I worked at CCP Games

The Reykjavik office is very family friendly and you’ll often find children running around the office. During lunch it is also acceptable to bring in spouses and children. If you have a family and want to spend additional time with them this could be a way. It’s a place where anyone can get a start in the industry because turnover in departments like QA is still rather high. The way you talk matters more than your actual experience and you can take advantage of this during the interviews. The Atlanta office is a different place and doesn’t suffer from the serious unprofessionalism as much as the Reykjavik office. The sad thing is that they too pay the price by seeing their work halted for years at a time to jump ship and bandage EVE up.

Cons

The lack of professionalism is mind blowing. Procedures that are common in other companies are not used here and considered a waste of time. There is no solid vision for EVE which leaves employees with no other option than to start work and find out what is wanted by trial and error, this is what CCP means with Agile development. Fun game play is not a priority, promises made to investors and aesthetics are. ‘If it looks good then it is good’ is an often heard motto. CCP is committed to use technology in EVE as well as WoD and DUST, so certain features are made and used in EVE knowing they will not be fun, nor fit EVE and no one expects them to be appreciated by the playerbase. Alienating the playerbase of EVE further. Objections from employees who point this out are waved away. CCP does not take criticism well and often ignores retrospectives. Criticism is considered to be a negative attitude and is severely frowned upon. A lot of effort goes into maintaining a good morale with a lot of internal PR. After all it’s cheaper to print posters than pay an average salary to employees. Several years now CCP has predicated insane subscriber goals that cannot be met. Naturally this is met with scepticism by the employees but it falls on deaf ears. The result is that the company is suffering because we cannot sustain the development of EVE, DUST and WOD. EVE is not creating enough revenue which means that solutions are sought, solutions that CCP was vehemently against a few years ago. Career progression is nonexistent unless you become friends with the right clique of people and use the right corporate buzzwords. Hard work is not something that will set you apart, most people work hard until they become so disillusioned as they realise it makes no difference and slack off. Combine this with the below average pay (CCP pays 30% to 50% less than other companies) and you’ll often hear a lot of frustration when work is discussed outside of the office by people who have been here for some time. The longer you stay the less you start to care about the game you develope, because no one else does.