Paradox pays cash to take White Wolf Publishing off CCP's hands

Nearly nine years after Eve Online creator CCP Games merged with tabletop gaming firm White Wolf Publishing, the company has sold the White Wolf division and its trove of IP to Paradox Interactive for an unspecified (but all-cash) sum.

This is chiefly notable because CCP at one point saw enough potential value in the White Wolf brand to justify spending eight years developing a World of Darkness MMORPG based on the White Wolf pen-and-paper RPG of the same name, before eventually canning the project last April and laying off scores of staff.

Developers on the project reportedly got the game up to an alpha state at least three different times, but were asked to scrap their work and start over or were reassigned to work on EVE Online.

Now that White Wolf Publishing is a subsidiary of Paradox Interactive, the company (which effectively operates as a licensing business for its various brands, which include World of Darkness, Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse) will reportedly be operated as an independent entity with its own dedicated team led by erstwhile Paradox exec Tobias Sjögren.

"Part of the reasoning here is to have a separate management and team working with these brands and IPs," Sjögren (pictured) told Gamasutra via email. As CEO of the new division, Sjögren welcomes developers to reach out to the company if they're interested in working with the White Wolf IP but says that for now, the plan is to keep the division working primarily as a licensing business.

"The new company will focus on the future of White Wolf IPs and what is right for them now," said Sjögren. "White Wolf will evaluate all standing relationships with the focus on continue to work with the ones that aligns with our vision of the brand, and also then find new partners to complement the story going forward."