As a small country with a population of around 350,000 people, Icelanders like to joke that everyone is practically related – but that's certainly the case in the local games industry thanks to CCP Games.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary in June, CCP Games has been Iceland's biggest success story – not just for its persistent space-based MMO Eve Online, but also laying the foundations for other game companies to spring up over the years. In fact, new studios are still being founded by former alumni; Parity Games, for example, is led by CEO and co-founder Maria Gudmundsdottir, who worked at CCP for 12 years.
There was, however, a long time when CCP was Iceland's sole game developer. Having been with the company for more than two decades, CEO Hilmar Pétursson points to the 2008 global banking and economic crisis as a moment of opportunity.