CCP

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. CCP is a sponsoring member of the Python Software Foundation.

History
CCP was founded in June 1997 by Reynir Harðarson, Þorolfur Beck and Ívar Kristjánsson 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"). 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. 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 that they had made a mistake in development of the Incarna update and direction that EVE was heading, following this CCP announced that it had decided to re-prioritize and shift their focus from their World of Darkness MMO back to EVE Online and Dust 514. The result ended up with approximately 20% of CCP staff being let go worldwide. The majority of these lay-offs affected the Atlanta, GA office, but also affected were several positions in CCP's head office in Reykjavik. Even though downsizing has occurred CCP still say that EVE Online is stronger than ever and that CCP will continue to grow. Following this CCP confirmed that they are refocusing from the Incarna/Ambulation project and moving back to focusing on ships and the core game mechanics and that Incarna may come further down the line.

Products
CCP currently manages three MMORPG video game products; the released Eve Online, and the unreleased World of Darkness and Dust 514.

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 after Simon & Schuster Interactive ceased trading. Development continues in a regular free expansion release schedule.

World of Darkness
In October 2006, CMO Magnús Bergsson stated that Eve would not be the only game to come out of CCP. On 11 November 2006 CCP and White Wolf, Inc. jointly announced that CCP would be working on a World of Darkness MMORPG. CCP plans to focus on the development of this game from March 2009 onwards. It is scheduled to launch in 2012 at the earliest.

In October 2011, CCP announced a number of layoffs and suggested that World of Darkness development would continue "with a significantly reduced team". It is unclear how this will affect any planned launch date.

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. Dust 514 will let console gamers fight for control of NPC ran, as well as, player owned and operated planets in EVE's setting of New Eden. Players in EVE Online can fight in space with their fleets, but will be able to hire Dust 514 players to fight for them planet-side. If the Dust 514 players are successful, the EVE Online player who hired them will be able to take control of the planet.

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 and the name of the in-game corporation which produces it. On October 22, 2004, CCP made a marketing first when they launched the virtual drink for sale in the real world. 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.

Corporate structure
The company is run by a board consisting of 7 people: Vilhjálmur Þorsteinsson (chairman), Birgir Már Ragnarsson, David Fialkow, Sigurður Ólafsson, Stephen Wieck, Reynir Harðarson and deputy board members: Reynir Harðarson and Isaac Kato.

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.

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

Layoffs
In October of 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.