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[crimsonheadGCN]

Last week, CCP announced major layoffs and a significant shift in priorities away from Vampire: The Masquerade-themed MMO World of Darkness and back toward EVE Online.

We had a long chat with CEO Hilmar Petursson about the changes, and where they leave CCP. He explains why CCP is narrowing its focus, and says that it was “hubris” that led CCP astray.

PCG: I know a lot of people are curious about where this leaves World of Darkness. You’re a little vague in the press release. What’s the plan for that project moving forward?

Hilmar Petursson: We as a company were trying to achieve many impossible things at the same time. We were fighting on many fronts, and that has now resulted in us not really being able to get through [all] that. We need to focus more. So now CCP becomes much more focused on the more classical aspects of EVE Online, and getting Dust out there, and working the connection between those two games so that they add value to one another.

WoD development will definitely slow down during that process. We have a team in place which will continue month after month on that project, but it’s still becoming less of a priority for CCP overall. And I am not sure, really, how much of a delay for WoD it really is, because the way we were going about this was also a very long road of getting WoD out to market. We were developing a common platform and re-integrating it into EVE and WoD at the same time. It was just a very ambitious plan.

So it’s difficult to answer at this moment. The team is definitely going through scoping WoD and seeing what makes sense to make as a plan for WoD.

Like a lot of PC gamers, when I think of EVE Online, I don’t necessarily think of it as a fictional universe so much as a community of players. Superficially, it would seem that CCP is an MMO company, and many of your strengths would have pointed to making a game like WoD rather than moving into a console shooter like Dust. Let’s say you came to this crossroads a year and a half ago, and you had to choose which of these projects to focus on. Would you still choose Dust?

HP: That’s a very hypothetical question. I’m not sure I have a good answer to that.

Dust has a lot of MMO components. It has a lot of persistence and character progression, and elements like that which are born out of EVE. Dust is much closer to EVE Online than we ever thought we would be able to do. So you could say that Dust actually adds tremendous value to EVE Online in terms of the connection between the two games.

So we look at it as there is one EVE universe that has many approaches to it.

What kind of involvement do you think EVE players are going to have with Dust? Certainly many of the EVE players I know have practically married to the game. DO you see many of them crossing over and becoming a part of the Dust community as well, or do you see them as being two separate communities that will exist in the same universe?

HP: I think initially, it will be separate communities just because the audiences are different. But we have also seen a lot of interest from EVE players, current or previous players, on trying out Dust. But after the release of Dust the game will continue to become closer and closer. So I think over time, the communities will become closer and closer. But it is also to be said …[that] even the EVE community itself is many different things.

Have you given serious thought to an eventual Dust PC release?

HP: We can’t really comment on that at this time. Currently we’re just super-focused on making an awesome PS3 experience. That’s really our priority right now. Part of our mission now is to just focus on fewer things and doing them well.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/10/24/c...d-the-mindset-that-we-could-achieve-anything/

 

[Nora Kisaragi]

World of Darkness? Isn't that that MMO that you could be vampires and whatnot, and had character permadeath?

It sounded interesting and somewhat far into development, it's a bit sad to hear this. I was willing to try an open beta for it.

This is the thread i'm thinking of

 

[Deadbeat]

So what did they do exactly to get people to stop subscribing to EVE? I mean boycotts before have always been bullshit but people actually left this time. Must have been one hell of a zinger.

 

[goodfella]

Vampire the masquerade MMO?

Awesome.

 

[Shanadeus]

So what did they do exactly to get people to stop subscribing to EVE? I mean boycotts before have always been bullshit but people actually left this time. Must have been one hell of a zinger.

Basically, using the Eve subscribers as fat cash cows and milking their subscription money to fund two F2P MMOs while at the same time adding less and less actual space content to EVE.

Players got tired of not getting proper updates to the game they were paying for.

 

[ghst]

dust ticks every box going for "high concept title with great potential that nobody will buy". i just hope they can write off its expenses with whatever timed exclusivity dump sony took on them and keep it going as a f2p pc game.

