To say that it’s been a rough year for EVE Online would be an understatement. After what appeared to be a rather normal year of content releases and the launch of the game’s Incarna expansion, CCP found itself entangled in controversy surrounding $70 in-game monocles and a leaked company email hinting at further game impacting microtransaction “gold ammo” that ignited a firestorm within the community.

Gaming site Video Gamer recently had the chance to speak with EVE Online Lead Designer Kristoffer Touborg to get his thoughts on recent events and where he believes the future of EVE Online is headed with the upcoming launch of the Playstation 3 exclusive FPS extension of the EVE universe with DUST 514.

The controversy surrounding the microtransactions and leaked email take up the first half of the interview, to which Touborg notes that CCP’s communication with the community could have been handled much better and he even defends some of the community sentiment and protest, but there were a few that went a little too far by making death threats against the developers. CCP has been working diligently with the game’s elected Council of Stellar Management to address many of the issues surrounding the controversy.

Touborg believes that the microtransaction fluff items will help the game in the long run by giving collectors that don't mind spending the cash something extra and others in the community someone to call a "sucker" when they see them wearing it. If only a single percent of a playerbase finds microtransaction items attractable, it can still generate a substantial profit for a developer.

But on the topic of the future, Touborg hopes to see cross-platform gaming become more common place and can’t figure out why it isn’t a more common part of online gaming.

We've come too far to treat these as isolated platforms. Your tape won't fit in your DVD player, but there isn't any reason EVE shouldn't fit in your phone as well as your computer.

Source:

Video Gamer


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our EVE Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Stacy "Martuk" Jones was a long-time news editor and community manager for many of our previous game sites, such as Age of Conan. Stacy has since moved on to become a masked super hero, battling demons in another dimension.

Comments