Project Nova, the in-development FPS spin-off to EVE Online, is officially dead according to CCP Games. The news was originally announced during a Pearl Abyss (CCP Games' parent company) earnings call over the weekend, but since then developers have taken to a few different forums to confirm the news and elaborate on what's happening.
To anyone who has followed Project Nova, the news probably isn't surprising. Originally announced over four years ago, Project Nova was CCP Games' second crack at making an FPS set in the EVE Online universe—though it wouldn't be connected to the MMO like its first FPS, Dust 514. CCP was obviously struggling to come up with exciting ideas, however, and after a disappointing hands-on session in October of 2018, Project Nova was put on hold indefinitely.
Given Project Nova's permanent delay, this weekend's announcement feels more like a formality than anything. But, amazingly, CCP Games still isn't giving up on making an EVE Online-based FPS. The London-based development team is going to try again under a different codename, and it sounds like the scope is going to be much more ambitious that Project Nova ever was.
"We're continuing to develop our sci-fi multiplayer shooter game concept actively evolving it beyond the original scope for what was formerly codenamed Project Nova," said George Kelion, CCP Games' head of public relations, on Reddit. "Development efforts on this concept are now the full focus of CCP’s London studio. Project Nova team members based in Iceland have been moved onto other projects at our Reykjavík studio."
Kelion explained this decision was motivated both by the poor reception of Project Nova's 2018 hands-on reveal and because the scope of the new idea for an EVE Online FPS is now much bigger. "It is very common for games in active development to evolve over time, often substantially," Kelion said. "We remain committed to offering a rock-solid, action-oriented gameplay experience with stellar visuals, but due to significant changes in the scope and direction of our sci-fi multiplayer shooter game concept, it also made sense to update how we refer to this project internally. So, we are no longer using the codename Project Nova for this game concept."
But don't expect news on this new project any time soon. Kelion also said CCP Games would refrain from revealing projects too early in the future. "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 present this concept as a fully-fledged game."
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