14 DAY TRIAL // Dust 514, the upcoming cross between MMO and shooter that CCP is developing, is designed to appeal to those gamers who want a deep experience but lack the time needed to get too deep into the developer’s primary game, EVE Online.
Hilmar Pétursson, who is the chief executive officer at CCP, told Rock, Paper, Shotgun that, “We see Dust as a way to allow people to participate in this universe by offering them a more intuitive, familiar, speedier, quicker, shorter time-commitment type of experience.”
He added, “EVE is a very particular type of experience, made for people who want to commit a lot of energy to have a game experience like that. Over the years we’ve seen a lot of people interested in the EVE universe, the single shard and the political drama, but might not be particularly looking for an experience like the game itself.”
Dust 514 will allow players to get into the same game universe and affect it without needing to spend the same amount of time participating in the intrigue and the political scheming.
Hilmar Pétursson says that the development team has already introduced cross game chat between EVE Online and Dust 514 and that they are also set to create a full social network for the universe, which will allow gamers to engage in voice chat.
Those playing Dust 514 will be able to accept missions from the various groups in EVE Online and their actions will lead to planets changing hands and will affect the power balance of the MMO.
The game will use full first person shooter mechanics and will include a customization and character evolution system.
Dust 514 will be launched on the PlayStation Network from Sony at some point during the summer, using a free-to-play model, and a PC version will probably be introduced later, given the PC exclusive nature of EVE Online.