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CCP hf.,
doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
CCP Games, is an
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
ic
video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
based in
Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the List of northernmost items, world's northernmost ...
.
Novator Partners Novator Partners LLP is a British private equity investment firm based in London owned by Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson. Assets overview The company specializes in investments in companies based in emerging markets. Industries by which it f ...
and
General Catalyst General Catalyst, formerly General Catalyst Partners (GCP), is an American venture capital firm focused on early stage and growth investments. The firm was founded in 2000 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in San Francisco, Palo A ...
had previously collectively owned a majority stake in the company, and in September 2018, CCP was acquired by South Korean video game publisher
Pearl Abyss Pearl Abyss is a South Korean video game developer and publisher, known for creating the cross-platform MMORPG ''Black Desert Online'' and the upcoming open world action adventure '' Crimson Desert''. History The company was founded in September ...
for $425 million. CCP Games is best known for developing ''
Eve Online ''Eve Online'' (stylised ''EVE Online'') is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of ''Eve Online'' can participate in a number of in-game profess ...
'', which was released in 2003 and has since been maintained.


History

CCP Games was founded in June 1997 by Reynir Harðarson, Þórólfur Beck Kristjónsson and Ívar Kristjánsson for the purpose of making
MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character (of ...
s. The name "CCP" is short for "Crowd Control Productions". To finance the initial development of ''Eve Online'', CCP Games developed and published a board game, called ''Hættuspil'' ("''Danger Game''"). The game sold more than 10,000 copies to Iceland's 80,000 households. In April 2000 the company, with Sigurður Arnljótsson as CEO, raised $2.6 million, through a closed offering organised by
Kaupthing Bank Kaupthing Bank ( is, Kaupþing banki; ) was a major international Icelandic bank, headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. It was taken over by the Icelandic government during the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the domestic Icelandic ...
, from private investors in Iceland, including the Icelandic
telephone company A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunicat ...
Síminn Síminn hf. (Iceland Telecom), previously named ''Landssíminn'' and ''Póstur og Sími,'' is an Icelandic telecommunications company. It offers communication services for both private and corporate clients, including mobile (2G/3G/4G/5G), landline ...
. He was with the company from 1999 to 2002 during which time the company raised two rounds of financing and secured a contract with publisher
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
. Approximately half of the initial 21 employees came from Icelandic
dot-com company A dot-com company, or simply a dot-com (alternatively rendered dot.com, dot com, dotcom or .com), is a company that does most of its business on the Internet, usually through a website on the World Wide Web that uses the popular top-level domain ". ...
OZ Interactive OZ Virtual was a 3D world viewer created by OZ Interactive that enabled real-time collaboration communications in shared spaces on the Internet with a strong focus on creative content production. The viewer supported the Virtual Reality Modeling ...
.


White Wolf Publishing acquisition and CCP North America

On 11 November 2006, it was announced that CCP Games had entered a merger agreement with
White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant
. With the merge, the combined company planned to produce "the industry's most innovative games leveraging both online and offline systems". 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 on ''Eve Online''. 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's
Stone Mountain, Georgia Stone Mountain is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The population was 6,703 according to the 2020 US Census. Stone Mountain is in the eastern part of DeKalb County and is a suburb of Atlanta that encompasses nearly 1.7 square mil ...
location on 12 October, hiring 100 developers. White Wolf Publishing
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Mike Tinney Mike Tinney is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Mike Tinney was running his own live action role-playing games and working as one of the editors for White Wolf's '' Mind's Eye Theatre'' when he became the li ...
was additionally promoted head of CCP North America. 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 in
Decatur, Georgia Decatur is a city in, and the county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, which is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 census, the municipality is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple ZIP Codes ...
. However, when CCP Games let go 20% of their worldwide staff, most of these layoffs occurred at CCP North America. On 27 February 2012, Tinney stated that he had departed from both operations to focus on his new gaming-and-health startup, UtiliFIT. In December 2013, further 15 people from the ''World of Darkness Online'' development team were let go. White Wolf Publishing was acquired by
Paradox Interactive Paradox Interactive AB is a video game publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company started out as the video game division of Target Games and then Paradox Entertainment (now Cabinet Entertainment) before being spun out into an independ ...
on 29 October 2015. The deal comprised an undisclosed all-cash sum for CCP Games, and the company assets of White Wolf Publishing, their
intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, c ...
and the rights to ''World of Darkness Online'' for Paradox Interactive.


Restructuring (2011–2017)

In October 2011, following a large controversy over its introduction of
microtransactions Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...
to the game ''EVE 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 by ''EVE Online'' players, CCP Games announced that it had decided to prioritise and shift their focus from their ''World of Darkness'' MMO back to their ''EVE''-Universe products, ''EVE Online'' and ''Dust 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 in
Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the List of northernmost items, world's northernmost ...
, Iceland. Even though after considerable downsizing, CCP Games claims that ''EVE Online'' and its development is stronger than ever and that the company will continue to grow. 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. On 28 August 2014, CCP Games shut down its
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
studio to refocus their efforts on ''EVE Online''. At the same time, CFO Joe Gallo and CMO David Reid resigned. 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 its
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
studio, affecting approximately 100 employees. It announced that it would shift its focus from VR development to PC and mobile game development. The Newcastle studio was absorbed by
Sumo Digital is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...
.


