World of Darkness MMO in "4-5 years"

By Patrick Garratt Published 4 June, 2007

EVE maker gradually going vamp.

World of Darkness, the in-development White Wolf MMO, will take four to five years to complete, CCP marketing director Magnus Bergsson told us last Friday at the company's offices in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Speaking of a release date, Bergsson said, "We don't know yet. We're not really hiding any information about it, we just don't know yet. The actual design and exactly how it's going to be is being created right now, so when we actually know all of that we can guestimate how long it's going to take. These games typically take four to five years to make. I don't think this is going to be any different."

CCP, famed for its EVE Online MMO, merged with US-based White Wolf in November 2006.

World of Darkness is the long-running horror RPG franchise created by Mark Rein-Hagen, the most famous computer game incarnation of which is PC title Vampire: The Masquerade, published by Activision.

The World of Darkness MMO was announced when the two companies merged last year, with both the American and Icelandic operations staying quiet on the subject ever since. Fans have since speculated that the game isn't in active production - rumours Bergsson laid to rest last week.

"[World of Darkness] is one of the reasons we were so interested in White Wolf," he said. "It's a very mature IP. It's a great title for us to take and make into an MMO. First of all there are no MMOs like it. We kind of like that, and we want to explore some new avenues with that type of MMO - character-based and not being fantasy, per se. It's a real opportunity for us."

In case you're still not convinced, a tour of the CCP office included a peak into a section covered in... vampire art. We'll publish a feature on our time in Iceland later this week.

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About Patrick Garratt

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Comments (24) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 5 years ago

    Please no...

  • Iora #2 5 years ago

    please yes.

  • The_Rat #3 5 years ago

    Eve online is a great game, but in my opinion the developers still have a lot to learn about running a MMO.

    They've already had 2 seperate allegations of corruption this year, basically because they allow their staff to join alliances and make friends with players, this has led to acusations of favouritism and that some players have an advantage over others because they can contact staff members via MSN instead of having to go through the petition system.

    And of course threatening to sue the people that exposed the alleged corruption doesn't help either...

    CCP have a great deal of talent and the new MMO should be fantastic if they can learn from their mistakes with Eve.

  • ZuluHero #4 5 years ago

    Just because there were allegations of corruption - does that mean that their MMO will be crap? Yes - they have a lot to learn about running a MMO, but the allegations of corruption shouldn't have any play in that.

    I for one am interested in seeing what becomes of this project, but ill check back on EG in 3-4 years before I start to get excited about it :p

  • MightyMouse #5 5 years ago

    There's definitely room for a new MMO, and hopefully a new type of MMO. WoW's getting old and the 'new' lot seem rather derivative to many ex-WoW players.

  • The-Bodybuilder #6 5 years ago

    Why can't people just make "normal" MMOs? Not everybody likes vamps, elves and all this other dark, nerdy crap.

  • Pirotic #7 5 years ago

    you mean like a real-life mmo?

    The Sims Online attempted that, didn't do so well considering the franchise so it probably scared off everybody else.

    From what I've heard Spore has been delayed to add more MMO elements into it, how good would that be!

  • spongebob #8 5 years ago

    The Bodybuilder is speaking the gospel truth. Give me GTA style MMO and I am interested :)

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #9 5 years ago

    The Vampire Bloodlines world was great. CCP's on-going success with EVE and refusal to mainstream it could make for something special.

    It's definitely one to watch.

  • The-Bodybuilder #10 5 years ago

    >"you mean like a real-life mmo? "

    Not necessarily like the sims, but based not always based on fantasy.
    Not all people want to fight goblins and orcs, people sometimes like to fight just other people.
    Not all people want to ride chariots or cast spells, some people just want to drive a honda and have fist-fights.

  • The-Bodybuilder #11 5 years ago

    >"The Bodybuilder is speaking the gospel truth. Give me GTA style MMO and I am interested :) "

    You would think this would be the FIRST type of MMO a developer would make wouldn't it? Basd on the success of GTA and WOW, no one has thought of making GTA/WOW crossbreed.

