Google DeepMind · 2026-05-06 · major
Google DeepMind Takes Minority Stake in EVE Online Maker — CCP Spins Out as Fenris Creations in $120M Deal
CCP Games leaves Pearl Abyss, rebrands as Fenris Creations, and signs an AI research partnership with Google DeepMind that will use offline EVE Online servers to study long-horizon planning, memory, and continual learning.
DeepMind buys a minority stake in EVE Online's studio and turns the 22-year-old MMO into an offline lab for studying long-horizon AI agents.
Key specs
| Deal size | $120M |
|---|---|
| Eve age years | 22 |
| Ccp 2025 revenue | $70M+ |
What is it?
A research partnership and equity deal announced May 6, 2026. CCP Games — the Icelandic studio behind EVE Online — exits Pearl Abyss to become independent again under the name Fenris Creations, with Google DeepMind taking a minority stake as part of a $120M cash-and-non-cash transaction.
How does it work?
DeepMind will work with offline copies of EVE Online running on local servers, disconnected from the live game, so it can run controlled experiments without disturbing players. The research targets three frontier problems for AI agents: long-horizon planning, memory across long sessions, and continual learning from a complex, player-driven world economy. Demis Hassabis frames the partnership in line with DeepMind's history of using games — Atari, Go, StarCraft — as testbeds for general intelligence.
Why does it matter?
EVE is one of the few persistent simulations rich enough to stress-test long-horizon agent behavior at scale: a real economy, alliances, fleets, and 22 years of player history. Pairing it with DeepMind matters less for the game and more as a public signal that the next frontier for agent research is dynamic, open-ended environments rather than static benchmarks.
Who is it for?
agent and RL researchers, AI lab investors, MMO and simulation devs
Try it
Read the announcement: ccpgames.com/news/2026/...-fenris-creations-...-google-deepmind