It’s been a rough few months for EVE Online dev, CCP.
Following the company’s disastrous implementation of microtransactions in June 2011, which prompted in-game-worldwide rioting, the EVE Online community has been in revolt with CCP scrambling to damage control stations.
Now CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson has written a lengthy, almost embarrassingly candid mea culpa to EVE Online players, telling them he’s “truly sorry” for everything that’s happened.
“The past few months have been very humbling for me. I’ve done much soul searching, and what follows is my sincere effort to clear the air with all of you. Please bear with me as I find my way through,” he writes on the official EVE devblog.
“The estrangement from CCP that many of you have been feeling of late is my fault, and for that I am truly sorry. There are many contributing factors, but in the end it is I who must shoulder the responsibility for much of what has happened. In short, my zeal for pushing EVE to her true potential made me lose sight of doing the simple things right. I was impatient when I should have been cautious, defiant when I should have been conciliatory and arrogant when I should have been humble,” said Pétursson.
“Somewhere along the way, I began taking success for granted. As hubris set in, I became less inclined to listen to pleas for caution. Red flags raised by very smart people both at CCP and in the community went unheeded because of my stubborn refusal to allow adversity to gain purchase on our plans. Mistakes, even when they were acknowledged, often went unanalyzed, leaving the door open for them to be repeated.”
“You have spoken, loudly and clearly, with your words and with your actions. And there were definitely moments in recent history when I wish I would have listened more and taken a different path. I was wrong and I admit it,” said Pétursson.
He goes on to address more specific concerns, including the controversial single-player Captain’s Quarters campaign – calling it a “mistake” – as well as the “clearly flawed” virtual goods fiasco, finally promising fans that “we’ve taken action to ensure these mistakes are never repeated”.
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