Eve Online Developers CCP Acquired by Black Desert Online Creators Pearl Abyss
By Zac Cameron ·
The popular Icelandic studio CCP Games has been purchased by Pearl Abyss, South Korean publishers of Black Desert Online.
CCP Games, Iceland’s largest game studio and creators of the extremely popular MMO Eve Online, have been acquired by South Korean publishing giant and creators of another extremely popular MMO, Black Desert Online, for $425 Million. CCP has been a studio for around 21 years, and its flagship title, Eve Online, has proven to be one of the top MMO games since its inception.
The acquisition of CCP Games by Pearl Abyss comes at a time when the publishers were looking to expand into the Western market. “We saw a lot of synergy between our plans and their plans and between our cultures and backgrounds and DNA. It might not be obvious of the synergy between an Iceland private company and a Korean public company, but through our games we found we had a lot in common,” said CCP Games CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson in an interview with GamesBeat. “We came to the conclusion this would be a good time to make the change.”
“We have always looked to Korea and China, where services and online games are popular. The industry was born in Korea,” explained Pétursson. “Another aspect is that Asia’s public markets value gaming companies quite high at multiples versus the West.”
The current deal will see CCP Games continue to operate as an independent studio, with no restructuring to take place in the near future. “We are thrilled to have CCP Games join our team as Black Desert Online continues to branch out globally,” said Pearl Abyss CEO Robin Jung, in a statement. “CCP is a seasoned publisher with over 15 years of digital distribution experience and know-how. They have done an incredible job of engaging and maintaining their playerbase, which we aim to learn from and integrate natively into Pearl Abyss’ general practices across all our games. I am confident CCP’s reputable IP and expertise in global publishing will help reaffirm our company’s dedication to developing and servicing the world’s best MMORPGs.”
It remains to be seen exactly how involved Pearl Abyss will become in the development and management of CCP Games and Eve Online, but at least for now the aim seems to be expanding the title into other markets, such as South Korea and China.