VtM: Bloodlines - Project Vaulderie Canceled

But that does not change the fact that it is simply dumb (as already said, shooting down free advertising rarely makes for an intelligent move) and IMO (and most others as well, I would say) ethically wrong as nobody working on the project was earning money or hurting CCP in any other way.

It isn't dumb to protect your own economic property. It's usually unethical to take somebody's property and use it for your own, even if you don't plan to directly profit from it. The presence of this project represents a potential loss of sales, so it's not "free" to the owner.
 
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I agree with rjshae. Not only was this move by the right owners entirely predictable, it's also entirely sensible.
But that will not be the case anymore, and it’s clear that there won’t be any newer titles created under the Vampire the Masquerade brand…

Uh, forever is a long time. It's a little early yet to discount ever seeing another VtM game. Besides, if you've got the chops to recreate VtM in Unity (that's a big IF), you could make your own vampire themed game.
 
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It isn't dumb to protect your own economic property. It's usually unethical to take somebody's property and use it for your own, even if you don't plan to directly profit from it. The presence of this project represents a potential loss of sales, so it's not "free" to the owner.

This is the part that I describe as outdated thinking. I understand how copyright works, and the need to reasonably protect it. But the company doesn't necessarily have to fear the community iterating on its work.

Bethesda is the prime example. Not only do they encourage modding, they accept projects like Skywind and OpenMorrowind, and have explicitly given permission to modders to alter and redistribute their game assets. They simply include two legal conditions: you may not profit from any of these derivative works, and all derivative works become the property of Bethesda. Bethesda are covered, and the massive, engaged community helps to make Elder Scrolls the behemoth it is.

I made my later point about complex agreements when i realised that CCP are only licensees of the IP, so may not have a free hand in these decisions.
 
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This is the part that I describe as outdated thinking. I understand how copyright works, and the need to reasonably protect it. But the company doesn't necessarily have to fear the community iterating on its work.

It's not outdated thinking; it's a standard business model. The example you list of Bethesda is an exception, and if it works for them then good. That isn't going to work for everybody.
 
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It's not outdated thinking; it's a standard business model. The example you list of Bethesda is an exception, and if it works for them then good. That isn't going to work for everybody.

Well, being a standard business practice and being outdated are not mutually exclusive. Bethesda is just one example of how an alternative attitude can succeed and benefit a business.

We can't know how well it would work for every compny, by my suggestion is that it could work very well indeed, and many companies have recognised the potential.

In this particular case I don't think the Masquerade IP, in terms of the games market, is a very hot property. If it were mine, I would encourage the community revival, possibly follow up with a kick starter project to capitalise on that renewed interest, and see if I could reestablish Masquerade in the mind of a new gaming generation.
 
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For one they were not making a new VTM game but porting Bloodlines to the Unity engine so they can expand it. That would make it more like a patch to the game replacing the underlying engine and usually they can't stop things like this from being made. If CCP are only a licensee then they don't even have any rights at all when it comes to Project Vaulderie.
 
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