About 100 employees will have to leave the company CCP Games, developer of the MMORPG EVE Online. But according to the company, there is no reason to panic.
The affected employees are working in studios that have been engaged with virtual reality titles. This includes the action game EVE Valkyrie and the PlayStation VR sports game Sparc.
Even though EVE Valkyrie was quite successful, it seems that developing VR games is currently not profitable. Therefore, CCP Games wants to focus on PC and mobile games.
These changes in the structure of CCP are planned:
- The branch in Atlanta, USA will be closed. It previously developed “World of Darkness” before shifting to VR projects.
- The studio in Newcastle, England, is to be sold.
- And the workforce in Shanghai will be reduced; the studio will focus on advancing the business in China.
CCP will then have 3 studios left: The headquarters in Iceland, a studio in London, and the reduced studio in Shanghai.
No more VR games, EVE Valkyrie will remain
That does not mean that EVE Valkyrie will disappear. CCP Games wants to continue operating the action game and is even preparing the winter update, which will bring some new content. Therefore, the studio in Newcastle, England will continue to work on the game and provide support – albeit with a reduced workforce. Ultimately, the studio is to be handed over to new ownership.
Only the development of new VR games is currently on hold. Should the market recover and it becomes financially worthwhile to develop virtual reality games, CCP Games will reconsider this area. EVE Valkyrie can also be played without a VR headset, by the way.
Layoffs will not affect other projects
The MMORPG EVE Online, as well as the two projects Nova (shooter) and Aurora (mobile game), are not affected by these changes.
In a statement to EVE players, it is said that EVE Online is not affected by the “restructuring”. The EVE team will remain fully intact. On the contrary, the restructuring now means that CCP can focus more on EVE.
EVE Online players are diving into the recently released expansion Lifeblood. This brings exciting resource wars.
