Employees of Eve Online developer CCP Games were paid in foreign currency during Iceland's economic meltdown in late 2008/early 2009.
gamesindustry.biz reports that the unusual action was taken due to wild fluctuations in the value of Iceland's krona. CCP Executive Producer Nathan Richardsson told gi.biz:
What really was the problem for us was how many of our employees were hit by the [financial] crisis...
We're not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot, but at the very least we could leverage part of CCP's infrastructure that you wouldn't normally think would benefit your employees - allowing people to be paid in foreign currency, for example, makes it much more stable for people looking towards the future - when being paid in Icelandic Krona was still fluctuating by a few per cent here and there, it was very volatile and you can't really work with that kind of currency.
Comments
Re: Eve Online Employees Paid in Foreign Currency During ...
I really wouldn't mind if some eve players were put in charge of world economies.
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GET OFF MY PHONE!
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Re: Eve Online Employees Paid in Foreign Currency During ...
You do realise that EVE traders are, in terms of the game's background, ruthless hyper-capitalists of the kind that got us into this mess in the first place? That may not be such a good idea.
Re: Eve Online Employees Paid in Foreign Currency During ...
"Finnish Krona"?
WTF?
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"Science asks how, and faith asks why"
Re: Eve Online Employees Paid in Foreign Currency During ...
I'd be so proud if Eve Online was Finnish.
Finnish Krona?
Um, what?
CCP is in Iceland.
Finland hasn't had Krona as currency since 1809: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland#Swedish_era_.281249.E2.80.931809.29
-- http://pixelantes.blogspot.com/
Re: Finnish Krona?
Exactly, the correct currency is the Krona, but it IS Icelandic, not Finnish. That's why the Currency of Eve is ISK, because that's the abbreviated name of the Currency in Iceland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gameplay_of_Eve_Online#Economy
Re: Finnish Krona?
That and in EVE it stands for Interstellar Kredit, or ISK for short.
But I assume it should be Iceland, since that's where CCP is based, not Finland.
Although I could see them paying out in Euros or any other stable currency in a period in which the Krona was essentially in freefall.
Re: Eve Online Employees Paid in Foreign Currency During ...
I thought Finland has a lot of natural resources backing them up, and banked. Or is it Switzerland I am thinking of.
Re: Eve Online Employees Paid in Foreign Currency During ...
It's a typo, the meltdown should refer to Iceland not Finland.
Re: Eve Online Employees Paid in Foreign Currency During ...
Woo, eve news.
CCP is one of the driving forces behind the Icelandic economy right now. The CCP annual eve meetup in Reychavik brings so much income into the country that it's practically treated as a national event.
Re: Eve Online Employees Paid in Foreign Currency During ...
That's what you get when you have a very small (320k inhabitants total, most of them in the capital) but rather rich country with a very open financial system.
Speculation literally drove the country to the brink of bankruptcy.
Right now CCP is probably one of the largest sources of non-icelandic currency in Iceland, making the company pretty important to recovery, FanFest will bring hundreds (if not thousands) of tourists to Iceland for a couple of days, which won't be an insignificant capital injection for the local economy.
I'll be visiting FanFest for the first time myself this year, from what I've seen it's a good deal cheaper to go this year than it was in previous years.
(As an example, the Krona was worth almost twice as much last year, compared to today)