CCP Games

CCP hf
Private company
Industry Video games
Founded Reykjavík, Iceland (1997)[1]
Founder Reynir Harðarson
Ívar Kristjánsson[2]
Þórólfur Beck[3]
Headquarters Reykjavík, Iceland
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Birgir Már Ragnarss (Chairman)
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson (Global CEO & Iceland CEO)
Mike Tinney (North America President)
[2]
Products Eve Online
Dust 514
Project Valkyrie
Project Legion
Owner Novator Partners
General Catalyst Partners[4]
Number of employees
 600[5]
Subsidiaries White Wolf Publishing
Website www.ccpgames.com

CCP hf or CCP Games (Crowd Control Productions) is an Icelandic video game developer and publisher, majority owned by the company's staff and founders, Novator Partners and the American investment fund General Catalyst Partners.[4] CCP is best known for producing Eve Online.

History

CCP was founded in June 1997 by Reynir Harðarson, Þórólfur Beck and Ívar Kristjánsson[6] for the purpose of making MMORPGs. In order to finance the initial development of Eve Online, CCP developed and published a board game in Iceland called Hættuspil ("Danger Game").[6][7] The game sold more than 10,000 copies to Iceland's 80,000 households.[8] In April 2000 the company, with Sigurður Arnljótsson as CEO, raised $2.6 million, through a closed offering organized by Kaupthing Bank (now Arion banki), from private investors in Iceland, including the Icelandic telephone company Síminn. He was with the company from 1999 to 2002 during which time the company raised 2 rounds of financing and secured a contract with Simon and Schuster interactive games. Approximately half of the initial 21 staff were drawn from the Icelandic dot-com company OZ Interactive, the makers of OZ Virtual.

2011: Restructuring

In late 2011 CCP 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 announced that it had decided to prioritize and shift their focus from their World of Darkness MMO back to their EVE-Universe products, EVE Online and Dust 514 respectively.[9] The restructuring resulted in the lay-offs of 20% of CCP's staff worldwide. The majority of these lay-offs affected the Atlanta, United States, office, but also affected were several positions in CCP's head office in Reykjavik.[10] Even though after considerable downsizing, CCP claims that EVE Online and its development is stronger than ever and that the company will continue to grow.[11] CCP 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.[12]

Products

CCP currently manages two video game products, with two more in development: the MMORPG Sci-Fi game Eve Online, and the Sci-Fi MMOFPS game Dust 514.

Video games

Eve Online

Main article: Eve Online

EVE Online is CCP's first video game, originally published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. in May 2003. Later CCP re-acquired the rights to publish Eve Online[13] and continues to manage it to this day. The core gameplay around Eve Online revolves around player choice and decision, and features a wide variety of activities, such as mining, exploration, industry and piracy. A major design choice is the freedom to do what would be illegal activities, such as scamming for ingame items.

Dust 514

Main article: Dust 514

On 18 August 2009, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson announced Dust 514, a new ground-based FPS with RTS and MMO elements being developed by CCP's Shanghai office.[14] Dust 514 was released for the Playstation 3 on 14 May 2013.[15] It features a core first person shooter experience, with a high level of customization.

Eve: Valkyrie

Main article: Eve: Valkyrie

Eve: Valkyrie is an upcoming first-person space combat simulator for the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus. It is unknown at this time if the game can be played without a virtual reality headset.[16]

Project Legion

Project Legion is an upcoming first-person shooter for the PC similar to Dust 514.[17]

Cancelled games

World of Darkness

Main article: World of Darkness

In October 2006, CMO Magnús Bergsson stated that Eve would not be the only game to come out of CCP.[18] On 11 November 2006 CCP and White Wolf Publishing jointly announced that CCP would be working on a World of Darkness MMORPG.[19] CCP planned to focus on the development of this game from March 2009 onwards.[20] 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.[21] On 14 April 2014, CCP announced that the game had been cancelled.[22]

Miscellaneous

Eve: The Second Genesis

Eve: The Second Genesis is a collectible card game set in the universe created for the online game Eve Online. Each player represents the CEO of a corporation, aligned with a particular race, and through exploration, mining, and military strength, their goal is to defeat their opponent CEOs.

Quafe

Quafe is both the name of a popular drink in the EVE Online universe[23] and the name of the in-game corporation which produces it.[24] On 22 October 2004, CCP made a marketing first when they launched the virtual drink for sale in the real world.[25] CCP sold the drink from their website for $1.50 USD for a single bottle, or $15.10 for a multi-pack, but sales of this drink have since ceased. The real-world Quafe soft drink had a lemon-lime taste. While the sale of this drink has ceased the drink does still exist, it appears in many YouTube videos, and is available for sale at CCP's annual EVE Online Fanfest and can be found under its original brand name, Egils Orka, all over Iceland.[26]

Corporate affairs

Corporate structure

The company is run by a board consisting of seven people, many of which worked for Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson of Novator Partners at Landsbanki up until the 2008–11 Icelandic financial crisis and Icesave dispute: Birgir Már Ragnarsson (chairman), Ragna Árnadóttir (vice-chairman), Adam Valkin, Stephen Wieck, Liv Bergþórsdóttir and alternate directors: Sigurður Ólafsson and Isaac Kato.[27]

