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CCP Games, developer of space combat game Eve: Valkyrie and the massively multiplayer game Eve Online, is reorganizing its global studios. The studio said the move is the result of a reduced investment in virtual reality.
About 100 employees and multiple studios will be affected.
One of the studio’s VR titles, Eve: Valkyrie was a launch title for the Oculus Rift, and featured prominently in that VR headset’s marketing. In September of this year Valkyrie was re-launched after what developers called a “complete overhaul.” In it, CCP removed the requirement for players to use a VR headset entirely.
CCP also developed Sparc, a virtual reality sports game for PlayStation VR. Sparc was released in August. The title was also in development on PC for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
In a statement provided to Polygon, CCP said that it will be restructuring its studios worldwide. The plan is to reorganize from five studios down to three: Reykjavík, Shanghai, and London. The Atlanta studio will close in the next few weeks, and the Newcastle, U.K. studio will be sold.
“CCP has provided severance packages and job placement assistance for all those affected,” the company said. “There are no changes to ongoing plans for Eve Online and the company’s product pipeline is strong.”
The statement said that an upcoming first-person shooter, called Project Nova, will not be affected.
“Today we have made tough, but important, changes to CCP,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP, in the company’s statement. He indicated that the decision was in direct response to the commercial reception of VR broadly, and also reflected a forward-looking analysis of where the company sees the technology going over the next several years.
“We have been front and center in the second wave of VR,” Pétursson said. “Our belief in the long-term transformative power of the technology remains strong.”
Correction: After our original article was published, CCP Games reached out to clarify the situation. Development of Eve: Valkyrie and Sparc have not ended. While the studios within CCP Games are being consolidated and restructured, work on the games will go on. Polygon regrets the error.
“The team is intact while we go through the consultation period for the proposed sale of the studio,” CCP told Polygon. “We will release the winter update to the game as planned. ... In addition, after the sale of the Newcastle studio we will continue to maintain both Eve: Valkyrie and Sparc out of our London studio.”
The Newcastle studio will remain open at this time. Negotiations are underway to sell that studio to a third party. We have adjusted the article above to reflect these changes.
