For over 20 years, the studio and publisher behind long-running space MMO EVE Online has been called Crowd Control Protections, which is almost always shortened to CCP in articles and posts online. In recent years, this has caused some confusion and mix-ups with the over 100-year-old Chinese Communist Party, so the company is changing its name as it breaks off from its previous owner, Crimson Desert publisher Pearl Abyss, and enters a new era.
In a new interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, the CEO of Fenris Creations (formerly CCP), explained why the company decided to make the change now after so many years. Apparently, it’s because there’s been a growing “brand collision” between the studio and the Chinese Communist Party.
“[It] is a growing collision,” said Veigar. “It’s a fight I’m not going to fight. I’m not going to fight the Chinese Communist Party over who is the CCP. Obviously, the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t think of itself as the CCP. That’s a Western construct. They refer to it by a Chinese name. They’re not called the Chinese Communist Party [in our home country of] Iceland either; we call it the Kommúnistaflokkur Kína in Icelandic.”
But according to the CEO, in most of the English-speaking world, mix-ups and nods to the similarity have become more and more common.
“I have seen reporters write stories about us where we are literally referred to as ‘the other CCP.’ We have CCP employees going to the US and being questioned over the [company’s] name. These are not big things, but I can sense where this is going,” said the EVE Online boss. And with the news from earlier this week that Fenris is going indie again and buying itself back from Crimson Desert publisher Pearl Abyss, it seemed like a perfect time to also make this name change.
“We were already making all these changes,” said Veigar. “It’s a good time to do it; if we don’t do it now, will we ever?”
Why Fenris Creations?
As for the new name, Fenris Creations, it is a reference to Norse mythology but also a nod to a board game the company published back in 1998. It also ties into its most popular game, EVE Online. The massive space MMORPG has produced some wild stories over its many, many years, often involving death and destruction, something the new name also references, too.
“Fenris Creations is a reference to destruction and creation and how they are intertwined, how death is a serious matter in Eve Online,” said the CEO.
“When ships explode, there’s something beautiful in destroying them. There’s some deep, hardcore meaning behind the name for us. We dug deep into what the best way to express what we do was.”