  • Wite_Noiz #12 5 years ago

    Wasn't the death-penalty reinstated for people that use the word "guestimate"? Shame

  • SleepyMagpie #13 5 years ago

    @The Bodybuilder regarding "A normal MMO":

    If you knew White Wolfs "World of Darkness" setting you would know that playing the numerous and varied characters in this campaign will allow you to play gangster, brawler, henchman, spy, businessman, dealer, hooker etc.. And not all of these roles will require you being a vampire either. The main thrust of the World of Darkness setting is the pain of the vampire being immortal, but not being able to completely detach from or partake in, mortal life and its pleasures. Yet still having to deal with mortals. So strong and yet so weak, so to speak.

    And GTA real life? I don't know much about guns or any of that stuff. That's why I regard Sopranos as fiction and Six Feet Under as reality and superior. Sopranos is still sweet tho..

    So, yes please to a Vampire MMORPG from CCP and White Wolf.

  • Whizzo #14 5 years ago

    APB will be a GTA like MMO, if it ever turns up.

  • Iora #15 5 years ago

    Says A Guy Called ''Sofalover'' Who Comments In A Gaming Website

  • ZuluHero #16 5 years ago

    i thought he was just being ironic? hmm...

  • The-Bodybuilder #17 5 years ago

    >"The main thrust of the World of Darkness setting is the pain of the vampire being immortal, but not being able to completely detach from or partake in, mortal life and its pleasures."

    I see.........









    /Zzzzzzzzzzzz
    Erm sorry, wha? ;)

  • YourMessageHere #18 5 years ago

    Bodybuilder, I too await real-life MMOs but this is the best hope yet.

    The easy way to explain this is to say: Get Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, plus the latest community patch. Cost you next to nothing, keep you going for ages. It's almost-Deus Ex, but with vampirism instead of nanotech, various areas of LA instead of NY/HK/Paris and slightly-changed now instead of the future, and the community patch is an absolute model of what a good community can do for a game. After Troika went tits-up, this project came out; it fixes an astounding amount of stuff that bugged or broke the notably blemished retail release.

    And what SleepyMagpie means is: It has a good story and strong, well written characters, centred around vampirism being both a strength and weakness.

    I too hate generic fantasy in games, but it's quite close enough to realism for my tastes. It's a superb game. If they can make an MMO anything like that, I'll be superpleased. However, Eve is incredibly tedious for me. Hopefully they'll not have too much crossover in play style...

  • Cyclone #19 5 years ago

    This is excellent news. The only thing better would be if they announced a single player World of Darkness game.

  • Orange #20 5 years ago

    I'm sure this mmo will be overrun with goths and other long haired metal listening nutters.

    I may still play it though.

  • jlaakso #21 5 years ago

    This has all the potential to be a terrible misjudgement, but CCP making it is getting my hopes up. And Bloodlines was excellent, which is also a plus for the brand.

  • ExplodingClown #22 5 years ago

    I'd rather have another SP like Bloodlines. Last thing I want is to have one of the vampire hunters from the Society of Leopold run up to me, say "ROFL yuo teh suxxor" and go into a dance animation.

    Teen tossers are the reason I gave up playing online. Playing ANYTHING online. *Sigh*

  • Grimace #23 4 years ago

    Well don't forget that world of darkness isn't just vampires, you've also got werewolves and mages along with all of the changing breeds (which are by the way awsome in the latest changing breeds book they put out.

    It could have potential as long as they stick to their guns (and stick to making the game how it should be made...) which would entail having a open ended sandbox style world (to some extent), players able to play on whatever side of the fence they choose (none of this good guys only bullshit we see all over the place... or good and bad guys that give each other hugs and kisses).

    For it to be a credit to the pnp game it needs to be no holds barred (with consequence systems in place for people crossing different factions that act when you cross them) dark, dirty, and very dangerous world. Don't know how they'd handle rezzing and the such, I guess they could do it kind of like EVE... but I hope they don't have the forced 6 month's required to progress your skills to a decent level (like eve... I like the game but god they really screw new people by making them unable to speed up the ability at which their characters advance).
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/08 @ 03:30

  • takaralolita #24 3 years ago

    LOL real life MMO, its called "Outside"

    press CTL ALT DEL on keyboard and go shutdown,
    then stand up
    put clothing on
    and head for door Marked Exit. or the door that leads to that big scary outside place.
    leave through door and lock behind if needed.
    exit building if needed.
    and look, don't worrie, you eye's will take some time to adjust to being outside. you may find your
    view distance and refresh rate to be much better than before. but you eye's will take time to adjust
    to focusing on things far away.

    warning. this game you only have one life. death is not good and you will not respawn. so play safe