CCP Games CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson has said that there are “no plans” for EVE Online to implement blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, or NFTs anytime soon.
EVE Online is an MMORPG that puts you in the pilot’s seat of a spaceship in a large shared galaxy with tens of thousands of players at any given time. It’s well known for its massive space battles (and occasionally, its weird crossovers), but there’s one thing it won’t be known for anytime soon: NFTs.
Why EVE Online Won’t Have Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, or NFTs
EVE Online won’t have any blockchain technology integration, cryptocurrency, or NFTs for one simple reason: the devs believe that technology has not yet matured.
CCP Games has a reputation for being willing to try new things in the gaming and MMO spaces; one such example is the fact that it has an economist on staff to manage the player-run economy. Naturally, the devs are always looking at the latest tech — but crypto hasn’t quite won them over just yet.
“On that note, we have no plans to add blockchain technology into EVE Online’s global server Tranquility for the foreseeable future,” read a Steam Community news post from CCP Hellmar (via Reddit). “For the coming years, development for Tranquility will focus on building exciting new opportunities on top of the robust foundation that has been laid over the past two decades.”
“While we remain intrigued by the technology, for us, NFT stands for ‘Not for Tranquility.’ Overall, the EVE IP will continue to push the boundaries of digital economies and virtual worlds – and we will continue to explore that outside of TQ.”
This opinion likely has some internal data to back it up, too. Late last year, CCP Games experimented with integrating NFTs on the energy-efficient Tezos Blockchain late last year. It looks like the results of that experiment — combined with player feedback — resulted in today’s announcement.
Some games are rushing to integrate NFTs and others are ignoring them entirely, but CCP Games is standing out as a company that was willing to test the waters and ultimately decide to avoid using crypto tech for now. If you’re looking to test the waters with a new MMO, you can get started playing EVE Online for free on PC right now; after that, you’ll have to subscribe at $14.95 a month.
