The creators of EVE Online, CCP, have announced a new sandbox MMORPG. EVE Echoes is set to be released on iOS and Android. However, the game is developed by a Chinese studio. We also have a rough release date and a first gameplay trailer for EVE Echoes.
This is the announcement: CCP announced the new mobile MMO “EVE Echoes” during an event in Las Vegas.
This is a “brand new spaceship sandbox” MMO. It takes place in an alternative reality to New Eden, the universe of EVE Online.
When is the release? EVE Echoes is being developed by the Chinese studio NetEase together with CCP. EVE Echoes is set to launch in 2019 on iOS and Android. At least an “open beta” is expected to start then.
EVE Echoes: Not the mobile version of EVE Online, but almost
This is what we know about EVE Echoes:
- CCP promises an “authentic EVE Online experience” for mobile devices
- Players will be able to write their own story and that of the galaxy
- The game is said to depict “thousands of planetary systems”
- EVE Echoes is expected to be developed with NetEase’s NeoX engine
- It is also mentioned that the “typical EVE experience” will come with “social systems” – A deep and realistic social system is currently being developed
This is what the participants say:
- The CEO of CCP; Hilmar Veigar Pétursson says: He believes mobile is the obvious next step to bring a refined version of the legendary PC experience of EVE Online to even more people.
- Frank Xiang from NetEase says: EVE Echoes pushes the limits of what is currently possible on mobile.
This is the trailer for EVE Echoes
Here we have the gameplay trailer for EVE Echoes:
Game for today’s Asia and tomorrow’s Europe?
What’s behind it: This announcement is in line with the acquisition of CCP by Pearl Abyss, the developers of Black Desert. They recently purchased the studio CCP after making a fortune in Asia with the mobile version of Black Desert.
The idea here is surely to develop a “core game” for mobile. This is likely to work in the Asian market, which is mobile-enthusiastic. There is certainly money to be made with a “PC EVE Online” . NetEase is currently planning a major relaunch there. The big money is in the mobile market in Asia.
But the CEO of CCP also believes that “mobile core gaming” will be successful here in the West. Clearly, he is willing to bet the future of his company on it.
That’s why they are making a new game: EVE Echoes is likely to be something like Arena of Valor for LoL. Not quite a clone, but very close. The alternative would have been to bring EVE Online to iOS and Android. The veterans would have had a huge advantage.
With “EVE Echoes” the possibility arises for everyone to start anew.
In addition to EVE Echoes, CCP has also introduced a shooter for PC: Project Nova.