Demographics

At the beginning of 2009, CCP had a staff of 353 people from more than 20 nations of which 81% were male. 67% of the employees have received higher education, 9% vocational and technical training and 24% some other form of education.[27]

Merger

On 11 November 2006, CCP and White Wolf Publishing jointly announced a merger between the two companies during the keynote address at the Eve Online Fanfest 2006. White Wolf Publishing became a wholly owned independent subsidiary of CCP with Mike Tinney remaining as the president of CCP North America | White Wolf.[28][29]

Layoffs

In October 2011, following a large controversy over its introduction of microtransactions to the game EVE Online, CCP announced that it would be reducing its staff. As stated in a CCP press release, the layoffs affected about 20% of all world wide jobs within CCP, most in their Atlanta, GA office. These layoffs were mainly of staff related to the development of World of Darkness.[30]

On 28 August 2014, CCP shutdown their San Francisco studio to refocus their efforts on EVE Online. At the same time of the announcement, the CFO, Joe Gallo and CMO, David Reid quit.[31] As of 2015, none of CCP's original founders are still with the company.[32][33]

References

  1. ↑ Annual Report 2008, 12 (CCP), 7 April 2009: 24 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Annual Report 2008, 12 (CCP), 7 April 2009: 64–67 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ "CCP Games", Giant Bomb, (Retrieved 29 June 2010)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "CCP hyggur á hlutafjáraukningu vegna nýs leiks", Viðskiptablaðið, 30 December 2008, retrieved 16 January 2010
  5. ↑ Annual Report 2008, 12 (CCP), 7 April 2009: 35 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "10 Years of CCP", Page 2, Eurogamer, 15 June 2007 (Retrieved 15 June 2007)
  7. ↑ MMORPG.com: CCP Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary by Jon Wood (Retrieved 12 June 2006)
  8. ↑ Lien, Tracey (24 February 2014). "Eve: The most thrilling boring game in the universe". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  9. ↑ , CCP Devblog, 5 October 2011 (Retrieved 22 October 2011)
  10. ↑ , CCP Press Release, 19 October 2011 (Retrieved 22 October 2011)
  11. ↑ , PC Gamer News, 19 October 2011 (Retrieved 22 October 2011)
  12. ↑ , PC Gamer News, 21 October 2011 (Retrieved 22 October 2011)
  13. ↑ "EVE Online AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD", CCP Press Release, 3 December 2003 (Retrieved 31 August 2006)
  14. ↑ "CCP Unveils DUST 514". CCPhf. 2009-08-18. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  15. ↑ "Dust 514 Release Date Announced". IGN. 2013-04-27. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
  16. ↑ EVE Valkyrie, Retrieved 8 May 2014 http://evevalkyrie.com/
  17. ↑ Kuchera, Ben (2 May 2014). "Project Legion is a new PC shooter from the people behind Eve Online". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  18. ↑ "Interview with CCP: EVE currency traders 'going to lose big'?", Virtual Economy Research Network, 2 October 2006 (Retrieved 12 November 2006)
  19. ↑ World of Darkness MMO: CCP merges with White Wolf, Virtual Economy Research Network, 11 November 2006 (Retrieved 15 June 2007)
  20. ↑ Emling, Shelley. "Georgia's Video Game Industry Heating up". ajc.com. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  21. ↑ Reahard, Jef. "CCP layoffs affect 20% of worldwide staff, company focusing on EVE". Massively.
  22. ↑ http://www.ccpgames.com/en/public-relations/press-releases/article/77171/ccp-games-halts-development-of-world-of-darkness-mmo/
  23. ↑ CCP Games. "EVE Online Chronicles - Quafe". eve-online.com. CCP Games. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
  24. ↑ CCP Games. "Quafe - EVE Online Organizations". eve-online.com. CCP Games. Archived from the original on 2008-01-04. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
  25. ↑ "Eve Breaks 50K Subscriber Barrier - CCP announces the availability of QUAFE". IGN. 20 October 2004. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
  26. ↑ In development: CCP's Core Technology Team - YouTube
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Financial Statements June 2014 (CCP), 27 August 2014: 4 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  28. ↑ Gaming Industry Innovators CCP and White Wolf to Merge, CCP, 11 November 2006, retrieved 29 November 2009
  29. ↑ Gaming Industry Innovators CCP and White Wolf to Merge, White Wolf Publishing, 11 November 2006, retrieved 29 November 2009
  30. ↑ CCP Focuses on the EVE Universe - A CCP Announcement, CCP, 19 October 2011, retrieved 2 December 2011
  31. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (28 August 2014). "CCP closing San Francisco office". GameIndustry.biz. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  32. ↑ "Ívar Kristjánsson til ATMO". Visir.is. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  33. ↑ Skipulagsbreytingar hjá CCP (CCP), 6 May 2014: 1 Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links