CCP in 2010
MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller looks at the year ahead for CCP, the developers of EVE Online, Dust 514 and the reported World of Darkness MMO.
Editorial By Garrett Fuller on December 30, 2009
Laying quietly in the Icelandic mists, CCP remained one of the major players in MMOs throughout 2009. With EVE Online continuing its growth in the sci-fi sandbox universe the company is now branching out into new projects. World of Darkness and DUST 514 are two exciting games that CCP is working on for the future. The question is will we see either one in 2010?
advertisement CCP announced DUST 514 in 2009 and fans of EVE as well as gamers in general got excited about a shooter game set in the EVE universe. The dark and gritty space world of EVE has a lot to offer players and getting out of the ship for a while and gunning down opponents on foot could be a new experience. We don't know a whole lot about the game yet, save for what was revealed at this year's Fan Fest event. For now we know that DUST will have the brutal ground combat and will interface, at least in a limited way with EVE. The vehicles in the game also seem exciting and combining the RTS and FPS genres will give players some fights to remember. 2010 will be a year of announcements for DUST 514 and hopefully we will see a possible release date for the game at some point in the first half of the year.
World of Darkness is the goth child that CCP and White Wolf spawned back in 2006. The merger was quite exciting for fans of both sci-fi and horror genres and the potential of games threw the internets into a frenzy. Now here we are nearing 2010 and World of Darkness still remains in development. There has not been much news on the game lately but plenty of MMO fans have been waiting for a solid horror themed game to hit the market. With vampires infesting every aspect of popular culture lately there certainly is a market for a game of this magnitude. What will CCP reveal in 2010 about World of Darkness? Well, we can only hope that at the very least the company begins to leak some kind of new information. CCP has kept it under wraps for years now, almost to the point of fans forgetting that this game is still technically in development.
With the popularity of the genre right now World of Darkness, if done well, could be the break out success that the MMO industry needs. Gothic horror fights between werewolves and vampires with all other goodies thrown into the mix has proven to be a big seller on the market. With the endless stream of casual Asian MMOs flooding the market, it will be a relief to see something dark and mature hit the industry with some awesome vampiric power. The game was originally slated to launch in 2010, however with very little news out there, we cannot expect this report to be true. Still, CCP can surprise you and there is no telling what FanFest 2010 will hold for players.
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CCP remains one of the solid game companies in the MMO space. Everyone always talks about Blizzard, EA Bioware/Mythic, Turbine, SOE, and Funcom. Yet, CCP has earned a strong title on the list of top MMO designers. EVE is a testament to the success of the sandbox system and has a strong following going on seven years after its launch in 2003. The game still has features like Ambulation to add in and like many other long standing MMOs EVE will have its share of updates coming in 2010.
link is broken. it takes me to the home page.
edit-nvm just noticed its not a full article, what you "quoted" is all there is.
I'm quite intrigued by what CCP could bring to the genre outside of EVE.
Dust 514 looks amazing from the trailers, my only complaint about it though, is that it appears its going to be a console only release! as for the other game, i hadnt really heard anything about it, but a gothic horror mmo.. does have possibilities - just please dont make it twilight online
having said that, CCP are one of the few MMO developers that i have a lot of confidence in, so my guess is that they will only release info on the game as and when they think its ready.... now, all have to do is somehow persuade them to release Dust 514 on Pc too..... i dont want to have to go buy a console just so i can play it 
world of darkness mmorpg, i had indeed forgotten about it. hopefully ccp can make it an success.
CCP delivers!
It's one of the best companies in the MMO universe. I don't recall reading about angry players complaining about something against CCP.
I don't play EVE but its success can't be questioned.
Looking forward WoD since I'm a White Wolf fan. Bring out some trailers CCP, even game art will do :)
Best wishes for you guys in 2010. Keep on rocking.
Where the hell is Incarna/Ambulation/Walking on Stations/Flavor of the month! Feels like we've been teased with it for over three years now.
oops. What they haven't told us yet, is that WoD is sliently being converted to Twilight Online. They needed the money to finish station walking.
The great news is that it too will interface with EVE online, allowing tons of tween vampires to populate worlds in which the dark side of that planet never faces the system's star.
