CCP Games, the Icelandic company behind the massively multiplayer game EVE Online, announced they had $66 million in revenue for 2011, according to a report in TechCrunch. The privately held company did not disclose profits, except to say it has “very healthy margins.” CCP claims to have grown its subscriber base every year since the launch of EVE Online in 2003, to more than 400,000 users today.
This has been in spite of a flap last year which saw many EVE Online users in revolt against new micro-transaction policies to charge for vanity objects in the online store. This led to some reorganization, and eventually CCP cut staff as it reduced development significantly on their World of Darkness MMO in order to devote more resources to EVE Online expansions and their upcoming PS3 exclusive game, Dust 514.
Despite all this, CCP said that revenue has grown at a compound annual rate of 53%, and EVE Online has brought in over $300 million in the product's lifetime. EVE Online is one of the few remaining games to continue with a monthly $14.95 subscription charge, but they have been experimenting with other business models. CCP is allowing rich subscribers to essentially pay others to play in exchange for virtual currency, which some 40,000 players have tried so far. CCP's Dust 514, the FPS for the PS3 that's linked to the EVE Online universe, will offer yet another business model, according to CCP. There will be a “cover charge” to get started but no monthly subscription fee; players will instead be charged for in-game credits.
Dust 514 will be integrated into the EVE Online universe to the extent that an orbital bombardment by EVE Online players will affect ground-based combat in Dust 514. EVE Online operates under the unusual principal of having just one universe for all players, rather than dozens of different universes or instantiations. The game is currently available in English, German, and Russian, with a deal in place for a Japanese version with online gaming giant Nexon (which was founded in South Korea, but is headquartered in Tokyo).
Chinese game operator TianCity announced today that EVE Online is coming back to life in China, with a new update in Q2 of this year. Jon Horddal, EVE Online's operations manager for Asia, announced that EVE Online China will be free-to-play with an online store for virtual items.
CCP is hoping that Dust 514, using the Unreal Engine 3, will bring in a whole new audience of gamers and perhaps some of them will try EVE Online. CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson says an IPO is a possibility with all of the growth he expects for CCP. “We want to be ready for an IPO from a policy standpoint,” Petursson says. “We’re quite a substantial company, so we’re thinking, ‘Okay, what is the next step?’”
