Tag: World of Darkness

CCP's Latest Financial Report Shows Troubled Times


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CCP Games has released their latest financial statement, and the results are a showcase on the company’s latest round of problems. Due to decreased revenue, CCP announced that they have shut down their San Francisco offices and laid off two key US executives: CFO Joe Gallo and CMO David Reid. The cancellation of World of Darkness, which we learned about earlier this year, reportedly brought about a substantial cost including the cost of terminating employees and writing off assets.

Revenue for the first half of 2014 amounted to $36.5 million, down slightly from $36.7 million last year, however EBITD (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, and Depreciation) was down to $4.5 million from $8.3 million last year.

(Source: Gamasutra)

World of Darkness Cancelled


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CCP has officially announced that World of Darkness has been cancelled. Some of you may remember that, last month, CCP’s annual financial report stated that the company had written off a piece of software as no longer having any value. It looks like that property was World of Darkness. In his note accompanying the announcement, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson states that the team was unable to deliver the experience that they wanted, and as a result development has ceased and some 56 employees have been laid off.

The decision to end the World of Darkness MMO project is one of the hardest I’ve ever had to make. I have always loved and valued the idea of a sandbox experience set in that universe, and over the years I’ve watched the team passionately strive to make that possible.  To our current and former employees and fans of World of Darkness, I am truly sorry that we could not deliver the experience that we aspired to make.  We dreamed of a game that would transport you completely into the sweeping fantasy of World of Darkness, but had to admit that our efforts were falling regretfully short.  One day I hope we will make it up to you.

To those of you keeping a magnifying glass on World of Darkness, this news should not come as a shock. Between multiple layoffs and comments that World of Darkness was very low priority for CCP, with nothing to show for so long, it was only a matter of time before CCP cut their losses and moved on.

(Source: CCP)

CCP Posts 2013 Financial Results


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CCP has posted their 2013 financial results and the results are interesting, if not confusing. While the company posted an annual revenue of $76.7 million USD, net loss amounted to $21.3 million during the same period. 2013 saw multiple milestones reached, including the launch of PS3 shooter DUST 514 as well as Eve Online’s 10th anniversary and surpassing five hundred thousand subscribers. DUST 514 brought in a fair amount of revenue, although nowhere near Eve Online’s sales.

As for the net loss, our friend The Ancient Gaming Noob took some time to explain how it is due to assets being derecognized as a part of 2013’s restructuring.

Basically, the wrote some software that they felt added value to the company and called it an asset at some point, adding to the total value of the company.  Now they have decided that the software in question does not have value, so they have to take it off the books. To the shareholders, the company effectively “lost” that much in its overall valuation, but no actual cash money disappeared or changed hands.

As for what those assets were, CCP isn’t saying. CCP also announced a partnership with Sony to bring their dogfighting game Valkyrie to the Playstation 4. You can check out the entire financial report at the link below.

(Source: CCP finances)

World of Darkness: A Long Way Out


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One of the downsides of MMOs lies in their very long development times, and it can be easy to forget just how far out certain games are when the developer is already talking about them. Take World of Darkness as a prime example, coming from CCP and set in the world of Vampire: The Masquerade. The more we hear about the upcoming sandbox MMO, the better it sounds. player-driven stories, permanent death, and more.

On the other hand, it will be a few more years until we get our hands on World of Darkness. At least two, likely more. The game is still in the stages of pre-production, and the team is unwilling to offer much in the way of deep gameplay videos. Luckily, though, the team has about seventy people working hard on getting systems in place, and restructuring Eve Online’s technology to work in a faster, more action oriented setting.

So keep those mouths puckered, World of Darkness will be ready for you to want to suck their blood before you can say vampire. In every language on earth, past, present, and future.

(Source: Penny Arcade)

World of Darkness: Elected Prince Deals Perma-Death


Seeing as the game will employ EVE Online’s single-server system, being elected to the leader of a city is fairly important, and besides being a great accolade to put on a resume, the Prince of a City has the power to permanently kill players. Yes, that’s right: World of Darkness is going to have permadeath in one form or another, though it won’t be as widespread as it is in the tabletop game. Hardcore.

World of Darkness is looking to be the MMO of choice for people who enjoy the concept of Eve Online’s hardcore sandbox world controlled and dominated by player interaction, but aren’t exactly a fan of flying in space ships. Following in suit of Eve Online, World of Darkness is set to only feature one server, making control of territory and the walking blood containers that inhabit it all the more important.

At the recent Fanfest, CCP talked about how each city will have a prince elected to it by players, who will be able to have players permanently killed. Compared to the pen and paper World of Darkness, however, permadeath will be much less common and something of an extraordinary event. Still, if World of Darkness keeps on the path that it appears to be going down, CCP might just make exactly the hardcore MMO many of us have been looking for.

The Secret World is set to release between now and doomsday.

(Source: GamesRadar)

Games To Look Out For: CCP Edition


Even if you hate CCP, even if you have no interest in Eve Online or DUST 514, you have to admit that the very concept of an space ship MMO on the PC interacting in real time with a first person shooter on the Playstation 3 is astounding and exciting. DUST is expected to release in Spring 2012, at least according to Wikipedia, and registration for the beta test has begun for Eve Online subscribers. Hopefully CCP will follow the proud Sony tradition of opening the beta to Playstation Plus subscribers.

On the positive side, it appears you will not be forced to join a corporation to play the game. In addition to corporation vs corporation and contract fights, players should be able to join random matches. The corporation vs corporation matches, however, will be for territory control and the aforementioned contracts with Eve Online players.

I know what you’re thinking, “Omali I don’t like to play graphical spreadsheets. I want Eve Online’s unforgiving world but in a more relatable game.” World of Darkness, based on the tabletop RPG, is supposed to be just as hardcore as Eve Online and the upcoming DUST 514. Players live in a world run by immortal vampires, and if the combination of CCP and the existing lore is to be reckoned with, World of Darkness is set to bring forward a deadly world of politics, player interaction, open world combat, and perma-death.

There is still no word on a general release date for World of Darkness, and 2012 seems out of the question for now.