Þórólfur Beck Kristjánsson
| Þórólfur Beck Kristjónsson | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 14, 1974 Reykjavík, Iceland |
| Education | Bifröst University (dropped out) |
| Known for | Co-founding CCP Games |
Þórólfur Beck Kristjónsson (born April 14, 1974) is an entrepreneur, game designer and producer best known for co-founding the video game company CCP Games and creating the board game Hættuspil (Danger Game). Hættuspil remains one of Iceland's most popular board games and CCP's video game EVE Online currently has 500,000 users. EVE also went on to win awards from PC Gamer magazine and MMORPG.com.
Beck was born and raised in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he has lived for the majority of his life. While originally wanting to become a pilot, he was always interested in video games. The first video games he played were on the Commodore 64 as well as in arcades; his favorite games and main inspirations were Elite, Magic: The Gathering, VRML and early MUD titles .
In 2002, Þórólfur enrolled in Bifröst University in Borgarbyggð Iceland, where he studied law for two years. In 2004 he was given the opportunity become the agent and producer of an Icelandic music act that went on to compete in a European music competition. He later re-enrolled and continued his studies from 2011 to 2013.
In 1997, along with Reynir Harðarson, Þórólfur founded CCP games for the purpose of making MMORPGs. In order to finance the initial development of Eve Online, CCP developed and published a board game in Iceland called Hættuspil ("Danger Game"). During his time at CCP, He was majority owner, founder, manager, chairman and sole game designer as well as being the first employee. Þórólfur has since left the company as well as all of the original founders, the last of which left in 2015.
In 2005 Þórólfur became the producer of Silvía Night, an Icelandic singer based on a fictional character who was Iceland's participant in Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Congratulations" after winning the Icelandic national finals. While failing to win the competition, the act continued to be very popular in Iceland and is still remembered as one of countries most entertaining entries.
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