REYKJAVIK, ICELAND – Feb 28, 2013 – CCP Games, the world’s leading independent massively multiplayer game studio, today announced their award-winning, sci-fi MMO EVE Online ® had surpassed the 500,000 subscriber mark worldwide for the first time in the game’s history. The milestone continues ten consecutive years of subscriber growth and follows the December 4 release of EVE Online: Retribution , the game’s 18 ^th free expansion and its most successful ever.

Also in December, EVE Online relaunched in China with new partner Tiancity to bring the same sandbox-style gameplay to a massive new audience where it has been thriving ever since.

In January, CCP’s DUST 514 ® a free-to-play massively multiplayer online first-person shooter, went into open beta and became available for free download exclusively to PlayStation®3 users worldwide. DUST 514 shares the same, real-time universe as EVE Online and player corporations can coordinate attacks between the two games. This marked the first time two games from different genres have been linked together into one, massive online experience.

“Ten years after release, it is incredibly inspiring that, through a lot of hard work from our EVE Online team, we are crossing the half-million subscriber mark,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP. “For me, this is a true testament that EVE can live on forever, as long as we do right by her. We have not come to this point alone; millions of players have helped push us to this milestone. I now know in my mind what I previously only believed in my heart: that EVE will outlive us all.”

CCP will commemorate EVE Online ’s tenth anniversary throughout the year under a unified “Second Decade” theme. The year-long celebration will kick off in late April in Reykjavik, Iceland with the sold-out EVE Fanfest, EVE Online ’s annual player festival which will be streamed live online.   EVE ’s official tenth birthday follows on May 6 ^th and will mark the official start of the second decade of the EVE Universe .

Throughout the year, CCP will be supporting player gatherings around the world and holding in-game events to further the storyline of the combined universe as it continues to grow.

·         For more information about EVE Online: Retribution , please visit : http://www.eveonline.com/retribution

·         Additional information about EVE Fanfest 2013 can be found here: http://fanfest.eveonline.com/en/default.aspx

·         For more on DUST 514 , please visit: http://www.dust514.com/

About EVE Online ®

Celebrating its tenth anniversary,  EVE Online  (PC/Mac) is a captivating science-fiction game in which hundreds of thousands of players compete for riches, power, glory and adventure in a single universe. EVE players build and command a wide variety of starships and traverse vast solar systems interconnected by a sophisticated player-driven economy, forging their own destinies in the meaningful context of other players vying to do the same. Learn more and play the free trial at  www.eveonline.com.

About DUST 514®

The first of its kind, DUST 514 (PlayStation®3) is a free-to-play, premium massively multiplayer first-person shooter directly connected to the acclaimed science-fiction game EVE Online (PC/Mac). In DUST 514 , players assume the role of deadly mercenaries who fight dynamic ground wars for dominance of planets in the EVE Universe. Players are armed with limitless customization options including weapons, vehicles, armor and specialized enhancement modules. In DUST 514 every action has real consequences that ripple across a persistent universe of countless players worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.dust514.com.

About CCP

CCP is the world’s leading independent developer of massively multiplayer games, and has been praised for its artistry, game design and unique player-driven, infinitely scalable storytelling narratives. CCP is the creator of the critically acclaimed science-fiction game  EVE Online  (PC/Mac), which is celebrating its unprecedented tenth consecutive year of subscriber growth.  EVE Online  is a massively multiplayer science-fiction universe in which hundreds of thousands of players carve out empires through galactic fleet battles and the use of economic warfare.   DUST 514 ® (PlayStation®3) is a groundbreaking, free-to-play massively multiplayer online first-person shooter that is set in the EVE Universe and linked to EVE Online .    World of Darkness  is a modern gothic horror massively multiplayer online role-playing game, based on the classic tabletop roleplaying game  Vampire: the Masquerade. Founded and headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1997, CCP is privately held with additional offices in Atlanta, Newcastle, San Francisco, and Shanghai. For more information, visit www.ccpgames.com.