Project Nova is an ambitious new title set within the EVE: Online universe and seeks to expand upon made Dust 514 such a spectacular free-to-play title on the PlayStation 3. However, the company has revealed that the game has been indefinitely delayed. Here’s why.
In a time when free-to-play titles are finding a hefty amount of success thanks to PC, PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One crowds, it would seem that releasing your game as quickly as possible and with as much polish as possible to ensure the best experience possible, would be the right thing to do in our current generation of games.
For some, releasing games in a Closed Alpha state is the way to go. Fans can help build the game, point out bugs, give feedback regarding balancing needing made and even give an idea of how the free-to-play market for the game should be handled. However, it seems that the Dust-514 team at CCP Games, the team also working on Project Nova, has decided that the current state of their game isn’t what they want their fans to experience.
In their email sent out to those that signed up for Closed Alpha testing, CCP has revealed that during EVE Vegas, they had shown off the most recent version of their upcoming FPS title and felt that they wanted to reinforce and continue their idea of “One War // One Universe” in their spiritual successor to DUST 514. Unfortunately, they felt that, after a few “player research sessions with external partners, tirelessly playtested the game internally and brought community stalwarts in to help us evaluate the project.”
Unfortunately, through these tests, they took both the research and the feedback into account, deciding what would be best for the game and what they could do to better provide the experience that they would hope for their fans. Unfortunately, CCP revealed that the gameplay experience “in its current form does not live up to our original vision and would not achieve our ambitious goals for this project. As a result, we will not be moving forward with the upcoming invite-only Alpha until further notice.”
You can read the full statement down below as provided to us by CCP Games:
“Dear Mercenaries and Capsuleers,
At CCP, one of our core principles is that we work to provide our players with excellent experiences. This mindset can be found within every creative team working on bringing your beloved virtual worlds to life. This means that we keep challenging ourselves every step of the way by asking difficult questions when facing tough decisions – especially when this principle could be compromised.
The development of Project Nova is an example of where this fundamental belief has been continuously exercised and put into practice.
At EVE Vegas, we showed you the most recent iteration of our vision to provide an engaging and unique FPS experience to enrich the EVE Universe. Our goal for this was always to reinforce the ‘One War // One Universe’ gameplay and create a worthy spiritual successor to DUST 514 that has the potential to captivate not only existing Mercenaries and Capsuleers, but also to attract new adventurers into the ever-evolving world of New Eden.
Over the course of Project Nova’s development, we conducted a number of player research sessions with external partners, tirelessly playtested the game internally and brought community stalwarts in to help us evaluate the project. Now, after taking all this research and feedback into account, we see that the gameplay experience in its current form does not live up to our original vision and would not achieve our ambitious goals for this project. As a result, we will not be moving forward with the upcoming invite-only Alpha until further notice.
We are aware that many of you have been eagerly anticipating the moment when you can get your hands on Project Nova. Please accept our heartfelt apologies for the disappointment this will no doubt cause. We hope you understand that we need to take a step back and return to the drawing board, where we will spend more time figuring out how all this hard work can translate into something better and more meaningful for the EVE Universe. Remaining true to our vision of Project Nova’s future in connection with EVE is essential. That is the only way we will be able to continue creating memorable experiences that ensure you – our ineffable players – are satisfied and make us proud as developers.
Project Nova continues to evolve and we remain committed to delivering a high-quality team-based shooter experience to EVE Online fans, while exploring new and exciting opportunities to integrate the two games. CCP is in no rush to release Project Nova until we’re satisfied it provides a rock-solid gameplay experience and visuals to match.
– Project Nova Team”
Stay tuned as we’ll keep you updated if anything changes regarding CCP Games’ Project Nova in the future.
About the Writer(s):
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.