Acquisition by Pearl Abyss (2018–present)

Pearl Abyss Pearl Abyss is a South Korean video game developer and publisher, known for creating the cross-platform MMORPG ''Black Desert Online'' and the upcoming open world action adventure '' Crimson Desert''. History The company was founded in September ...
, the South Korean publisher of ''
Black Desert Online ''Black Desert Online'' () is a sandbox-oriented fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Korean video game developer Pearl Abyss and originally published for Microsoft Windows in 2015. A mobile version titled ' ...
'', announced on 6 September 2018 that they had agreed to acquire CCP Games for about . CCP's development studios in Reykjavik, London, and Shanghai would continue under CCP Games, while the publishing and marketing functions of CCP would be integrated with Pearl Abyss. The deal was closed on 12 October. At the time, CCP Games had 250 employees across three development studios.


Games developed


''EVE Online''

''EVE Online'' is CCP Games' first video game, originally published by
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
in May 2003. CCP Games later reacquired the rights to publish ''EVE Online'' and continues to manage it to this day. ''EVE Onlines core gameplay revolves around player decisions around mining, exploration, industry, factional warfare and piracy. A major design choice is the freedom to do what would be illegal activities, such as scamming for in-game items.


''Dust 514''

On 18 August 2009, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson announced '' Dust 514'', a new ground-based
first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
(FPS) with
real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in turn-based strategy (TBS) games, players take turns to pla ...
elements being developed by CCP Games' Shanghai office. ''Dust 514'' was released for the PlayStation 3 on 14 May 2013. It featured a core first-person shooter experience, with a high level of customisation. The game was shut down by CCP Games on 30 May 2016.


''Eve: Valkyrie''

''Eve: Valkyrie'' is a first-person space combat simulator set in the ''
EVE Online ''Eve Online'' (stylised ''EVE Online'') is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of ''Eve Online'' can participate in a number of in-game profess ...
'' universe for the
Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Meta Platforms, released on March 28, 2016. In 2012 Oculus initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Rift's development, af ...
on 28 March 2016 and on
PlayStation VR The PlayStation VR (PS VR, known by its code name Project Morpheus during development) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. It is fully functional with the PlayStation 4 an ...
on 13 October 2016. It was made available for the
HTC Vive VIVE, sometimes referred to as HTC Vive, is a virtual reality brand of HTC Corporation. It consists of hardware like its titular virtual reality headsets and accessories, virtual reality software and services, and initiatives that promote app ...
on 17 November 2016. In the game, players take the role of an immortal fighter pilot, fighting with teams of other pilots to capture objectives and to defeat the opposing team. As of 26 September 2017, ''Eve: Valkyrie'' can be played without VR.


''Gunjack''

''Gunjack'' is a virtual-reality arcade shooter released for the
Samsung Gear VR The Samsung Gear VR is a virtual reality headset developed by Samsung Electronics, in collaboration with Oculus VR, and manufactured by Samsung. The headset was released on November 27, 2015. When in use, a compatible Samsung Galaxy device acts ...
on 20 November 2015, the
Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a division of Meta Platforms, released on March 28, 2016. In 2012 Oculus initiated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Rift's development, af ...
on 28 March 2016, and the HTC Vive on 5 April 2016. A
PlayStation VR The PlayStation VR (PS VR, known by its code name Project Morpheus during development) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. It is fully functional with the PlayStation 4 an ...
version is planned for release in 2016. Players take the role of a turret operator defending a mining operation, set in the ''EVE Online'' universe. It gathered positive critical reviews on release.


''Gunjack 2: End of Shift''

''Gunjack 2: End of Shift'' is a virtual-reality arcade shooter released for
Google Daydream Daydream is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform which was developed by Google, primarily for use with a headset into which a smartphone is inserted. It is available for select phones running the Android mobile operating system (versio ...
on 8 December 2016. Players take the role of a turret operator defending a mining operation, set in the ''EVE Online'' universe.


''Sparc''

''Sparc'' is a virtual reality
sports game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...
and was CCP Games' first non-''Eve'' title. The game was announced on 27 February 2016.


Cancelled games


''World of Darkness Online''

In October 2006, CCP Games
chief marketing officer A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a global marketing officer or marketing director, or chief brand officer, is a corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. Whilst historically these titles may ...
, Magnús Bergsson, stated that ''Eve'' would not be the only game to come out of CCP Games. On 11 November 2006 CCP Games and
White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant
jointly announced that CCP Games would be working on a '' World 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 in ''EVE Online'', several layoffs in 2011 and the planned release of the PlayStation 3 FPS game '' Dust 514'' in the summer of 2013, the launch of the game was delayed indefinitely. On 14 April 2014, CCP Games announced that the game had been cancelled.


''Project Legion''

''Project Legion'' was set to be a
first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
for similar to ''Dust 514''. The project was cancelled in 2015 and was replaced with ''Project Nova''.


''Eve: The Second Genesis''

''Eve: The Second Genesis'' is a
collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with '' Magic: The Gathering'' in 1993. Genera ...
set in the universe created for the online game ''
EVE Online ''Eve Online'' (stylised ''EVE Online'') is a space-based, persistent world massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by CCP Games. Players of ''Eve Online'' can participate in a number of in-game profess ...
''. Each player represents a
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...
of a corporation, aligned with a particular
race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
, and through exploration, mining, and military strength, their goal is to defeat opponent CEOs.


''Project Nova''

''Project Nova'' was a class-based
first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
(FPS) for the PC taking place in the ''EVE Online'' universe and was developed by CCP Games Shanghai. Project Nova was created on
Unreal Engine 4 Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres ...
, 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 of '' Dust 514''. While Project Nova was cancelled, The CCP London Studio has since started development an unnamed first-person shooter.


References


External links

* {{Authority control 1997 establishments in Iceland Companies based in Reykjavík Video game companies established in 1997 Video game companies of Iceland Video game development companies 2018 mergers and acquisitions