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Vampire the masquerade MMO?

Awesome.

Don't get your hopes up :/

Really frustrated to hear them shift focus from WoD almost entirely.

 

[K.Jack]

I can't fathom how they see potential success for a PS3 exclusive FPS.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Don't get your hopes up :/

Really frustrated to hear them shift focus from WoD almost entirely.

Supporting two colossal MMOs with EVE as your only line of funding isn't a very smart thing to do. Compound this with the fact that World of Darkness was supposed to run on the Carbon engine entirely, which certainly isn't up to the performance standards of even being able to run in a multiplayer setting, and this direction is a no brainer.

I can't believe Dust managed to win out over WoD in terms of priority. Especially with how poorly received MAG was, I just don't see the audience they're going after with Dust. WoD seems like a more sure-thing follow-up to Eve, in that it's still unique and player-focused, but it's more grounded in having a player avatar more like other MMOs. It's also set in a universe that has become legendary in the years since Bloodlines. A new, non-Eve revenue stream seems like a much better bet than a PS3 shooter this late in the console's lifespan, when the next closest concept wasn't particularly liked.

I really loved playing MAG by the way.

I think CCP is committed to Dust 514 because it's much further in development than World of Darkness and because they must have secured some deal with Sony. As far as I know, the marketing will be handled by Sony, so CCP has to go through with the project to maintain some good relations. As excited as I am for Dust, a PC version needs to come out for the game. The game simply won't receive the audience it deserves on the PS3 alone.

 

[Emitan]

I can't fathom how they see potential success for a PS3 exclusive FPS.

It's on Vita too.

 

[∀ Narayan]

It's on Vita too.

The entire game probably won't be on the Vita. I don't expect it to be, anyway.

 

[Mxrz]

Let someone make a WoD crpg then, yeah?

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Lots of apologizing and hand-wringing coming from CCP recently.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Pathetic. WoD's been years in the making already. Just give it up or focus on it. You can't have both.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Stubborn asshole, that console game is gonna be the death of them. It has the stink of odeur le bomba all over it.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I guess that they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Rock being eve community and hard place being contractual obligation with sony to release a ps3 fps.

 

[K.Jack]

Stubborn asshole that console game is gonna be the death of them. It has the stink of odeur le bomba all over it.

That's my thought as well, unless Sony wrote them a check with 7 zeros on it.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

dust ticks every box going for "high concept title with great potential that nobody will buy". i just hope they can write off its expenses with whatever timed exclusivity dump sony took on them and keep it going as a f2p pc game.

I thought the whole point of this game was cross platform play that MS wouldn't allow. Now it's PS3 exclusive?

 

[OldJadedGamer]

I wasn't even aware of this developer until the news of the layoffs.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

I wasn't even aware of this developer until the news of the layoffs.

They have a MMO that actually still makes money with subscriptions, that puts them ahead of the curve to me.

 

[hayguyz]

I wasn't even aware of this developer until the news of the layoffs.

I hear they have a nifty game about spreadsheets in space.

 

[∀ Narayan]

That's my thought as well, unless Sony wrote them a check with 7 zeros on it.

I'm not so sure. EVE is still very profitable for CCP.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

I wasn't even aware of this developer until the news of the layoffs.

little known icelandic outfit somehow thinks it can compete with the 100million dollar marketed console FPS behemoths.

But hey, it's meta game is tied to an niche PC mmo with its best days behind it.

 

[KKRT00]

That's my thought as well, unless Sony wrote them a check with 7 zeros on it.

You probably never will be CEO of highly profitable corporation.

First of all they laid people not because they havent got money, but because they couldnt manage efficiently so many at once.
Second of all they are FAR from dead [they've actually increased subscription base this year] and Dust 514 will be more profitable than WoD. How?
Even if Dust bomb on ps3 after a year or so, they will probably recoup most of costs of development and then they will just release updated PC port with expansion or smth that will be cash cow and make EVE even bigger, more competitive and stronger than before.
Investment in Dust was great idea for CCP.

