 | |
| CCP Games | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | June 1997; 27 years ago (1997-06) |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , Iceland |
Number of locations | 3 (2023) |
Key people | |
| Products | |
 US$63.6 million (2022) | |
| Total equity | US$ 63.9 million (2022) |
Number of employees |  173 (2022) |
| Parent | Pearl Abyss (2018–present) |
| Website | ccpgames.com |
CCP ehf.,doing business asCCP Games (short forCrowd Control Productions), is anIcelandicvideo game developer based inReykjavík.Novator Partners andGeneral Catalyst had previously collectively owned a majority stake in the company, and in September 2018, CCP was acquired by South Korean video game publisherPearl Abyss for US$425 million (which is approximately US$530 million in 2024).[1] CCP Games is best known for developingEve Online, which was released in 2003 and has since been maintained.
CCP Games was founded in June 1997 by Reynir Harðarson,Þórólfur Beck Kristjónsson and Ívar Kristjánsson for the purpose of makingMMORPGs.[2][3] Harðarson was working at a metaverse company calledOZ Interactive who had developed an engine for distributed 3d simulations over the internet, but not for gaming. Wanting to use the technology to build MMOs, Harðarson left OZ, to found CCP with Beck and Kristjánsson, bringing over key people, including CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson and creative director Torfi Frans Ólafsson.[4]
The name "CCP" is short for "Crowd Control Productions".[5] To finance the initial development ofEve Online, CCP Games developed and published a board game, calledHættuspil ("Danger Game").[2] The game sold more than 10,000 copies to Iceland's 80,000 households.[6]
While seeking funds for development, CCP assisted in developing pitch materials for the Icelandic children's showLazyTown.[7] In April 2000 the company, with Sigurður Arnljótsson as CEO, raised $2.6 million, through a closed offering organised byKaupthing Bank, from private investors in Iceland, including the Icelandictelephone companySíminn. He was with the company from 1999 to 2002 during which time the company raised two rounds of financing and secured a contract with publisherSimon & Schuster. Approximately half of the initial 21 employees came from Icelandicdot-com companyOZ Interactive.
On 11 November 2006, it was announced that CCP Games had entered a merger agreement withWhite Wolf Publishing.[8][9] With the merge, the combined company planned to produce "the industry's most innovative games leveraging both online and offline systems".[10] While CCP Games looked into creating online games based on White Wolf Publishing's properties, White Wolf Publishing would in turn create card games based onEve Online.[11][12] On 3 October 2007, CCP Games announced that CCP North America, a new video game-focused subsidiary, would be set up within White Wolf Publishing'sStone Mountain, Georgia, location on 12 October, hiring 100 developers.[13][14] White Wolf PublishingpresidentMike Tinney was additionally promoted head of CCP North America.[15][16][17] In February 2011, CCP Games announced that intentions to expand the location from their presently 150 positions to 300, and move the studio to new housing inDecatur, Georgia.[18][19][20][21] However, when CCP Games let go 20% of their worldwide staff, most of these layoffs occurred at CCP North America.[22][23] On 27 February 2012, Tinney stated that he had departed from both operations to focus on his new gaming-and-health startup, UtiliFIT.[24][25][26] In December 2013, further 15 people from theWorld of Darkness Online development team were let go.[27][28] White Wolf Publishing was acquired byParadox Interactive on 29 October 2015.[29][30][31] The deal comprised an undisclosed all-cash sum for CCP Games, and the company assets of White Wolf Publishing, theirintellectual property and the rights toWorld of Darkness Online for Paradox Interactive.[32][33][34]
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In October 2011, following a large controversy over its introduction ofmicrotransactions to the gameEVE Online, CCP Games announced that it would be reducing its staff. CCP Games released an announcement to its community admitting that they had made a mistake by releasing the Incarna expansion in its current development stage. In the wake of the Incarna expansion and following a mass protest byEVE Online players, CCP Games announced that it had decided to prioritise and shift their focus from theirWorld of Darkness MMO back to theirEVE-Universe products,EVE Online andDust 514. The restructuring resulted in the layoffs of 20% of CCP Games' staff worldwide. The majority of these layoffs affected the Atlanta, United States, office, but also affected were several positions in CCP headquarters inReykjavík, Iceland. Even though after considerable downsizing, CCP Games claims thatEVE Online and its development is stronger than ever and that the company will continue to grow.[35] CCP Games confirmed that they had moved away from the Incarna/Ambulation project to focus on the core game mechanics and that Incarna may be revisited further down the line.[36]
On 28 August 2014, CCP Games shut down itsSan Francisco studio to refocus their efforts onEVE Online. At the same time, CFO Joe Gallo and CMO David Reid resigned.[37] As of 2015, none of CCP Games' original founders were still with the company.