EVE players will be on the look-out for planets with random twinkling flecks of lights near the day/night terminator and dispatch DUST teams to eradicate the prissy invaders.
Dam when i saw the title of the article I was hopping there would indeed be more info on WOD. :)
Samewise..anyway CCP is the company that I have the most respect because they love their playerbase.They don`t try to bite into several apples like most MMO companies have been doing during the last 5 years.
Their success = hard work + dedication.
This article has fail written all over it. No speculation of what might be coming in Eve in the near future and just some guesses as to what is coming from their other ventures. You could google more information that that about CCP intentions.
is this game going to be similar to star trek online?
if you mean Eve itself..... er.. just no okay.. as for the others, dust 514 is more a fps mercenary capture the flag/base/planet kind of thing, which will be influential in soveriegnity issues in 0.0 space in Eve itself, WoD however is.. i think.. an RPG more along the lines of cthulhu etc.. though i could be wrong.. Eve is .. definitely not STO.. though i have no doubt that STO will be wishing it was more like Eve
you should be ashamed of yourself for typing such heresy.......
CCP has my attention more than any other company at this point. World of Darkness Online is the game I'm most interested in finding out any bit of information on. I am hoping that they are at a point in development (if they have been working on it since 2006) that they can announce beta in the second or third quarter of 2010 with a launch in the first or second quarter 2011.
I hope so, personally i have a lot of faith in CCP, i dont think they'd be the type to rush things and fluff it..
I am a bit suprised that there was no mention of the "Walk In" stations in EVE, one of the biggest updates announced for EVE.
there only as big as they are because they have no real competition.
and they wouuld be much bigger if they were non-pvp friendly instead of treating 3/4 the potential players like 2nd class players.
unless your hard core pvp bot bother with EVE.
even past this,,, while the screen shots are pretty the content is bitterly baren
5000 (7500) systems but they are procedurally generated and have no interesting or unique content and the planets are still borringly nothing but more scenery.
there are many EVE refugees
it was hoped that star trek online would be a viable option but it is not a factor any more. so dissenfranchised players will have to wait for the next big scifi/ space MMO
if you mean Eve itself..... er.. just no okay.. as for the others, dust 514 is more a fps mercenary capture the flag/base/planet kind of thing, which will be influential in soveriegnity issues in 0.0 space in Eve itself, WoD however is.. i think.. an RPG more along the lines of cthulhu etc.. though i could be wrong.. Eve is .. definitely not STO.. though i have no doubt that STO will be wishing it was more like Eve
actually i would guess WOD would be mroe along the lines of Masqurade except in MMO format
World of Darkness is one of the only MMO's that has a remote chance of stealing me away from TOR. I read somewhere that the game will be 'mature'.
I see CCP doing things very differently from what MMO players are used to. I hope they do - in a good way.
Let's just hope that CCP's definition of Mature is different from Funcom's. Well, I at least hope it is.
My opinion is that CCP will eventually be a decent developer ,but right now they are still near barely near the middle of the pack.
It is amazing to myself that the CCP has/had a great vision of what they wanted EVE to be,but most think what EVE started out as and is now ,is the best thing since sliced cheese.None of EVE's cheap game was the goal of CCP,they wanted the game that most of us that don't like EVE demand from the game,and one day they probably will reach their goal.
DUST looks to be their first installment for a graphically decent game,we will have to see if the game play meets the graphic standards,after all it is a HUGE task to go from making a literal spreadsheet game to one full of rich animations/graphics and game play.This is like taking CCP from a C rated developer to an A rated developer over night,i don't think they are ready for that step just yet.
As for the MMORPG game WOD,i believe this one another developer's game,so i am not sure how much input CCP will have,this sounded more like a joining of forces to help each other with the marketing of the games and collectibles/books/other avenues.My gut tells me this will be a very quick project,not much money or effort spent on it.This game i believe will only have 3 playable races,Werewolves/Vamps and Mages?When i see only 3 races i think of minimal cheap design,sorry but i have to be realistic.This game i think actually started in 009 since it was only a thought in 2008,so not much more than one year will have gone into this game,if you believe their forecast 2010 release date.
Why does there have to be more than 3 races? If the world doesn't need it why throw it in?
Game can even have two races and be great.
More races does not equal quality.
