Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri broke the news that Paradox Interactive have bought White Wolf Publishing from Icelandic CCP Games (EVE Online, EVE: Valkyrie). CCP picked up the RPG publisher in 2006, White Wolf who are best known for Vampire: The Masquerade and World of Darkness. For many, many years CCP Games were developing an MMORPG based on World of Darkness, but as the company fell on hard times the troubled development was eventually cancelled. And so it makes sense that CCP Games sheds their ownership as they focus on their core business - the EVE universe.
Paradox Interactive on the other hand have been highly successful as of late. Not only with their core titles from the internal studio (Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings), but also with their publishing efforts that includes the highly successful Cities Skylines. The deal cost Paradox "tens of millions of SEK" (10 million SEK is approximately £770,000). Paradox are setting up a separate company for White Wolf, and are considering setting up an operation in Los Angeles as well. Currently White Wolf generates around 4-5 million SEK (roughly £350,000) on an annual basis.
CEO Fredrik Wester commented that we might see new games based on the license in 2017 at the earliest. If we can make a request it would be that Paradox look into whether Obsidian might be interested in creating an RPG based on Vampire: The Masquerade. Paradox who published Obsidian's kickstarted old-school RPG Pillars of Eternity have been in talks with the developer over other potential projects. After all there is a connection there with Troika Games' RPG Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines as Tim Cain is currently employed at Obsidian Entertainment.
Then the press release dropped and we got some quotes from the parties involved in the deal:
"Like Paradox's games, White Wolf's properties have dedicated, passionate communities. While there are similarities in spirit, White Wolf's IPs have very different themes than Paradox's titles, and deserve their own brand and team," said Fredrik Wester, CEO and President of Paradox Interactive. "We have great respect for White Wolf's gaming worlds and see big opportunities for their expansion in the future under our new subsidiary."
"Over the last 20 years, I've had the opportunity to work with beloved studios like DICE and Paradox on the business management side of games, and as a developer earlier in my career. I look forward to bringing my experience to bear as we pursue new ways to interact with White Wolf's universes," said Tobias Sjögren, CEO of White Wolf Publishing. "The White Wolf IPs are well suited for all kinds of media and we see great potential to expand them in the future."
"At CCP, we have great admiration for the White Wolf brands and communities, and it was extremely important to us that the acquiring company share the same respect and understanding," said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. "With Paradox, we know we are leaving the brands in good hands."