CCP Games Goes All-In on Web3 with $40M Funding for New Triple-A Game

• Blockchain Council
• September 17, 2024

Ireland-based CCP Games has raised $40 million to develop a new triple-A game on the Blockchain. The game will be a part of the Eve Universe. These funds will be used to carry on the development of a full-scale new triple game built on cutting-edge Blockchain technology. CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursaon told the company’s plans to utilize Blockchain in different technologies like Smart Contracts, virtual worlds, avatars, and digital assets. The investment firm A16z (Andresseb Horowitz) led the round, and various popular investors participated in this round, including Bitkraft, Makers Fund, Nexon, Kingsway Capital, and Hashed. Pétursson also discussed the brand’s vision to build something crucial with virtual worlds that positively impacts the real-life experience. He said focusing on the Blockchain is forging a new universe with Blockchain in different ways. 

Eve Online came into play in May 2003. Pearl Abyss, the creator of Black Desert, acquired CCP Games for $425 million. The science fiction-based game featured a war between spaceships and was a complete setup to facilitate users and fans with NFTs. But Eve Online clarified that it would not feature Blockchain technology-based products like NFTs anywhere soon. However, it didn’t refer to their averse nature for NFTs. What it meant was that Eve would create a new game in the universe with Blockchain technology and its products. 

While talking about investment and fundraising, investors are pretty confident about the future of CCP Games as a pioneer in digital economics and virtual worlds. The brand has 25+ years of experience in virtual reality and other prominent technologies. Jonathan Lai, an a16z General Partner said, “They’re a veteran team, and we believe in their ambitious vision to deliver incredible player experiences at the intersection of best-in-class game design and Blockchain technology.” Carlos Pereira, a venture partner at Bitkraft Ventures, also praised the demonstrated efforts of CCP Games and how they managed Marvel spaceship and Marvel interstellar stories of warships. He added, “Hilmar and the team’s experience is unmatched, and we’re excited to see how they use Blockchain to let players dream further.”

Pétursson also shared his experience in the industry since 2015. He shared how he started his journey in Blockchain and how it was confusing even for a computer science professional. Furthermore, he also talked about the global struggle with Blockchain when the technical was so good in terms of security and offered immutability at that time. Still, scalability was not there in the game. However, he also praised how continuous developments in the domain helped Blockchain tackle those restrictions with scalability, and layer 1 and 2 scalability solutions came into existence. 

He added that the pandemic brought a global slowdown in the economy since human requirements and dependency were evident for businesses to function. He said, “Frankly, some of the deepest thinking on game economies I have observed happens at Blockchain conferences due to the fact that everything had to be so sparse, and you had to be very deliberate about what to do. We learned many things about the potential from that.” 

When asked what inspired them to build a Blockchain-based game separately for the same universe, he said, “One of the motivations to do this is actually smart contracts, which are a very useful construct to organize development from third-party entities into an ecosystem. Throughout the history of Eve Online, ever since we started to open up the API gateway, people have been making software outside of CCP. A lot of the players have created basic programming around the game that provides some of the core services.” Furthermore, Péturrson also shared how there is much more to smart contracts than organizing. 

Regarding the investment, Péturrson believes that a16z can bring significant help to the table, and their team has vast experience in Blockchain networks and technologies. He felt confident about this new venture and announcement and said it would bring new people on board, including those who work at CCP and are excited to try these new add-ons.