World of Darkness, the MMO based on the Vampire: The Masquerade universe, has officially been cancelled, according to CCP Atlanta.
Roughly 56 employees will be laid off with the rest being offered other roles within the company. According to CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson, “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.
“I would like to give special thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make the World of Darkness MMO a reality, especially the team members affected by this decision…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.”
As of now, CCP’s focus will be solely on the EVE Online universe with the original MMO, the DUST 514 PlayStation 3 tie-in shooter and EVE: Valkyrie, the Oculus Rift-based space dog-fighting game.
World of Darkness was a game that was first announced in 2006, with full production beginning in 2009. It was supposed to incorporate the open-world sandbox style of games such as Rust or DayZ while also maintaining the core dynamics of being either human or vampire. However, the relative dearth of news since then was worrisome, as was the laying off of 15 staff members in December. Along with that, producer Chris McDonough stated in 2013 that the game was still years from launching, which was another red flag.
