Fenris Creations

Fenris Creations was founded in June 1997 under the name Loki margmiðlun (e. Loki multimedia), first renamed to CCP in 1999, after releasing their first non-video-game product, by Reynir Harðarson, Þórólfur Beck Kristjónsson and Ívar Kristjánsson for the purpose of making MMORPGs. Harðarson was working at a metaverse company called OZ Interactive who had developed an engine for distributed 3D simulations over the internet, but not for gaming. Wanting to use the technology to build MMOs, Harðarson left OZ to found Loki/CCP with Beck and Kristjánsson, bringing over key people, including Hilmar Veigar Pétursson in 2000 who became CEO in 2004 and creative director Torfi Frans Ólafsson.

The former name "CCP" of the studio was short for "Crowd Control Productions". To finance the initial development of Eve Online, CCP Games developed and published a board game, called Hættuspil ("Danger Game"). The game sold more than 10,000 copies to Iceland's 80,000 households.

While seeking funds for development, CCP assisted in developing pitch materials for the Icelandic children's show LazyTown. In April 2000 the company, with Sigurður Arnljótsson as CEO, raised $2.6 million, through a closed offering organised by Kaupthing Bank, from private investors in Iceland, and including the Icelandic telecom Landssími Íslands. Arnljótsson was with the company from 1999 to 2002, during which time the company raised two rounds of financing and secured a contract with publisher Simon & Schuster. Approximately half of the initial 21 employees came from Icelandic dot-com company OZ Interactive.

The Icelandic government, when CCP hf had 25 employees in May 2000, through its then state-owned telecom company, Landssími Íslands, bought an 8% stake in CCP (just at it had bought in many other [software] companies), and later privatized the telecom.

In 2006 the game Eve Online was made available to China, and servers had been set up there for the game, after an exception granted in 2005 from the United States Department of Defense.

Part of the source code for the companies main game Eve Online, comes from OZ Virtual, i.e. from the OZ company Harðarson and other founders came from, and most of the early employees, including Pétursson.

White Wolf Publishing acquisition and CCP North America

On 11 November 2006, it was announced that CCP Games had entered a merger agreement with White Wolf Publishing. With the merge, the combined company planned to produce "the industry's most innovative games leveraging both online and offline systems". While CCP Games looked into creating online games based on White Wolf Publishing's properties, White Wolf Publishing would in turn create card games based on Eve Online. On 3 October 2007, CCP Games announced that CCP North America, a new video game-focused subsidiary, would be set up within White Wolf Publishing's Stone Mountain, Georgia, location on 12 October, hiring 100 developers. White Wolf Publishing president Mike Tinney was additionally promoted to head of CCP North America. In February 2011, CCP Games announced that intentions to expand the location from their presently 150 positions to 300, and move the studio to new housing in Decatur, Georgia. However, when CCP Games let go 20% of their worldwide staff, most of these layoffs occurred at CCP North America. On 27 February 2012, Tinney stated that he had departed from both operations to focus on his new gaming-and-health startup, UtiliFIT. In December 2013, another 15 people from the World of Darkness Online development team were let go. White Wolf Publishing was acquired by Paradox Interactive on 29 October 2015. The deal comprised an undisclosed all-cash sum for CCP Games, and the company assets of White Wolf Publishing, their intellectual property and the rights to World of Darkness Online for Paradox Interactive.

Restructuring (2011–2017)

In October 2011, following a large controversy over its introduction of microtransactions to the game EVE Online, CCP Games announced that it would be reducing its staff. CCP Games published an announcement to its community admitting that it was a mistake to release the Incarna expansion in its stage of development at the time. In the wake of the Incarna expansion and following a mass protest by EVE Online players, CCP Games announced that it had decided to prioritise and shift focus from their World of Darkness MMO back to EVE-Universe products, EVE Online and Dust 514. The restructuring resulted in the layoff of 20% of CCP Games' staff worldwide. The majority of these layoffs affected the Atlanta office, but also terminated several positions in CCP headquarters in Reykjavík, Iceland. Despite considerable downsizing, CCP Games claims that EVE Online and its development is stronger than ever and that the company will continue to grow. CCP Games confirmed that they had moved away from the Incarna/Ambulation project to focus on the core game mechanics and that Incarna may be revisited further down the line.

EVE Online

EVE Online is CCP Games' first video game, originally published by Simon & Schuster in May 2003. CCP Games later reacquired the rights to publish EVE Online and continues to manage it to this day. EVE Online's core gameplay revolves around player decisions around mining, exploration, industry, factional warfare, piracy, and other general PvP fighting. Some major design choices include a player-driven market economy very similar to that of real life and the freedom to do what might otherwise be considered illegal activities, such as scamming for in-game items or currencies.

Dust 514

On 18 August 2009, CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson announced Dust 514, a new ground-based first-person shooter (FPS) with real-time strategy elements being developed by CCP Games' Shanghai office. Dust 514 was released for the PlayStation 3 on 14 May 2013. It featured a core first-person shooter experience, with a high level of customization. The game was shut down by CCP Games on 30 May 2016.

Eve: Valkyrie

Eve: Valkyrie was a first-person space combat simulator set in the EVE Online universe for the Oculus Rift on 28 March 2016 and on PlayStation VR on 13 October 2016. It was made available for the HTC Vive on 17 November 2016. In the game, players took the role of an immortal fighter pilot, fighting with teams of other pilots to capture objectives and to defeat the opposing team. An update on 26 September 2017 allowed the game to be played without VR. As of August 5, 2022, CCP officially turned off all servers for the game, making the game unplayable.

Gunjack

Gunjack is a virtual-reality arcade shooter released for the Samsung Gear VR on 20 November 2015, the Oculus Rift on 28 March 2016, and the HTC Vive on 5 April 2016. A PlayStation VR version was supposed to be released in October 2016, but is not available on any stores. Players take the role of a turret operator defending a mining operation, set in the EVE Online universe. It gathered positive critical reviews on release.