World of Darkness To Continue Development, Says CCP

CCP, which makes EVE Online, announced last week that they would be laying off 20% of their staff and refocusing efforts on their mainstay, EVE.  At the time, it was assumed that World of Darkness, still in the planning stages, would be sidelined.  New information from CCP’s Helmar Petursson says differently, however.

“We have good people remaining here,” says Petursson, “which are going to advance World of Darkness on a much slower pace.”  Development of the game was centered at the company’s Atlanta offshoot headquarters, which will remain open despite taking the heaviest of the employee cuts.

CCP says they’re working with employees being laid off to help them find other employment in the industry.  The company’s focus is on it’s core players who populate EVE Online, making it one of the most popular MMO RPGs in the world.

World of Darkness was a game to be based on the tabletop paper and dice game of the same name.  The project was launched in 2006 when White Wolf and CCP merged, but conversion of the tabletop classic proved problematic.  The company admits that more than a year of discussion took place before any planning even began, with people from both newly-merged companies vying for a say in the game’s development.

Petursson admits that the game is “decoupling” from CCP’s overall roadmap.

In addition, the Dust 514 PlayStation game project, being developed by a new CCP office in China, is continuing unchanged.