CCP Lays Off 20% of Its Employees, Refocuses on EVE Universe

As announced by the developers themselves on their official blog, CCP has laid off “around twenty percent” of their personnel and refocused their resources on the EVE universe (EVE Online and the PlayStation 3-exclusive Dust 514). As a result of this, development of the World of Darkness MMO will go on with a significantly reduced team, which doesn’t come exactly as good news for those who were looking forward to the development of the MMO based on White Wolf’s property.

Here’s how CCP tries to assuage fears:

We understand how an announcement such as this can be perceived by our community and industry peers. We feel it is important to clearly address two questions that might arise.

First, EVE Online is in good health. Our subscriber numbers are higher today than they were a year ago. Unlike many other MMO’s on the market, we have continued to grow year-on-year since launch in 2003. However, over the past two months, our subscribers have gone down from their peak this summer. We attribute this to our own mistakes and poor communications with our players. We are correcting that now.

Second, World of Darkness lives on. Its concepts are revolutionary. CCP continues to believe that it will alter the landscape of the MMO as significantly as EVE has done but we need more time to continue to develop them before dedicating the substantial resources required to bring this experience to market.

It’s been a troubled period for CCP as a whole, so it doesn’t come exactly as a surprise, but one can hope it’s just a transition phase rather than the beginning of a decline.