White Wolf Publishing Acquired by Paradox Interactive

Conrad Zimmerman

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White Wolf Publishing Acquired by Paradox Interactive

World of Darkness properties changing hands.

Paradox Interactive has announced their acquisition of White Wolf Publishing, the company behind the popular World of Darkness roleplaying franchise. The company, which holds the intellectual property for game series including Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse, was acquired on October 26 from former owner CCP Games in an all-cash deal for an undisclosed sum.

As a subsidiary of Paradox, White Wolf Publishing is set to operate as an independent entity with a dedicated team, led by former Paradox EVP of Business Development Tobias Sjögren, who will now serve as CEO of White Wolf. The company will (according to a press release announcing the sale), "pursue development opportunities across relevant categories of games" under the brand.

Founded in 1991, White Wolf Publishing produced multiple lines of tabletop roleplaying games, novels, and collectible card games while licensing their World of Darkness properties for several video games. The company was acquired in 2006 by EVE Online publisher CCP Games, which sought to develop an MMO based on Vampire. Following nearly a decade of development, work on the proposed MMO ceased [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/133715-] in April of last year.

It's unknown at this point how the change may affect current licensees of White Wolf properties. A statement on the White Wolf Publishing website states that the company aims to, "centralize all aspects of the universe to manage it with the love and care it deserves," and that they are, "re-evaluating our business relationships to make sure we're working with the best creators, developers and artists". A tweet from Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester [https://twitter.com/TheWesterFront/status/659739229879197696] has promised further details on these partnerships in the coming weeks.

For what it's worth, Onyx Path (which has been producing tabletop products based on World of Darkness and Exalted since 2012) a campaign started less than a week ago [https://twitter.com/TheOnyxPath/status/659745629313306624] to publish a deluxe version of their planned Shattered Dreams sourcebook for Werewolf.

Source: White Wolf [http://www.whitewolf-publishing.com/]

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Tohuvabohu

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Mar 24, 2011
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I'm ambivalent about this. On one hand, the thought of World of Darkness getting some videogame life breathed into it is amazing news (Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is among my most favorite games ever), but passing property onto other hands doesn't always produce good results.

But Paradox does work with a wide variety of developers, such as Obsidian, so maybe something great will come out of this. I do love the WoD setting, so I'll try to remain optimistic about this.
 

Gethsemani_v1legacy

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To be honest, CCP really mishandled White Wolf so I doubt that Paradox can do much worse. The fact that they outsourced and greatly reduced support for their pen and paper RPGs (including ceasing the production of actual books in favor of pdfs) showed that CCP never really knew what to do with White Wolf or the IPs it acquired. On the other hand, Paradox just recently acquired the manufacturer of a faux-medical anti-tinnitus patch so who knows what Paradox has planned..
 

Something Amyss

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Do they still have the same staff they've had for the last 30 years? I don't see much change happening, then.

Gethsemani said:
The fact that they outsourced and greatly reduced support for their pen and paper RPGs (including ceasing the production of actual books in favor of pdfs)
Did they really? I don't remember the last time I bought a physical book, so I didn't even notice.
 

Rebel_Raven

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Good, I missed whitewolf. Hope they get some kuei Jin stuff going, too.


I miss ravenloft, too but that's anothercan of worms.
 

Fappy

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Huh, interesting. These guys are still based in Stone Mountain, GA, right? I remember liking Exalted when I tried it in college.
 

Fanghawk

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Something Amyss said:
Do they still have the same staff they've had for the last 30 years? I don't see much change happening, then.

Gethsemani said:
The fact that they outsourced and greatly reduced support for their pen and paper RPGs (including ceasing the production of actual books in favor of pdfs)
Did they really? I don't remember the last time I bought a physical book, so I didn't even notice.
That's half true - everything they publish goes through DriveThruRPG and uses their print-on-demand service. So you can still get physical books, you just can't pick them up at a bookstore like you once could.
 

