Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.08.2008, Blaðsíða 20

20 | REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE | ISSUE 11—2008
Set in a giant galaxy tens of thousands of years in the future,
EVE Online offers the largest single-server virtual universe in
the world. In 2006, CCP expanded its reach to China and now
boast offices in Shanghai, Atlanta and London. However, the
company’s headquarters remain in Reykjavík, where it all
started.
After a day at CCP’s three-floor office down by the
Reykjavík docks in Grandagarður, the Grapevine learned
many intriguing things about the company and its history.
The unique relationship between the play-
ers and developers is what keeps the game
going, and dedicated fans run several web-
sites that have become an integral part of
the players’ community. Every great suc-
cess story has humble beginnings, and this
is definitely true for CCP, who’s first years
were “a real struggle”. In fact, the seed
capital for EVE’s development consisted of
earnings from a surpise hit family board-
game called ‘Hættuspil’ – this kept CCP
afloat through crucial times. The company
has grown rapidly since, and as their first
virtual world is such a huge international
success (last year’s annual FanFest at
Laugardalshöll attracted more than 1.000
people from around the world) the plan is
to make more.
vIRTUAL WORLDS:
THE NEW MONEY MACHINE
CCP policy insists that their employees go
on vacation at the same time, so the office
was rather quiet when I arrived for the
visit. Luckily, my tour guides of the day, PR
Director Valerie Massey and HR manager
Helgi Már Þórðarson, were very nice and
talkative. Þórðarson, sporting a T-shirt that
read: “Impossible is what we pour on our
cereal in the morning” tells me they have
a lot of T-shirts and other merchandise,
as those kinds of things boost the morale.
“Unfortunately I’m not wearing my EVE
socks today,” he adds.
Our first stop is at the heart of the of-
fice (and every office): the coffee machine.
I learn it is a popular one, and even has its own Facebook
fan-club (after tasting its brew, I asserted that the machine
deserves every bit of praise it gets). As we walk along with
our mugs in hand, the first thing to grab my attention is a
game room with a huge flat screen TV and video games
stacked up.
“This is where we lay off some steam and play Rock-Band.
That’s actually research,” says Massey. The office features
some more fun things for the staff. There are pool and ping-
pong tables, an electronic drum-kit and the second largest
privately owned aquarium in Iceland. The tour goes on.
EVE is a capitalist society and features a massive
player-controlled economy, so the money business is just as
complicated as in real life. Prices are decided by the play-
ers that comprise game’s economy, and the world expands
every second of the day. EVE has thus long reached the point
where they need a full-time on-line economist to keep track
of things. In 2007, CCP hired Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson to
handle the ever-increasing demand for economic informa-
tion; he collects data created within the game world, analy-
ses inflation, economic growth and price trends, and issues
reports on the economy’s development. Having a full-time
position for a real-life economist is a first time ever in the his-
tory of MMO’s.
“We stole him from the University
of Akureyri!” Massey says proudly, but
Guðmundsson was the Dean of the Faculty
of Business and Science at the University.
Do you like it better here at CCP? I ask
him:
“Yeah, definitely, in the sense that this is
just such an awesome phenomenon. From
an economic standpoint, the depth of the
society was much greater than I had ever
expected. The complexity of it is just awe-
some.”
Guðmundsson tells me about a recent
conference on “innovation and gover-
nance in virtual worlds” that he lectured at
in London. It was organised by the Virtual
Policy Network and BERR, a unit within the
UK government that helps businesses for-
mulate regulations and communicate with
the government. The conference looked
at what should be done to make the UK a
competitive environment and put the focus
on virtual worlds. “We were basically giv-
ing policy advice to this committee to help
them figure out what is happening with vir-
tual worlds. It’s quite interesting because it
tells us virtual worlds are now catching the
eye.”
Has the Icelandic government shown
any interest?
“No, I’m sad to say. They probably
haven’t realised the tremendous opportu-
nities that lie in the field. Consider the fact
that you can basically have a market of 2 to
3 billion people, steady subscribers, even
though you’re firmly located in Iceland. Today, CCP is the
biggest exporter of software in Iceland, and we don’t even
sell software, we sell subscriptions.”
SO MUCH MORE THAN A WORKPLACE
As we continue our walk, Massey introduces me to more
staff members, preoccupied with their computers. Some of
them have been with the company since the very beginning,
which I’m told is quite unusual for a gaming company. Ev-
eryone tries to distribute as much as they can to keep the
company on the top, whether it’s creating graphics for the
website, producing videos or designing spaceships. One part
of their job is also to play the game. “To be able to keep track
on the market I have to be active on the market,” explains
Never Underestimate
the Power of Play
Reykjavík based game developing company CCP was founded in June, 1997. In May 2003,
the company launched its first Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMO),
EVE Online, which took the on-line world by storm. The founders, Creative Director Reynir
Harðarson and Chief Financial Officer Ívar Kristjánsson spent years of hard work, to-
gether with a staff under 50 to make the virtual world of EVE a reality. In 2004, CEO Hilmar
Veigar Pétursson joined the group and helped lead the company’s explosive growth. Now,
11 years later, they reap the rewards – CCP now counts over 300 employees on three conti-
nents, 250,000 active players, and is undisputedly one of the world’s largest independent
game developers.
fEATURE By steinunn JaKoBsDÓttir — photo Courtesy of CCp
Grapevine spends a day at CCP’s Reykjavík headquarters
to learn about their strategic plans for on-line and off-line
world domination
AbOUT CCP GAMES
CCP is an award-winning
privately held Icelandic
game developing com-
pany, founded in 1997. CCP
specializes in Massively
Multiplayer Online Role-
Playing Games (MMO’s),
and launched EVE Online in
2003. The company employs
more than 300 people and
has become a pioneer in
the industry, with offices in
Reykjavík, Atlanta, London
and Shanghai. In November
2006, CCP and Atlanta-
based role-playing company
White Wolf Publishing an-
nounced the two company’s
merger, which took the
business up to a whole new
level. Today, CCP is recog-
nised internationally as a
pioneer of the single-server
persistent universe archi-
tecture and can take pride
in the fact that EVE Online
is played in nearly every
country in the world with
more than 250,000 players.
For more info on CCP see:
www.ccpgames.com.