CCP Games carved a name for itself with EVE Online, an MMORPG that has enjoyed an almost unbelievable 20-year run since launching in the early 2000s. The game has been supported by a steady flow of updates and expansions, but the Icelandic developer has also set its sights on expanding the sandbox of New Eden beyond just the scope of EVE Online.
CCP CEO Talks Vanguard FPS Development
Revealed as part of the Fanfest 23 festivities last month, CCP Games is working on Vanguard, something the team is calling an FPS “module” for EVE Online. Essentially, it’s an extraction shooter spin-off that will be connected to the MMORPG, similar to its 2013 game Dust 514. This time, though, the developer is drawing on its experience and aiming to deliver a superior experience.
In an interview at Fanfest 23, CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson admitted that the team has “certainly taken many shots on target, not all of which have been home runs.” This time around, though, he feels the studio’s efforts have a better chance of success after having been “informed by more than a decade of shots on target.”
Seeking to understand whether Vanguard is principally intended to attract newcomers or appeal to longtime EVE Online players, I referenced Dust 514. Specifically, how many Dust 514 players later became EVE Online players, and vice versa?
So there was more of a halo effect than a conversion effect. There was a conversion effect, for sure, but the halo effect was way bigger. When Dust came out, people were more interested in EVE.
…we saw a surge in interest in EVE Online because of the existence of Dust. We also saw people funnel through Dust and into EVE, but that effect was smaller than the effect of the grander idea manifesting.
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson
For CCP, then, Vanguard, and other projects such as the mobile 4X strategy game Galaxy Conquest, aren’t expected to see huge numbers of new players flooding into EVE Online. Still, the intent is still to heighten interest in the franchise and further flesh out its already storied lore. But how does that concept impact EVE Online veterans who must surely prefer developer money spent on the mainline game?
I asked Hilmar whether the team ever worries that it will upset people by pushing development in different directions beyond EVE Online itself.
You will please some of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time. And that’s just it. You can’t please everyone all the time, and if you do that then you just end up doing nothing. So it’s better to do something than nothing. It’s better to have an educated guess about like why you’re doing this, or at least a hypothesis says then at least you can be wrong and then you know where you’re wrong. We can always tweak it and do something else. But worrying about upsetting people gets you nowhere.
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson
You can read our full interview with Hilmar later this week. For now, be sure to check out other excerpts from our chat with him, including his update on how many players are still enjoying EVE Online today.
Elsewhere, the upcoming Havoc expansion is set to add the game’s most powerful ship ever — one that fans have waited six years to fly.
