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Article Summary
- Renegade Game Studios has announced that its licensing and publishing partnership for the World of Darkness tabletop RPG line will officially conclude at the end of 2026.
- Starting in 2027, the recently resurrected and revamped White Wolf will manage all World of Darkness tabletop RPG publishing and development.
- Renegade will honor remaining 2026 commitments, including customer support and scheduled releases like Courts of the Damned and Tribes of Gaia.
- The transition comes as White Wolf gears up for a new era, having already announced the new Vampire: The Masquerade 6th Edition ruleset along with potential expansions for other classic World of Darkness franchises.
The tabletop gaming landscape is experiencing another seismic shift among the creatures of the night. In a blog post, Renegade Game Studios announced that its publishing partnership for the World of Darkness RPG line is officially wrapping up at the end of 2026. Starting in 2027, White Wolf – the recently resurrected publisher who first created the flagship horror line – will bring development, publishing and support for all World of Darkness tabletop RPGs back in-house. In the meantime, Renegade will continue to fulfill orders for several new and upcoming products, and support organized play, through the remainder of 2026
The decision marks the end of a pivotal six-year arrangement that saw Renegade steward major World of Darkness titles – including Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf: The Apocalypse – through the fifth edition era following the controversial collapse of White Wolf in 2020.
Below, we look at what this means for the future of the iconic TTRPG horror line.
Why is Renegade giving up the World of Darkness RPG license?
Renegade Game Studios has served as the caretaker of the World of Darkness brand since late 2020, stepping in after parent company Paradox Interactive restructured the property and moved away from direct in-house publishing. This was due to the controversial release of Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition, with content that included explicit references to neo-Nazis, pedophilia and homophobia, and criticism that some material was designed to appeal to far-right hate groups.
Over the course of the six-year partnership with Paradox, Renegade published numerous core books, expansions and supplements across Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Hunter: The Reckoning.
According to Renegade’s announcement, the return of the license marks a natural end to the partnership rather than any kind of bad blood. They note that the primary driver is the fact that parent company Paradox Interactive officially relaunching White Wolf in May 2025 as a new, independent studio that will oversee the World of Darkness franchise across multiple forms of media, including video games and TTRPGs. The revitalized White Wolf has since hired a number of staff, including bringing on former Wizards of the Coast VP Jess Lanzillo as Creative Director and tapping industry veteran Diogo Nogueira as Lead Game Designer, so the transition feels like a natural next step for the brand.
In a short blog post on the official White Wolf website, they write: “White Wolf thanks Renegade for years of creativity, craft, and dedication to the World of Darkness. Both companies are proud of what they built together, and grateful to the community whose passion carried the partnership every step of the way.”
What’s next for the World of Darkness RPG line?
The biggest headline on the horizon is the upcoming release of Vampire: The Masquerade 6th Edition. Officially announced at Gen Con 2026, V6 will feature a completely brand-new ruleset designed to streamline play while preserving classic clans, sects and overarching metaplots. A playtest released on Demiplane has already showcased a number of new mechanics, including unified conflict resolution, standard d10 dice pools, narrative mechanics like “Devil’s Bargain” and the consolidation of Blood and Health into a single “Vitae” pool.
Beyond Kindred society, White Wolf’s new internal team has also announced plans to revisit the entire World of Darkness catalog. The studio is actively considering brand-new editions for Vampire: The Dark Ages, Mage: The Ascension and Changeling: The Dreaming, while also re-evaluating the current states of Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Hunter: The Reckoning. In the immediate term, Renegade’s final offerings – Courts of the Damned for VtM and Tribes of Gaia for WtA – will close out the current licensing chapter this fall before handing the keys back to White Wolf.
What’s next for Renegade Game Studios?
While Renegade will no longer be producing or distributing World of Darkness TTRPG books, they aren’t abandoning the horror genre entirely. In fact, they’ve essentially pivoted to their own take on the iconic horror line, with the upcoming Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe Roleplaying Game.
Licensed from AMC, the tabletop RPG will be based on the works of novelist Anne Rice, and an Interview with the Vampire Starter Set will be hitting BackerKit in late October, followed by an Interview with the Vampire: New Orleans rulebook expansion in 2027.
Final Thoughts
Renegade Game Studios deserves plenty of credit for steadying the ship during a turbulent period for the World of Darkness, keeping books flowing to store shelves and running a number of successful community initiatives. But with White Wolf studio rising from the grave and an ambitious VtM 6th Edition already taking shape, bringing tabletop development back home feels like a true full-circle moment. In other words, as 2027 approaches, it looks like fans will likely have plenty of darkness on the horizon.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the days ahead. In the meantime, you can learn more on on the Renegade blog and read White Wolf’s response on the World of Darkness blog.