On 30 October 2017, CCP Games announced it would shutter its Atlanta studio, and sell off itsNewcastle studio, affecting approximately 1000 employees. It announced that it would shift its focus from VR development to PC and mobile game development.[38] The Newcastle studio was absorbed bySumo Digital.[39]
Pearl Abyss, the South Korean publisher ofBlack Desert Online, announced on 6 September 2018 that they had agreed to acquire CCP Games for aboutUS$425 million. CCP's development studios in Reykjavík, London, and Shanghai would continue under CCP Games, while the publishing and marketing functions of CCP would be integrated with Pearl Abyss.[40] The deal was closed on 12 October.[1] At the time, CCP Games had 250 employees across three development studios.[1]
EVE Online is CCP Games' first video game, originally published bySimon & Schuster in May 2003. CCP Games later reacquired the rights to publishEVE Online and continues to manage it to this day.EVE Online's core gameplay revolves around player decisions around mining, exploration, industry, factional warfare, piracy, and other generalPvP fighting. Some major design choices include a player-driven market economy very similar to that of real life and the freedom to do what might otherwise be considered illegal activities, such asscamming for in-game items or currencies.
On 18 August 2009, CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson announcedDust 514, a new ground-basedfirst-person shooter (FPS) withreal-time strategy elements being developed by CCP Games' Shanghai office.Dust 514 was released for thePlayStation 3 on 14 May 2013.[41] It featured a corefirst-person shooter experience, with a high level of customization. The game was shut down by CCP Games on 30 May 2016.[42]
Eve: Valkyrie was a first-person space combat simulator set in theEVE Online universe for theOculus Rift on 28 March 2016 and onPlayStation VR on 13 October 2016. It was made available for theHTC Vive on 17 November 2016. In the game, players took the role of an immortal fighter pilot, fighting with teams of other pilots to capture objectives and to defeat the opposing team. An update on 26 September 2017 allowed the game to be played without VR. As of August 5, 2022, CCP officially turned off all servers for the game, making the game unplayable.[43]
Gunjack is a virtual-reality arcade shooter released for theSamsung Gear VR on 20 November 2015, theOculus Rift on 28 March 2016, and the HTC Vive on 5 April 2016. APlayStation VR version is planned for release in 2016.[44] Players take the role of aturret operator defending a mining operation, set in theEVE Online universe. It gathered positive critical reviews on release.[45][46]
Gunjack 2: End of Shift is a virtual-reality arcade shooter released forGoogle Daydream on 8 December 2016. Players take the role of a turret operator defending a mining operation, set in theEVE Online universe.
Sparc was a virtual realitysports game and was CCP Games' first non-Eve title.[47] The game was announced on 27 February 2016.[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][excessive citations]
Vanguard is an in-developmentfirst-person shooter (FPS) taking place in theEVE Online universe.[56]
EVE Galaxy Conquest is afree-to-play4Xstrategy game for mobile devices (both iOS and Android) set in theEVE Online universe developed by CCP Games' Shanghai studio.[57][58]
In October 2006, CCP Gameschief marketing officer, Magnús Bergsson, stated thatEve would not be the only game to come out of CCP Games. On 11 November 2006 CCP Games andWhite Wolf Publishing jointly announced that CCP Games would be working on aWorld of Darkness Online. CCP Games planned to focus on the development of this game from March 2009 onward. It was scheduled to launch in 2012 at the earliest, but due to problems inEVE Online, several layoffs in 2011 and the planned release of the PlayStation 3 FPS gameDust 514 in the summer of 2013, the launch of the game was delayed indefinitely.[59] On 14 April 2014, CCP Games announced that the game had been cancelled.
Project Legion was set to be afirst-person shooter for similar toDust 514.[60] The project was cancelled in 2015 and was replaced withProject Nova.[61]
Eve: The Second Genesis is acollectible card game set in the universe created for the online gameEVE Online. Each player represents aCEO of a corporation, aligned with a particularrace, and through exploration, mining, and military strength, their goal is to defeat opponent CEOs.[citation needed]
Project Nova was a class-basedfirst-person shooter (FPS) for the PC taking place in theEVE Online universe and was developed by CCP Games Shanghai.[61] Project Nova was created onUnreal Engine 4, and CCP Games intended to focus on the competitive FPS market, as well as focus more on small-scale ship-based combat and less on large-scale planet-based combat, which was the focus ofDust 514. While Project Nova was cancelled, The CCP London Studio announced in November 2022 that it had started development on an unnamed first-person shooter (now known asVanguard).[62]
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