Crimson Desert Dev Has Traded EVE Online Back for a Boatload of Cash and Game Crypto

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Published May 5, 2026, 3:06 PM EDT

Miller Reynolds is a Writer at DualShockers specializing in news, reviews, guides, interviews, and lists. He began covering games professionally in 2025, bringing a journalism background and more than 25 years of firsthand gaming experience to his work.

Miller studied Advanced Journalism for online, print, and broadcast media at Loyalist College, where he received the Excellence in Writing and Production Award. Before focusing on games coverage, he gained experience writing across topics such as politics, entertainment, and sports. Today, he combines his journalism training with his long-running passion for games to cover current releases, developer interviews, reviews, and practical guides for players.

Following the success of their open-world game Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss has stated their company's strategic priorities have shifted greatly, and they've just sold CCP Games back to CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursso.

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CCP Games, the studio behind space survival games EVE Online, and EVE Frontier, was acquired by Pearl Abyss in 2018 for $225 million in cash, and $200 million worth of performance-related payouts, but the rapid evolution of the gaming industry has led the Crimson Desert studio to reevaluate their investments.

Pearl Abyss Sells CCP Games Eight Years After Acquiring It

Pearl Abyss has reportedly sold CCP for $100 million in cash, and $20 million worth of token acquisition rights, which at first glance, seems like a terrible return on investment, but the finer details revolving around the token part of the deal aren't clear.

The token acquisition rights included in the deal are reportedly referring to the EVE Frontier in-game currency called EVE Tokens ($EVE), and CCP Games says these "utility tokens" will fuel the player-driven economy for decades to come.

With the news of this sale and the success of Crimson Desert, it's likely that Pearl Abyss is padding their pockets to fuel the development of some brand-new games.

Although the investment made sense at the time, Pearl Abyss says that "after exploring various mid-to-long-term growth strategies, we concluded that selling the company to its current management is in the best interest of both parties' futures."

The two companies are reportedly still open to collaboration in the future, but CCP is currently finalizing the change in ownership. Pearl Abyss explains that, "While the acquisition was a sound strategic decision at the time to secure global IP and diversify our portfolio, the global gaming business environment and our company's strategic priorities have shifted significantly since then."

It's likely that Pearl Abyss is padding their pockets to fuel the development of some brand-new games.

After selling over five million copies of Crimson Desert in a single month, and then selling CCP, Pearl Abyss will undoubtedly be looking to keep the momentum going and use their resources to develop more breakout titles.