It is 2013, and CCP is trying to make the EVE Online FPS. It is 2018, and CCP is trying to make the EVE Online FPS. It is now 2022, and CCP is still, stubbornly, trying to make the EVE Online FPS.
Announced (but not technically announced) at today’s Fanfest Opening Ceremony, CCP once again announced that it’s trying to make a first-person shooter in the EVE Online universe. While reluctant to actually say anything about it, the developer explained that it’s a tactical, hard sci-fi shooter currently being developed at CCP’s London studio.
“We recognize that a hard sci-fi FPS game set in the EVE Universe is a very popular concept and CCP is committed to offering an innovative multiplayer shooter with atmospheric visuals,” CCP explained. “We want to show you rather than tell you how we have evolved this concept and we’re looking forward to doing so when the time comes to reveal the game.”
CCP obviously really want to see the EVE setting explored from a boots n’ shoots perspective, and have been trying to make an FPS in this space happen for some time. Their first attempt, Dust 514, made an attempt to directly marry small-scale shooting with the MMO proper, letting players rock up in starships to bombard FPS matches, but was immediately kneecapped by being a PS3 exclusive.
A later attempt, Project Nova, more sensibly planned to release on PC, but was harshly described as “boring and unambitious” when Steven Messner got his hands on a pre-alpha build. The game was delayed indefinitely shortly after that preview, before being quietly canned.
Spin-offs like VR dogfighter EVE Valkyrie have proved that there is space to view this world from different perspectives (even if VR was ultimately too small an audience for CCP to keep pursuing), and maybe third time’s the charm for the EVE FPS. But it’s still too early to say whether this London-led project will finally see CCP crack a concept it so desperately wants.
