The panic over the impending Pearl Abyss buyout of CCP Games has been palpable for the last 24 hours. The EVE Online Reddit was positively ablaze yesterday with “RIP EVE” type posts, as New Eden’s playerbase slowly comes to grip with the idea that Iceland’s CCP Games will soon be owned by a Korean powerhouse. Even some of our own staff is worried. “Pearl Abyss’s handling of BDO thus far does not make me especially sanguine for EVE’s future,” one of my colleagues wrote.
But I’m feeling good about this. I get that Black Desert has a lot of drama and history, but damn guys, so does EVE Online. Setting aside regional prejudices, both are sandbox-esque MMOs with pay-to-win tendencies and enough playerbase melodrama to fill a whole season of Jerry Springer, which makes PA and CCP a perfect match. On top of that, Pearl Abyss had a wildly successful IPO last year, it’s committed to building new MMORPGs specifically for the west, and above all else it’s laser-focused on making complex online games that last for decades. A year ago CCP was dumping substudios and turning out the whole EVE community team – Pearl Abyss bailing it out seems like a stroke of good fortune both for the employees and the game.
Plus, if western dev houses aren’t going to make new MMORPGs and keep the old ones around, but Asian companies will? Awesome.
That’s my gut on it anyway. How worried are you about Pearl Abyss’ buyout of CCP Games?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
