"Vampire Bloodlines" trademark filed by White Wolf

The sharp-eyed folks at RPG Codex noticed something interesting yesterday: In late April, White Wolf Publishing filed for a trademark on “Vampire Bloodlines,” to cover “downloadable publications in relation to role-playing games; downloadable publications in relation to computer games; video game software; application software for mobile phones; computer game software.”

That's not the zippiest bit of writing ever, but it is exciting. Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines is one of the finest RPGs ever made—not arguably, not maybe, it just is—and also one that's been sorely neglected since its release all the way back in 2004. Could the new trademark mean that we're finally going to get the sequel it so richly deserved?

White Wolf, unfortunately, declined to be very helpful in the matter: In response to my inquiries, CEO Tobias Sjögren said only, “While we don't comment on specifics what I can generally say is that we constantly work with renewing and strengthening our trademarks making sure we got them correctly registered in all countries and categories relevant.”

But consider this: White Wolf and all its properties were acquired last year by Paradox Interactive. Paradox Interactive published Obsidian's 2015 fantasy RPG Pillars of Eternity, and will do the same for the recently-announced Tyranny. And Obsidian—this is where it gets good—recently signed up Leonard Boyarsky, who was the project lead on Bloodlines, and is thus now back together with Tim Cain, who worked as a programmer on the game.

That's a long way from confirmation that Smiling Jack is back, obviously, but it sure sounds good, doesn't it? And given the resurgence in old-school RPGs we've enjoyed over the past few years—Wasteland, Divinity, Torment, Underworld, Bard's Tale, even Baldur's Gate—I'd say it's worth keeping fingers crossed.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.