 

[theBishop]

Dust looks like it could be the perfect large-scale online team shooter. If the core mechanics are good, I will be addicted. Went from Wolfenstein Enemy Territory to MAG, and now I'm looking for something new.

 

[∀ Narayan]

But hey, it's meta game is tied to an niche PC mmo with its best days behind it.

If you played EVE today, you would know that this isn't true. The metagame is still very alive. The actual game itself requires some revitalization, and that's coming this winter.

You probably never will be CEO of highly profitable corporation.

First of all they laid people not because they havent got money, but because they couldnt manage efficiently so many at once.
Second of all they are FAR from dead [they've actually increased subscription base this year] and Dust 514 will be more profitable than WoD. How?
Even if Dust bomb on ps3 after a year or so, they will probably recoup most of costs of development and then they will just release updated PC port with expansion or smth that will be cash cow and make EVE even bigger, more competitive and stronger than before.
Investment in Dust was great idea for CCP.

If the PS3 version doesn't draw the audience it needs, it would be great if a PC version of Dust just ended up as an expansion for EVE. I, and I'm sure just about everyone playing EVE, would like that a lot. It would instantly add a ton of content to the game.

 

[Draft]

CCP is doomed. They blundered into success with EVE. They will dash themselves to pieces against the rocky shores of console development.

 

[jonremedy]

Dust is so obviously coming to PC, it's not even funny.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Dust is so obviously coming to PC, it's not even funny.

Yep. Six months after the PS3 version releases, I'm expecting a PC announcement. There's just no way it isn't going to happen.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

If you played EVE today, you would know that this isn't true. The metagame is still very alive. The actual game itself requires some revitalization, and that's coming this winter.

What update(s) are coming? More walking in stations stuff? Or something else? I haven't kept up with EVE development. I think it's interesting, but not really a good game in the end.

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

What update(s) are coming? More walking in stations stuff? Or something else? I haven't kept up with EVE development. I think it's interesting, but not really a good game in the end.

http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=2428&sp_rid=MzA1NTUxODk1NwS2&sp_mid=37156067

We hinted that we’re up to something big. Following Hilmars letter to the community it’s time to unveil the first step of actions we’re taking.

As we said we are planning something unparalleled. A significant part of that plan is the immediate refocusing of all the EVE development teams on EVE’s core gameplay: spaceships.

More programmers, more testers, more designers and more artists than ever working on bringing you meaningful and engaging improvements and additions to EVE.

Before we can elaborate on long term effect we will need further internal planning to take place and we will keep you updated on that progress. However the short term effect of this refocus will be evident immediately in dev-blogs coming out in the next days and weeks and in actual changes hitting our test servers. Right now we're going to give you a high level sneak peek of the winter 2011 expansion. The specific deployment date has not been set in stone but it will be on Tranquility well before Christmas.

EVE Online´s Winter 2011 expansion will be themed around improvements to warfare and PVP. We will be talking more specifically about each of the features and items in the coming weeks but, for now, here‘s an overview of what functionality, systems and gameplay we‘re going to improve and add to.

Hybrid weapons balancing

Factional warfare

Assault ships

Capital ship balancing

New T2 modules

Starbase logistics management

New EWAR-Drones

T2 Rigs manufacturing

Ship spinning

New font

More captains quarters

Time dilation

I want to make it clear that this is not a final list. As we go through design and implementation phases some things may require more work than initially expected and others may not hold water in the design phase and therefore may not make it into this particular expansion. Similarly some things might get added to the list. We will keep you updated on our progress every step of the way because, as Hilmar said, communication is one of the things we are dedicated to improve.

It‘s time to get serious about these spaceships.

Arnar Hrafn Gylfason

Senior Producer of EVE Online

 

[∀ Narayan]

What update(s) are coming? More walking in stations stuff? Or something else? I haven't kept up with EVE development. I think it's interesting, but not really a good game in the end.

Here's a nice summary thread detailing what to expect. (Clicky)