EVE Online’s developers are creating a blockchain game set in the EVE universe

EVE Online developers CCP Games are working on a new game set in the EVE universe. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it will use blockchain technology, after CCP received $40m (around £32.7m) from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Called Project Awakening, the project will “leverage smart-contract blockchain technology, focusing on persistence, composability, and truly open third-party development to create a new relationship between virtual worlds and players.” Whatever that means.

“Since its inception, CCP Games’ vision has been to create virtual worlds that are more meaningful than real life,” writes CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson in the announcement. “Now, with advances made in blockchain, we can forge a new universe deeply imbued with our expertise in player agency and autonomy, empowering players to engage in new ways.”

The blockchain, and NFTs in particular, have been a focus of video game investment over the past 12-18 months. Each announcement so far has been met with derision, often from video game developers themselves, and many developers and publishers have since toned down their enthusiasm.

EVE Online is amazing, fascinating and unique. However, CCP Games has a track record of trying to expand their struggling MMOs in foolhardy ways. In 2013, they released Dust 514, a console-only and widely criticized free-to-player shooter set in the EVE universe that closed after three years. They tried to make a shooter again when they announced Project Legion in 2014, and scrapped it. Then tried again with Project Nova, and scrapped it in 2020 after terrible feedback. They released the (pretty cool) VR spin-off EVE: Valkyrie, but gave up on VR when no one bought it (RIP Sparc). They once released a monocle cosmetic so expensive they had to revamp the entire development process just to appease players. And it wasn’t an EVE spin-off, but should I mention World Of Darkness?

I admire the way CCP has continued to support and expand EVE Online, both nurturing the ways it’s weird and trying to make it palpable to more people. I also admire their willingness to experiment with new projects in public, even if these ideas too often feel like a wagon chase. However, the blockchain is a stupid waste of time, and it’s no surprise that the EVE Online Reddit has post after post of people pounding it.