Gamified

In this interview, I sit down with Hilmar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games, the studio behind EVE Online and the upcoming EVE Frontier. We dive into the art and ambition of building MMOs at scale—and why Hilmar believes creating a game is a lot like the shaping of Iceland itself.

We cover:

• The technology of servers and persistent worlds

• Lessons from EVE Online's evolving economy and community

• How blockchain and open economies could reshape gaming

• The role of physics engines in creating immersive experiences

• Thoughts on Elden Ring, Expedition 33, and modern game design integration with EVE

• Why storytelling, player freedom, and emergent gameplay matter more than ever

Whether you're an MMO fan, a game dev, or just curious about the future of interactive worlds—this one’s for you.

• What’s the word for Playstation offering refunds for MindsEye?

• Over/under - Otherside shipping in the next 3 years

• Building without roadmaps is the way forward for web3 game development

Today's incredible panelists include:

- Paul Bettner from Wildcard

- Kohji Nagata from Parallel & Wayfinder

- Sinjin Jung from MAYG

- Dub from Glittercloud Solutions & Sparkball

- Jon Radoff from Beamable

- Wills Spangler from AVAX

- Jerry Singer from WolvesDAO

- Michael Christine from Andrometa

- Gnoc from Magic Eden

- Dinopawnz from Apechain

And of course the 2.4lb little lizard legend co-host, Lemz!

• Quick Hitter: How Big of a Deal is FIFA Rivals?

• Web3 games @ Steam Next Fest

• Pump.fun banned on X?

Today’s Panelists include:

• Payton, Jerry and Slayer from WolvesDAO

• Charlie Blackstock from Farcade

• Gnoc and voh from Magic Eden

• Dub from Glittercloud Solutions & Sparkball

• Jonah Blake from Real Agency

• Jon Radoff from Beamable

• Justin Gary from SolForge Fusion

• Michael Christine from Andrometa 

• OG from GAM3S.GG

And of course my fellow co-hosts Gnoc and Matt!

• Own up or shut up - Nintendo Switch 2 blows out launch day sales record. did you think this would happen? (we got receipts)

• Star Atlas keeps shipping despite their previous team downsizing. Their community still believes in the vision - what can we learn from them as a class of 2021 still surviving today? + How do they compare to Star Citizen with how much they’ve shipped?

• Big Brain or Big Lame - OTG adding a free for all deathmatch mode. do battle royale games need other game modes?

• FINAL BOSS - financialization of gaming changes how you feel when you play - “no matter how much fun I’m having or how much I love something, at certain amounts things become financial decisions even when you don’t want them to be.” What’s the solution?

Today's panelists include:

- Matthew from WARP Chain

- Dub from GlitterCloud Solutions & Sparkball

- Wills Spangler from Ava Labs

- Sinjin from MAYG

- Kohji from Parallel

- Gnoc from Magic Eden

- Kate Irwin from Blockworks

- Kevin Lambert from Project O & Koin Games

- Michael Christine from Andrometa

...and of course my co-host Lemz!

• WHY do we keep moving towards community takeovers?

• Fair or Foul - Hantao Calls out Ronin

• Elon Vs Donald; Is it time to stable up?

• Polymarket teams up with X

This week's panelists include:

- Charlie Blackstock from Farcade

- Dub from Sparkball

- Slayer from WolvesDAO

- Jordan from Eureka and ReplyCorp

- voh from Magic Eden

- Hantao from Moku

- Michael Christine from Andrometa

- Jonah Blake from Real Agency

and of course my co-hosts Matt and Gnoc!

• What’s the word for Call of Duty BO6 adding an ad for skins in the weapon selection menu?

• Dead, Undead or Fully Alive - single player games in web3. Is this the solution to player liquidity issues? Can single player games work in web3?

• Dump, Date, Marry - Elden Ring movie, Clash of Clans movie and Clair Obscur movie

• Final Form - what do game prices look like in 10 years? Mario Kart $80, GTA VI $100, what’s the future look like for game pricing?

This week's panelists include:

- Kohji from Parallel

- Justin Gary from SolForge Fusion

- Wills Spangler from Avalanche

- Kevin Lambert from Project O with Koin Games

- Michael O'Connor from Youmio

- Michael Christine a.k.a the Tatted Lawyer from Andrometa

- Kate Irwin from Blockworks

- OG from GAM3S.GG

- Sinjin from My Angry Yakuza Girlfriend

- Gnoc from Magic Eden

...and of course our weekly co-host from the EthLizards, Lemz!

• $LOUD is dumping HARD

• Explain like I’m 5 - why are companies buying BTC and ETH?

• Is there any hope for gaming tokens?

• New Game Mode: Thread or Dead - Kate Irwin says STOP BUILDING MULTIPLAYER

• Panel Picks - 1 token to go higher, 1 token to go lower

This week's panelists include:

- Phin from Abstract

- Jonah Blake from RealAgencyHQ

- Chuckstock (Charlie Blackstock) from Farcade

- Dub from Sparkball and GlitterCloud Solutions

- voh from Magic Eden

- Hantao from Moku

- Jon Radoff from Beamable

- Slayer from WolvesDAO

- Payton from WolvesDAO

...and of course my fellow co-hosts Matt Steffanina and Gnoc!

• What’s the word for one of the most viral indie dev sensations on Roblox ever?

• Steel man - new game mode where you have to steel man an argument for it. This week: Play to earn is the future.

• Hot or Not Take - vote whether it’s a hot take or not and explain why: New live service games are dead on arrival.

• Final Boss - new final topic game mode. This week you choose one of the following topics and give a hot take on it. You have to pick one, no fence sitting:

1. Fornite back on the app store
2. Battlefront 2 just broke its ATH concurrent player record on Steam. The game is 8 years old, no updates for 5 years.
3. The Activision Blizzard merger finally closed

This week's panelists include:

- Wills Spangler from Avalanche / AVAX

- Vidar from Mure App and Yurei

- Gnoc from Magic Eden

- Jerry Singer from WolvesDAO

- Kohji Nagata the founder of Parallel

- Kevin Lambert from Koin Games at Project O

- Tony Valcarcel from Glitter Cloud Solutions

- Jon Radoff from Beamable

- Michael Christine from Andrometa

...and as always my co-host Lemz from the ETH Lizards!

• New Game mode: Zombies - Illuvium, Big Time, The Beacon

• Ember Sword and Nyan Heroes; two games that both raised A LOT of money AND were pretty hyped shut down last week…what’s going on here?

• Virtual Genesis tokens - who’s paying for this?

• What does LOLland have to do to be considered a “success”?

• Game Closures - Over/Under we’ve seen 25% of the shutdowns for 2025

• What’s the word for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's success?

• Quickfire - Will FIFA Rivals flip NFT Rivals?

• What’s the solution to reward structures in web3 games? - Maplestory players complaining about earning potential and changes to drop rates from testnet. Cambria players unhappy about rewards from hyped event due to heavy distribution to mindless farming.

• What’s the Word for Marathon / Bungie seemingly stealing the aesthetic of Marathon, and how would you deal with it from the C Suite?