Next EVE expansion to focus on industry

By Oli Welsh Published 28 August, 2008

Due in December, no word on ambulation.

In a video interview with MMORPG.com, producer Arend Stuhrmann revealed that EVE Online's next free expansion, due this December, will be "all about industry".

"Our game design team is looking at all aspects of science, industry and research, making sure we can optimise wherever we can, making sure we make the management of industry and production easier and more comprehensible," he said.

After last expansion The Empyrean Age concentrated on factional player-versus-player warfare, it seems that developer CCP is intent on giving the game's more peaceful players something to get their teeth into with this next update, codenamed MIDAS.

Stuhrmann didn't discuss the much anticipated "ambulation" or "walking in stations" update that would bring on-foot player avatars to the game for the first time. This suggests it will be released, probably as a standalone expansion, in 2009. It will be showcased at CCP's fan convention this November.

Stuhrmann also mentions some forthcoming patches to Empyrean Age: the first will concentrate on balance fixes, the second on new mission content and a certificate system for measuring your progress.

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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 (10) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Floppy #1 4 years ago

    Will this expansion not screw your PC up like a previous one?

  • Olemak #2 4 years ago

    It is getting to be the right time for EVE to have a box in shops again, so "ambulation" and maybe a somwehat intuitive intro/tutorial sequence, maybe even with a bit of a singleplayer story so soften up the audience for the hardcore stuff to follow would probably be a good game. It is an amazing game, I hear, and it just keeps growing. I'd be interestid in taling another look at it if the beginning is a bit more softened up. OK so call me a squishy gamer, I'm just saying. The "never leave your ship" bit was a little off-putting for me; I want to hang out in space bars and chat up space girls in between my month-long mining missions. In space.

  • hulahoops #3 4 years ago

    Goddamn squishy gamers.

  • Chaser #4 4 years ago

    Ah.. but will it include its own build in spreadsheet program??? :)

  • Velios #5 4 years ago

    Looks good, and I'm looking forward to Ambulation, something new after over five years of playing the game!

    by the way, anyone looking to join a corp in EVE should check out M.Corp, we have been going for over 5 years, are one of the biggest and most successful corps in EVE.

    You can read more about M.Corp ON OUR OFFICIAL SITE

  • Tiiti #6 4 years ago

    Would be nice if they updated the mac version with the premium content already!!!

  • hulahoops #7 4 years ago

    @velios

    Ooh, pick me! Pick me! :)

    What sort of restrictions do you have?

    My character is only a few days old, but I've gained ground quickly and I have a pretty good understanding.

  • Macross #8 4 years ago

    Industry - bleh :p i guess we will be seeing the Orca and stuff then, I dont really do any industry stuff.

    Looking forward to the other updates though! :D

  • Nill #9 4 years ago

    Hmm, I've never gone beyond the free trial for EVE, although I've given that trial quite a few runs.

    This Ambulation-patch is what I had considered would give way for my first proper venture into EVE, but that was when it was still going to be a free expansion/patch. Not as sure about laying down money for a game that I've already deemed insufficient or too lacking to fulfill my tastes, and then paying for the expansion on top of that, that has the content to make the main game feature complete. It'd be like paying for two games that really should have been one.

    But I can see it being great from a business perspective - having boxes on store shelves world-wide yet again - and I do wish EVE all the success it can muster.

  • DogSlobba #10 3 years ago

    I hear you Nill. I played the free version a few times, thinking "this is a bit rubbish" but then I began to realise the depth and strategy and now I'm hooked, faithfully handing over my 15 Euros each month and basing my life around when I need to switch training skills.

    What this game is crying out for is a slick interface. I seem to spend most of my time resizing windows and moving them around; all key information appears in a small box - in the middle of the screen - and if there is a lot happening, you miss a lot of info. Each gun should have a separate figure above it showing its damage; a separate box should show the amount and TYPE of damage you're receiving; there should be just 2 finance lists: income and expenditure, instead of journal and transactions - I mean why have 2 separate income lists, which are empty by default, meaning you have to click "load" EVERY time?

    And it looks like Bill Gates's great great great grandson made it into Eve Space: what kind of navigation computer completely forgets where you want to go when you arrive in your destination system? and what rubbish software makes you manually fire up your afterburner EVERY time you come out of warp, even when in so-called "auto"pilot?

    But despite this I press on because there is no other game like it out there.