. *sigh*
On Thursday, 19 October 2011, after years of scaling back tabletop RPG output, CCP laid off many of the remaining White Wolf employees, although CCP continues to publish new White Wolf roleplaying material via PDF and print-on-demand. [3]
Says the wikipedia, but the source is the CCP note about shrinking the WOD MMO, nothing about the pen and paper games.
Anyone can clarify if white wolf is still open or it's definitely closed down? because it will be a big loss for the RPG world if so.
(and best luck to anyone who's been laid off...been from the rpg company or the MMO game..)