Google DeepMind Acquires Minority Stake in CCP Games

Google DeepMind has acquired a minority stake in CCP Games, the studio behind EVE Online. According to CCP Games CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson in an interview with Bloomberg, the purchase cost was in the millions of dollars. Pétursson did not disclose the exact amount or the specific size of the stake owned by Google DeepMind.

Alongside the investment, the parties entered into a research partnership. Google DeepMind will study how intelligence functions in complex dynamic systems. To achieve this, the company will conduct experiments in an autonomous version of EVE Online on a local server.

Simultaneously, CCP Games announced a rebranding in a press release. The studio will now operate under the name Fenris Creations. This deal and the rebranding occurred immediately after the creators of EVE Online separated from Pearl Abyss. The studio was bought out by its own management for $120 million after Pearl Abyss previously paid $425 million for it.