Icelandic games giant CCP has scored $40 million in investment to begin work on a triple-A blockchain game.

The title is to be set within the existing Eve universe. The funding was led by tech VC giant Andreessen Horowitz – who has been pump money into blockchain and Web3 companies for years now – with Makers Fund, Bitkraft, Kingsway Capital, Hashed and Nexon also included in the list of investors.

This venture is building on some R&D groundwork that CCP has already performed looking into blockchain and Web3 tech.

"Since its inception, CCP Games’ vision has been to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life," CCP CEO Hilmar Pétursson (pictured) said.

"Now, with advancements made within blockchain, we can forge a new universe deeply imbued with our expertise in player agency and autonomy, empowering players to engage in new ways. This financing has marked an exciting frontier in our studio history as we begin our third decade of virtual world operations. We are humbled by the confidence from our partners in the development of this new title."

Andreessen Horowitz general partner Jonathan Lai added: “CCP Games is a pioneer in virtual worlds and digital economies with 25 years of experience creating living sandboxes with unparalleled depth. They're a veteran team and we believe in their ambitious vision to deliver incredible player experiences at the intersection of best-in-class game design and blockchain technology.”