CCP Games Raises $40M from a16z for New Game
- CCP Games, a video game firm based in Reykjavík, Iceland, has announced a $40 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
- The company, known for its multiplayer game Eve Online, will develop a new AAA game title that will be set in the Eve universe.
- The new game will “leverage smart-contract blockchain technology, focusing on persistence, composability, and truly open third-party development.”
- Along with a16z, popular VCs like Makers Fund, Bitkraft, Kingsway Capital, Hashed, and Nexon also participated in the funding.
Andreessen Horowitz, popularly known as a16z, continues to increase its presence in the crypto industry by providing funding to various crypto startups via capital injections. Interestingly, CCP Games, an Icelandic video game developer based in Reykjavík that is owned by South Korean video game publisher Pearl Abyss, raised $40 million from a16z to develop a new AAA game title that will be set in the universe of the popular game Eve.
CCP Games is popular for its game Eve Online, which is an online multiplayer and community-driven spaceship MMORPG where players can play for free, choosing their own path from countless options. The game is free-to-play and consists of PvP and PvE modes. The gaming company confirmed the fundraising in a post on social media platform Twitter.
According to a statement from the CEO of CCP Games, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, the company aims to “forge a new universe deeply imbued with our expertise in player agency and autonomy, empowering players to engage in new ways” with the help of advancements made within the blockchain sector.
“This financing has marked an exciting frontier in our studio’s history as we begin our third decade of virtual world operations. We are humbled by the confidence from our partners in the development of this new title,” Pétursson said.
It is crucial to note that while the financial round was led by a16z, other popular VCs like Makers Fund, Bitkraft, Kingsway Capital, Hashed, and Nexon also participated in the funding.
The announcement confirmed that the new game will also “leverage smart-contract blockchain technology, focusing on persistence, composability, and truly open third-party development to create a new relationship between virtual worlds and players.”
CCP Games confirmed that the new entry will be separate from current and previously disclosed projects like Eve Online, which has entered its 20th anniversary. The gaming company was founded in 1997 and has additional studios in London and Shanghai.
“CCP Games is a pioneer in virtual worlds and digital economies with over 25 years of experience creating living sandboxes with unparalleled depth. 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,” a16z General Partner, Jonathan Lai.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a popular venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, California, that has invested heavily in the crypto space in 2021 but lost billions on its investments in 2022 during the crypto bear market. As reported earlier by Bitnation, the company supported 56 US-based crypto deals in 2021 and witnessed a decline in demand for some of its supported projects, while many face intense scrutiny from regulators.
It is also important to mention here that the CEO of Swan Bitcoin, a financial services company that helps customers save value in Bitcoin (BTC), Cory Klippsten, called out a16z and its general partner Chris Dixon for promoting Ponzi schemes and fake crypto projects after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
Klippsten said that the venture capital firm’s promotion of Helium, Braintrust, Worldcoin, and Axie Infinity is all aimed at scamming investors, and the respective tokens of these projects are down significantly and their demand is low as well. The executive stated that a16z is the “worst and largest” scammer of them all.
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
