What is holding back a V:TES rerelease

As an old returning player, what is holding back a rerelease of the old game. It seems to be the most popular dead card game in the world but still not being released again. Is there something I am missing in the age of the LCG?

White Wolf (now owned by Paradox) has the rights.
Is interested in licensing them.
No one has done so.
Yet.

Although, I'm under the assumption that behind the scenes there might be things done to get towards the goal of having the game reprinted. But before deals are signed it is all just hush hush...

There are some license issues but bottom line, there was no confidence in economic viability for a long time.

However VEKN is working to circumvent the license issues and Paradox is looking into economic viability atm.

I believe the legal issues with the license have been addressed now. At this point, it seems as though the holdup is that they still haven't come to a decision on what form to bring it back into print, based on the last time they published the minutes of their discussions.

Or maybe they have since then, but they're waiting to see how the 5th edition Masquerade launch goes before going forward? Maybe they're waiting for 2019 so they can do a VTES 25th anniversary edition? Maybe both? Neither?

I was really hoping for some big news to drop back when they had the Berlin convention, which obviously didn't happen, and now I continue to wait impatiently.

I can't even imagine what it must be like for players who've been waiting since 2010.

Cat_in_Exile wrote:

I believe the legal issues with the license have been addressed now. At this point, it seems as though the holdup is that they still haven't come to a decision on what form to bring it back into print, based on the last time they published the minutes of their discussions.

Or maybe they have since then, but they're waiting to see how the 5th edition Masquerade launch goes before going forward? Maybe they're waiting for 2019 so they can do a VTES 25th anniversary edition? Maybe both? Neither?

I think the question of what form would the relaunched VTES take is important. In my opinion VTES would benefit greatly from being remade into a boardgame or living card game form. These methods would be far more approachable from a players standpoint compared to the ccg form that mimics magic the gathering, since products would always hold the same cards and you would know exactly what to buy in order to get the cards you want. There would be an upper limit to what you have to spend in order to play (compare to boosters with randomized content). VTES players got a taste of what LCG is like with Anthologies, which in similar fashion contains a fixed set of cards. Isn't it nice?

And, unlike with netrunner or other LCG:s, the fact that VTES does not limit how many copies of a card you can include in a deck, it might mean that same person would probably buy multiple copies of the same expansion pack because they need more copies of card X. I think this would be decently lucrative option for the publisher.

Admittedly, CCG style of game would milk far more money out of the existing playerbase, unless its a simple reprint (because existing playerbase could continue playing the cards they already own). But in my opinion, it would be harder to entice new players to the game if they have to spend egregious amounts of money in order to play in a tournament with a meaningful deck.

Magic the gathering suffers from this issue with its eternal formats (tournament formats where allowed cards do not rotate). The entrance price of a brand new player into these formats is stupendous (talking upwards of a thousand euros depending on deck), therefore the formats are slowly dying out since only old players who already own the cards can play. VTES has only one constructed format and this same fate would fall on it eventually if it continues with the CCG model.

I also think that the game should be relaunched as a different game in order to clean up and modernize the complexity and rules issues of old and shoddily designed cards. I'm sure there will be many who disagree, but large amount of VTES cards, particularly older ones, have quite amateurishly written textboxes.

If the powers that be are pondering these same issues, no wonder its taking so long. In addition to financing questions ofc.

I can't even imagine what it must be like for players who've been waiting since 2010.

At this point, 2010 feels like yesterday. I went through a dark period of time after WoD MMO was canceled since it had been supposedly in development for several years and I had been waiting it since the beginning.

I think the upcoming Prince's Gambit fills the quick start party game niche. I'd much prefer to see VTES keep to the CCG format, personally.

Expansions help keep the game fresh and players interested, and fits with the transmedia vision that White Wolf has for the World of Darkness license, in that it can include whatever the current metaplot is.