Gethsemani_v1legacy

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Fanghawk said:
That's half true - everything they publish goes through DriveThruRPG and uses their print-on-demand service. So you can still get physical books, you just can't pick them up at a bookstore like you once could.
For those of us overseas it is pretty much the same thing unless we want outrageously expensive books. But yeah, you are right, I should have been more clear.
 

Bat Vader

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Does this mean they are going to make a VTM grand strategy game where you have to rule over a section of a city and try and expand? That would be cool.
 

Rednog

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Good.
Honestly, CCP literally did nothing with the franchise besides sit on it and let it rot for years.
They had the franchise for 10 years, and for almost that whole time they had an MMO in preproduction.
Hopefully paradox can at least do something with the franchise.
 

MetalheroDamien

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Mar 25, 2010
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I hope Paradox does the right thing and leaves Onyx Path to it's thing. They know what they're doing.
 

Something Amyss

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Fanghawk said:
That's half true - everything they publish goes through DriveThruRPG and uses their print-on-demand service. So you can still get physical books, you just can't pick them up at a bookstore like you once could.
Ah. Thanks for clarifying. I did notice some of their books were POD, but never knew they'd killed the normal printing. Also, didn't know it was more than a few books.
 

Recusant

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Bat Vader said:
Does this mean they are going to make a VTM grand strategy game where you have to rule over a section of a city and try and expand? That would be cool.
This is actually what I was wondering; has Paradox ever even published an RPG? (Seriously, have they? I don't actually know.) And that would be pretty cool; take a look at the entrenched attitude of nihilism from a very different angle.

I think this is good news, but remember, Paradox: less Sword of the Stars 2, more... pretty everything else you've made.
 

MetalheroDamien

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Mar 25, 2010
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Something Amyss said:
Fanghawk said:
That's half true - everything they publish goes through DriveThruRPG and uses their print-on-demand service. So you can still get physical books, you just can't pick them up at a bookstore like you once could.
Ah. Thanks for clarifying. I did notice some of their books were POD, but never knew they'd killed the normal printing. Also, didn't know it was more than a few books.
They didn't kill it entirely, just mostly. The regularly printed ones are sort of THE main point of the kickstarters.
 

UncleThursday

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Gethsemani said:
To be honest, CCP really mishandled White Wolf so I doubt that Paradox can do much worse. The fact that they outsourced and greatly reduced support for their pen and paper RPGs (including ceasing the production of actual books in favor of pdfs) showed that CCP never really knew what to do with White Wolf or the IPs it acquired. On the other hand, Paradox just recently acquired the manufacturer of a faux-medical anti-tinnitus patch so who knows what Paradox has planned..
CCP initially planned a WoD MMO, but cancelled it a while back. I used to be friends with some WW staff, from my time moderating thier old JAVA chat game, New Bremen. Not even sure how many even still work there.

I do agree that CCP mismanaged WW, though. They probably thought they'd make out better by owning WW, and its properties if the WoD MMO was asuccess, over paying a licensing fee. Problem was, after the cancellation, they didn't know what the fuck to do with WW, and just kept scaling it back to save money.
 

Darks63

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Recusant said:
Bat Vader said:
Does this mean they are going to make a VTM grand strategy game where you have to rule over a section of a city and try and expand? That would be cool.
This is actually what I was wondering; has Paradox ever even published an RPG? (Seriously, have they? I don't actually know.) And that would be pretty cool; take a look at the entrenched attitude of nihilism from a very different angle.

I think this is good news, but remember, Paradox: less Sword of the Stars 2, more... pretty everything else you've made.
I think that they have published the magika games and those are rpgs unless im mistaken.
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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considering CCP weren't doing anything with them I doubt Paradox can do worse. I just want another WoD game, especially getting into the other settings like Werewolf, Hunter, Promethean, etc. Heck, even doing the whole WoD universe with the different races would make for a fascinating experience.