EVE Online to drop "classic" graphics

By Oli Welsh Published 19 January, 2009

Older version of game to be phased out.

Icelandic space-MMO iconoclasts CCP have announced that they'll be dropping support for the Classic version of EVE Online, which has simpler graphics than the Premium version and enables the game to be run on very low-spec machines.

In a developer blog titled "I can totally run that on my Amiga", an EVE developer explained that it was costing the company too much time and effort to maintain two versions of the game client, and produce two versions of every art asset. Freed of the need to support Classic, CCP thinks it will be able to push the game's graphics further in future.

When the next EVE expansion, Apocrypha, launches on March 10th, the Classic game client will be discontinued. This coincides with the release of the Premium version of the game for Apple Mac.

Although this will raise the minimum requirements for EVE, those with lower-spec machines shouldn't worry, since CCP will also release a version of the game they're calling Premium Lite. This should work on all but the most ancient graphics cards and scale well to low-powered machines, whilst not requiring CCP to support two discrete versions of its game.

It's all change for EVE this year, with the introduction of Tech 3 and new unexplored space in Apocrypha, a box copy arriving in shops at the same time courtesy of Atari, and a completely redesigned starting experience for new players. We'll be reporting on them all in depth in March.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    Just as well, I can't imagine many machines not running Premium nowadays. My machine isn't all that, but even mine can run it at my monitors native resolution with all the features on.

  • bicky316 #2 3 years ago

    Having just finished the 2 week free trial I have to say that they really need to work on the initial experience for new players. It's too overwhelming and so many people must just give up.

    Having said that I've just signed up for my first month, so they must be doing something right...

    /checks remaining time till skill upgrade

  • kapowaz #3 3 years ago

    *RRRRRRRK*

    ...is the incorrect answer! Silly CCP. Have they learned nothing from WoW? One of the biggest reasons the Other Big MMO has been so successful is its inclusive approach to hardware requirements. Stripping out the old experience might make sense from a code maintenance point of view, but it'll hardly make it easy for your average punter to get into the game.

    That said, as bicky316 mentions, the game's initial experience is very overwhelming for the completely uninitiated. Maybe they're ringfencing their current subscriber base and don't intend to draw anybody else new in?

  • jonthepymm #4 3 years ago

    Part of the steep learning curve works to Eve's advantage - only those with perserverance and intelligence continue on past those first few hours / weeks. Makes for a somewhat mature user-base without LOL teenagers everywhere.

    As for the article - I run on a Mac so am looking forward to premium graphics at last!

  • AphoticCosmos #5 3 years ago

    Premium Lite will only exclude the very bottom of the pile of machines, it's about time that they stopped developing for classic - it's a small percentage of players who actually use it, often for performance reasons, and Premium Lite should hopefully offer similar performance on most relatively recent or modestly aged PCs. There has to be cut off points like this occasionally - it's not economically viable to keep developing for hardware that has long fallen out of common usage.

    Also Bicky, they are reworking the entire new player experience for the next expansion, Apocrypha.

  • Eraysor #6 3 years ago

    I resubbed to WAR last weekend, found it still sucked, resubbed to EVE the day after, and found it to be fucking awesome.

  • ZuluHero #7 3 years ago

    i thought classic was for non-DX10- users?

  • Subquest #8 3 years ago

    too hardcore for me, but it's nice to know it's out there.

  • Sk1Zy #9 3 years ago

    @ ZuluHero

    Well, as far as i remember they introduced eve premium before directx 10 supported hardware became widely available. Im pretty sure the premium graphics are dx9 and up if not dx8.

  • Pirotic #10 3 years ago

    So the mac version isn't premium?

    /cancels trial download

  • paulf #11 3 years ago

    @pirotic - not until march

  • Velios #12 3 years ago

    M.Corp is already gearing up for T3 and Wormholes, we cannot wait!

    Check out our website for more information.

  • sneetch #13 3 years ago

    I dare say the upcoming "walking about stations" thing was the final nail in it's coffin: the idea of having to do two versions of all that for whatever amount of players that actually need it would be enough for me. :)

  • PuppyFiddler #14 3 years ago

    Bugger. I use my failry sh*tty laptop for mining missions while playing other games and it works perfectly for it. Looks like i'll just have to run Eve in the background on the desktop now - which it does nicely i have to say - i can easily have CoD4 running and Eve at the same time..which is nice.
    Roll on the virtual space stations. Can't wait.

  • HermitArcader #15 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • shamblemonkee #16 3 years ago

    The entry bar for premium is Shader Model 3 iirc, and Shader 2 for this lite version.

  • firm3d #17 3 years ago

    Isn't "Premium Lite" an oxymoron?

    Oh, and I'm running EVE with all the specs maxed out on a laptop I bought in the middle of last year, so how can dropping the Classic client be that much of a problem?

  • DarkTimes #18 3 years ago

    I'd like to run premium, but my machine just crashes when I enable it. I hope they fix bugs like this before they stop supporting it.

  • actionfitz #19 3 years ago

    aye you would think that anyone still playing Eve long term would have by now made the investment in a modern machine to play it on.