Open Letter from Mike Tinney/President of White Wolf
Posted: 20 Sep 2007, 00:51
Dear Fans,
I've been reading the forums and receiving notes from Johannes and Ben
and you are right to call us out on our shortcomings. The North
American Championship and Lords of the Night edition have not received
the level of support from us that they should have. Even though we've
raced to address the obvious oversights, I still feel as though we're
under servicing these events. Further, I agree that we have not, as a
company overall, given this product and it's fans the level of support
it deserves. As the president of the company, I take responsibility
for this.
VTES' story is an incredible one. This product has survived a name
change, a discontinuation, and intermittent support from us here at
White Wolf. I would not concede that White Wolf has consistently
performed poorly in regards to VTES. We took a financial risk when we
reinvigorated the game, and we've invested well in excess of the
recent EVE marketing budget in the care and feeding of VTES over the
years. I would agree though that we've not really stepped up to the
plate and matched your, VTES fans', efforts. Hiring a member of the
VTES community to support the organized play was a good first step,
but it should not be our last.
I want to also touch briefly of VTES' place in our newly merged
company. CCP, CCP North America and White Wolf have two flagship
brands: EVE and World of Darkness. Within the World of Darkness, the
Vampire brand is our leading brand. Vampire the Requiem, Vampire the
Masquerade and Vampire the Eternal Struggle all have their place as
part of our leading Vampire brand. Currently both Vampire the Requiem
and Vampire the Eternal Struggle are active brands with active
products. Products associated with these two active sub brands receive
marketing dollars, and personnel attention and support. In short, VTES
is a part of our award winning Vampire property and still of great
importance to us. It has not been diminished as part of the merger.
In the weeks following the North American Championship we will be re-
evaluating our approach regarding VTES. Many of the challenges facing
VTES are complicated by the emerging dynamic between online and brick
and mortar retailers. We also need to examine how we develop and
support this product in house along with how we bring it to market. We
need to reach an internal like mindedness on our goals for/
expectations of this product. VTES has a lot of rare qualities that
will make some of these discussions and decisions quite difficult.
These are however the same qualities that we feel make VTES an
exceptional game, and one deserving of our support and attention.
To those that have recognized the improvements we have made in
supporting VTES, I thank you. We will however be looking closely at
VTES and looking at ways we can continue to improve our service to you
guys. In the meantime for those of you at the North American
Championship, share your thoughts and feedback with Oscar. Try to make
your comments constructive, and comprehensive (tell us about the
things you think we're doing right too). I'd very much like for this
next step in the process to be a 2 way street.
Best Regards,
Mike Tinney
President
CCP North America
President
White Wolf Publishing
I've been reading the forums and receiving notes from Johannes and Ben
and you are right to call us out on our shortcomings. The North
American Championship and Lords of the Night edition have not received
the level of support from us that they should have. Even though we've
raced to address the obvious oversights, I still feel as though we're
under servicing these events. Further, I agree that we have not, as a
company overall, given this product and it's fans the level of support
it deserves. As the president of the company, I take responsibility
for this.
VTES' story is an incredible one. This product has survived a name
change, a discontinuation, and intermittent support from us here at
White Wolf. I would not concede that White Wolf has consistently
performed poorly in regards to VTES. We took a financial risk when we
reinvigorated the game, and we've invested well in excess of the
recent EVE marketing budget in the care and feeding of VTES over the
years. I would agree though that we've not really stepped up to the
plate and matched your, VTES fans', efforts. Hiring a member of the
VTES community to support the organized play was a good first step,
but it should not be our last.
I want to also touch briefly of VTES' place in our newly merged
company. CCP, CCP North America and White Wolf have two flagship
brands: EVE and World of Darkness. Within the World of Darkness, the
Vampire brand is our leading brand. Vampire the Requiem, Vampire the
Masquerade and Vampire the Eternal Struggle all have their place as
part of our leading Vampire brand. Currently both Vampire the Requiem
and Vampire the Eternal Struggle are active brands with active
products. Products associated with these two active sub brands receive
marketing dollars, and personnel attention and support. In short, VTES
is a part of our award winning Vampire property and still of great
importance to us. It has not been diminished as part of the merger.
In the weeks following the North American Championship we will be re-
evaluating our approach regarding VTES. Many of the challenges facing
VTES are complicated by the emerging dynamic between online and brick
and mortar retailers. We also need to examine how we develop and
support this product in house along with how we bring it to market. We
need to reach an internal like mindedness on our goals for/
expectations of this product. VTES has a lot of rare qualities that
will make some of these discussions and decisions quite difficult.
These are however the same qualities that we feel make VTES an
exceptional game, and one deserving of our support and attention.
To those that have recognized the improvements we have made in
supporting VTES, I thank you. We will however be looking closely at
VTES and looking at ways we can continue to improve our service to you
guys. In the meantime for those of you at the North American
Championship, share your thoughts and feedback with Oscar. Try to make
your comments constructive, and comprehensive (tell us about the
things you think we're doing right too). I'd very much like for this
next step in the process to be a 2 way street.
Best Regards,
Mike Tinney
President
CCP North America
President
White Wolf Publishing