I'm not sure how accurate this is as I don't know the game well, but thought it seems there are 5 sub races, there are 3 core games of WoD.
The three core games are as follows:
Vampire: The Requiem (released August 21, 2004 alongside The World of Darkness core book)
Werewolf: The Forsaken (released March 14, 2005)
Mage: The Awakening (released August 29, 2005)
So it seems that having 3 races works with the original core games.
It's very likley they could add the other two game races later.
Just to bring you up to speed Wiz they have been working on World of Darkness Online in varying degrees since 2006. This press release about the merger informs us of this. Granted, it does not say to what extent they were working on it, but it does verify that early development had begun at that time 3 years ago.
Over to opinion I'd have to disagree with you that 3 races equals a quick project or cheap design. THe number of races should reflect the setting and having Humans, Vampires and Werewolves works extremely well for a WoD setting. Keeping in mind they could add other White Wolf game races in with expansions. Turbine did rather well with just 3 races (Sho, Gharu'ndim, and Alluvians) and AC wasn't cheap.
As for it helping market books, I'd have to disagree with you there as well. The large portion of the new World of Darkness books are out and have been out for a year or two now. There same for the Vampire, Mage, Werewolf, etc. books. If this MMO was being done to help market those, they missed the opportune time to do such 2 years ago. No, I think this game stands on its own merit and not as a prop up for some other product.
CCP is pure win.
Eve rocks and I have high expectations for WoD and Dust.
I want to reach a point in my life where I am perfectly comfortable spouting the most nonsensical crap with complete disregard for history, fact or reality. I think I'd have a blast.
Cheers to you, Wizardry.
If they try to make the WoD MMO more like Twilight, appealing to tween girls instead of more focus on WoD... I'm going to be knockin' some heads.
If the CCP band, Permaband, makes a song called "Harden the Fuck Up", do you really think they'd make any MMO catered to anything even remotely similar to the Twilight crowd?
Don't worry.
If the CCP band, Permaband, makes a song called "Harden the Fuck Up", do you really think they'd make any MMO catered to anything even remotely similar to the Twilight crowd?
Don't worry.
They did say they were aiming the MMO at the 18-25 female population... so who knows.
They did say they were aiming the MMO at the 18-25 female population... so who knows.
Link? Haven't see that stated anywhere before.
They did say they were aiming the MMO at the 18-25 female population... so who knows.
Link? Haven't see that stated anywhere before.
"Mr Veigar Pétursson says, with more professional males in the 25-35-year-old age range losing their jobs, he has seen the number of subscribers soar since the economic crisis began. CCP Games has been profitable since 2004, but all profits are currently being reinvested in Eve Online and also into creating World of Darkness, a new online subscription game about vampires targeting an 18-25-year-old, female demographic."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/5344839/Virtual-world-is-a-real-money-maker.html
Lol, was thinking the same. That comment seemed completely random.
Because the word 'says' appeared somewhere on the page, every sentence is a quote from the CEO? Especially in one of the few paragraphs where the CEO isn't being quoted? I dunno, that seems like a real stretch, especially since it doesn't even seem logical. I mean, is 18-25 women the WOD crowd? Has that been stated in other articles/interviews? Seems more like a reporter's guess.
note that EVE has very strong industrial component, which is mostly non-pvp oriented. it wouldn't surprise me if CCP manages to create WOD where PVPers have their share of combat while "industry"-part becomes social manipulation/interaction.
also, while humans, vampires and werewolves might seem limited as, effectively, class choices, knowing CCP, there will be quite a lot of specialization options.
@brenth: They don't treat potential players like second class. They don't treat PvE players like second class. They also have a large number of non PvP players.
CCP made a game for a target audience and have been excelling in that. That is part of thier success. Not part of the failure to capture more people. Too many game companies want thier target demographic to be anyone and everyone. This is why the others fail.
Sure, there are a lot of EVE refugees, but find me an MMO where there isn't. Also, find me an MMO where you find the subs and concurrent users steadily rising.
As far as the barren systems... Its space buddy. Not only is it space, but its to scale. That means that there is a LOT of emptiness. LOTS. I mean, what do you expect? A space station with a giant glowing palm tree? Some alien colonies? Worlds buzzing like they do in Star Wars? Most of the content in the game is player generated.
