The long awaited and extremely nebulous MMORPG, World of Darkness, has been cancelled by CCP Games. Alongside the news of its cancellation was the confirmation that 56 employees of CCP’s Atlanta branch have been laid off. An unconfirmed number of the laid off staff are reportedly being offered roles within CCP Games internally.

The game was based off the Vampire: The Masquerade universe, and was described as a combination of open world sandbox games like DayZ and Rust, while still holding true to the core mechanics of playing a human or a vampire. CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson had this to say in a statement:

“The decision to end the World of Darkness MMO project is one of the hardest I’ve ever had to make. I have always loved and valued the idea of a sandbox experience set in that universe, and over the years I’ve watched the team passionately strive to make that possible.

… To our current and former employees and fans of World of Darkness, I am truly sorry that we could not deliver the experience that we aspired to make. We dreamed of a game that would transport you completely into the sweeping fantasy of World of Darkness, but had to admit that our efforts were falling regretfully short. One day I hope we will make it up to you.”

The remaining staff at CCP Atlanta are being tasked with developing games within the EVE Universe, CCP Games’ bread and butter. This marks the first time the company has worked on a single game’s universe as a whole since 2006.