CCP Games Relies on Perforce to Manage Global Game Development and Organization of EVE Online

ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Perforce Software announced that CCP, one of the world’s leading independent game studios, has built its development environment for large, global games with the Perforce Software Version Management system as its versioning engine. CCP, makers of the EVE Online massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) and the soon-to-be released DUST 514 first-person shooter game for Sony PlayStation^® 3, uses Perforce to enable game designers, engineers and artists to work in parallel and collaborate more effectively on development projects.

“We’ve always developed our games on Perforce because it allows us to achieve complete control over change”

“We’ve always developed our games on Perforce because it allows us to achieve complete control over change,” said Halldor Fannar, chief technology officer for CCP. “Integrating Perforce as our definitive software library enables our interdependent code and data to be versioned and branched in the same system, which takes the conflict out of collaboration between our artists and coders working across three different continents. Having previously spread our software library across a range of sources, Perforce’s shared approach provides the go-to solution for our MMOGs.”

With development spread across the globe, CCP boasts a competitive advantage by making Perforce its definitive software library. The development team of EVE Online, which has a global subscriber base of more than 400,000 players, uses Perforce to store its entire library of source assets and already-built artifacts, including:

Art Assets — Audio, textures, geometry, shaders
Built Binaries — Executables, dynamic libs, static data
Configuration Files — Settings, initialization files
External tools and libraries
Text — Translations

CCP Puts Continuous Deployment in Action

With tens of thousands of people playing simultaneously, large expansions taking place every six months, and smaller updates and fixes occurring frequently, EVE Online requires continuous deployment and has benefited from the full traceability provided by Perforce. Perforce’s underlying architecture creates a rapid workflow for development, debugging and deployment.

“Perforce offers developers an end-to-end system for storing all their assets, providing complete change history back to original requirements,” said Randy DeFauw, technical marketing manager at Perforce. “Using Perforce as a deployment mechanism gives game developers the ability to quickly trace a server crash down to source code.”

The Perforce Software Version Management System powers the world’s most demanding development environments. Versioning and managing any variety of digital assets—from software to firmware to documents and artwork—Perforce fosters collaboration on a global scale and enables enterprises to enjoy the benefits of greater productivity, security and compliance.

Free for Up to 20 Users, Open Source Projects and Educational Institutions

Perforce makes it easy for small companies and start-ups to benefit from enterprise-class software version management. The complete Perforce product family—including the new Git Fusion solution for Git repositories—is available at no cost for up to 20 users or workspaces. Perforce also is available at no cost for open source projects and educational institutions.

About CCP Games

CCP is recognized for the creation of revolutionary gaming experiences designed with a unique combination of stunning artistry and advanced technology. Best known as the independent developer and publisher of EVE Online, the critically acclaimed, space-based massively multiplayer online game (MMO) and PC Gamer’s 2009 ‘MMO of the Year,’ two additional titles are now in production: World of Darkness, a dark, immersive MMO based on the legendary roleplaying franchise of the same name; and DUST 514, the groundbreaking massively multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS) set in and linked to the EVE Online universe. Founded in Iceland in 1997, CCP is privately held and has offices in Atlanta, Newcastle, Reykjavik and Shanghai, with a datacenter in London. More information can be found at www.ccpgames.com.

About Perforce Software

Perforce Software enables teams to version everything. Perforce enterprise version management products help teams work in concert on important digital assets, including software code, documents, multimedia, spreadsheets, images and more. They are unique in their ability to handle large and distributed collections of content, enabling higher productivity, lower costs, and improved security and compliance. Perforce is now making it easy for everyone to take advantage of enterprise version management. The company is headquartered in Alameda, California, with international operations in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. For more information, visit www.perforce.com.