To the article Writer:
You left out ONE major gripe about the new DUST 514 (sp?) game CCP is developing that most of the EVEr community is pissed about. That MAJOR gripe is that DUST514 is CONSOLE ONLY, and yet DUST is supposed to add ground game decision making for sovereignty in EVE. This is completely horse crap because EVE is a hardcore-PC game. We do NOT have consoles, nor do we have the $$$ to invest both in consoles and our PC's.
Did you know that the WOD mmo is targeted towards a female demographic?
I'll give you some time to let this sink, then throw your arms above your head and run around screaming. :D
As for ccp in '10..they will have a lot to do in the new year. They failed at the sov system revamp, then lost track of the capital revamp due to internal power struggles. The industry expansion never happened although the economy is screaming for changes. The latest changes in t2 production created a new bottleneck, mineral prices plummet as less and less ressources are extracted by mining but introduced into the system by pve activities. Old mechanics are left untouched for ages or just plain abandoned.
So yeah, while i guess ccp still has a great future, they really need to work on their development style. Scrum, overly optimistic deadlines and internal struggles will hurt eve in the long run.
Because the word 'says' appeared somewhere on the page, every sentence is a quote from the CEO? Especially in one of the few paragraphs where the CEO isn't being quoted? I dunno, that seems like a real stretch, especially since it doesn't even seem logical. I mean, is 18-25 women the WOD crowd? Has that been stated in other articles/interviews? Seems more like a reporter's guess.
@ Aevenath
Thanks for the link.
@ rest
I'd have to agree that I don't think this was a quote else it would have been put in quotes. If anything I'd bet it was an also in that the typical male age group was being targeted but in addition the female 18-25 group is being targetted with WOD. As for if that's the WoD crowd, no, it is not it sum total. Is it a large portion of it, you better believe it. My "people" are the role-playing folks. The ones that are staff at Scarborough and work at other medieval styles places of business (usually restaurants). I've been known to game store "hop" (as opposed to bar hopping) no matter what city or state I'm in. The number of females interested in White Wolf's games, in particular vampire (TM or TR) is astronomical when compared to other table-top (LARPable) role playing games.
So, yeah, CCP doesn't have to do anything extra but just recreate WoD and Vampire, Werewolf and Mage as they are in written format and the systems plus the subject matter will draw a healthy female crowd in my opinion.
I am glad world of darkness is being developed largely in secret because otherwise I would have to hit up the web page everyday and anticipate it for years. Can't wait to play it, and Dust 514 as well.
"Did you know that the WOD mmo is targeted towards a female demographic?"
That quote was some random guesswork from the news media, it was never substantiated. Just thinking about it and way this industry works should make any one with any intelligence disregard such speculation. CCP has some very intelligent people behind it and know the industry is driven by a post teen male group. Now it could be they want to attract more females, but you can bet they will still target the male demographic first.
So spread your nonsense elsewhere, you just look like a fool posting it here.
Ive enjoyed playing Eve Online for a year and a half now and still loving it. I cant wait to see what all dust 514 has to offer. I want my WOD please!
(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH goes on Euro vacation with Leanne tweeden)
I see your knowledge of demographics is severely lacking..
I'm a big CCP fan myself. While I no longer have the time or desire to play Eve (one year old daughter won't leave my laptop alone so I could play even if I wanted. :p ) I AM highly interested in DUST. Since it is a console game I will be able to play that for an hour or so in the mornings and that's all I want anymore. :)
As for World of Darkness I'm also interested in that since my buds play the Pen and Paper game regularly. (I don't but only because they're no longer in the state. :p ) So yeah I'm looking forward to hearing more from CCP!
Yea, I too was hoping for some information about CCP in this article, but alas there was none. What was the point of this article?
Yeah.... Sorry man Eve doesn't cater to certain pve types.
They have missions and exploration stuff and you have access to Empire space (which is massive) but it still falls short if your strickly a Pver.
Maybe JGE or BP will be more to your liking?
Oh to to the ones in this thread worried about the female demographic comment. please keep in mind that women have always been huge supporters of Vampire the masquerade Roleplaying.
When growing up in NYC hot goth chicks loved that shit (gay males also) so expect a truely unique playerbase.