“Many shooters focus on constantly resetting the economy,” Scott Davis, lead product manager at CCP London, pointed out during a presentation on EVE: Vanguard, an ambitious MMOFPS in the works from CCP. Without saying it outright, it’s clear he’s referencing the likes of Call of Duty, with its relentless annual release schedule. Anyone with a bit of insight can see he’s critiquing how these games operate.
Davis elaborates on why players often feel a sense of dissatisfaction with many shooters. You can spend countless hours mastering a game, perfecting your loadouts, discovering the optimal weapon and perk combinations, only for the reset button to be hit. Black Ops turns into Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare flips back to Black Ops, and the cycle endlessly repeats.
CCP, however, wants to shake things up. Their ambition is to create something more lasting, taking cues from shared-world shooters like Destiny and Helldivers 2, but giving them a more enduring framework. Essentially, they aim to bring an ‘EVE-ified’ twist to the MMOFPS genre.
“If we can learn from 21 years of EVE maintaining a single game environment, we can do that with a shooter too,” Davis enthuses. “We can craft a shooter that truly lasts, defining the MMOFPS experience. Many have come close, but I think we’re poised uniquely to pull it off.”
And honestly, I think he’s on to something. I spent several hours with the latest build of Vanguard at CCP’s London studios, and it has all the elements to be your next favorite persistent world FPS. The shooting is sharp and satisfying, the level design is expertly crafted, the visuals rival Destiny 2’s PC version, and the sound work is spot on. It ticks all the boxes, and this is coming from someone who’s logged over 1,000 hours in the Destiny series. I’m definitely intrigued. What’s compelling is that this game is designed to be a shooter first, with ties to the EVE universe second.
“Why an FPS? Why is it so captivating?” chimes in Snorri Árnason, game director of EVE Online. “We want you to walk on those planets and pilot those spaceships. That breadth allows us to fill in the blanks and cater to the fantasy of having ‘boots on the ground’ and ‘you do the flying, we do the dying’. Even top-tier AAA games hit hard but lack meaning.”
“You don’t need to have played EVE to understand Vanguard,” Davis elaborates. “It’s an FPS experience enriched by the EVE universe, and why wouldn’t you want that if it’s available?”
The term ‘EVE-curious’ surfaces repeatedly in their discussions about Vanguard. EVE holds the record for the largest PvP battle in video gaming history, an experience CCP wants to offer shooter fans interested in large-scale battles without the intricacies of EVE’s deep systems. Davis mentions CCP’s goal to make Vanguard more “welcoming” and “accessible.”
Yet, everything’s progressing at a deliberate pace. Since the reveal, Vanguard is only on its second major content update, still sitting in pre-alpha. But a robust community has already formed, and the development path is intentionally cautious to ensure the fundamentals are robust. CCP has even abandoned seasonal updates—because ‘they weren’t effective’.
“We’re not obsessing over VFX and graphics only to release a subpar product,” Davis says. “We’re rolling out updates with low-res assets, placeholder art, and players are engaging and finding enjoyment. For instance, players use the mining laser’s small beam, originally for resources, as a handy long-distance targeting tool instead!”
Early adopters are embracing these rough edges, fondly dubbing a work-in-progress asset ‘the banana gun’. Players are co-building the game alongside CCP, and despite its slow development, this approach seems to promise success. Enthusiastic early supporters see the potential and what CCP is building.
“You have to set aside your pride and remember who the game is for,” Davis continues. “It’s not just for us developers. Players often don’t know what they want until they experience it and realize, ‘oh no, not like this’. So, we’re navigating this journey with them.”
So far, it’s clear where CCP aims on the MMO-to-FPS spectrum with Vanguard. It’s more grounded in its persistent world than Destiny, which feels more episodic, tied by seasonality, and slightly less chaotic than Helldivers, which relishes player-created mayhem.
From a small pool of early adopters, diverse playstyles are emerging: Some play for the thrill of kills, others enjoy crafting and building, while some are drawn to the social aspects. And yet, there’s plenty for solo adventurers too, akin to the solo-friendly design of Final Fantasy 14, World of Warcraft, and Warframe – all inspirations during my time at CCP.
“I was a solo player in WoW,” Árnason reminisces. “I didn’t engage socially, but operated within that environment. The same applies in Vanguard; you can bypass complexities, forge ahead, and improve your arsenal. No need to bombard players with complexities tied to the broader EVE world.”
Davis describes how the definition of ‘MMO’ is evolving and influences Vanguard’s development. “We often equate ‘MMO’ with ‘MMORPG’. We’re not redefining MMOs, but observing how players engage with live games today, which differs greatly from just a few years ago.”
“Helldivers could have been a couch game,” he notes. “But the added dimension is playing that couch game with friends or strangers in a PVE universe everyone contributes to.”
For CCP, “MMO” encompasses not just scale but depth. Players can influence the world, sometimes without knowing it. “In Vanguard, you might receive a contract from another player,” Davis explains. “You don’t need to know it’s from them, but they chose you, and you’re impacting each other unbeknownst to either of you.”
According to Davis and Árnason, that’s the charm of a sandbox MMO. They aspire to “keep adding sand to the sandbox” for players to enjoy, curating a game where progress is secured against resets or seasonal purges. In the crowded arena of ‘forever games’, this dedication to lasting and respectful engagement with player time is commendable.
Will Vanguard harness CCP’s tools and history to succeed? Time will tell, but patience is certainly required.
EVE: Vanguard is currently exclusive to Founders, with Early Access slated for 2025, and a full release in 2027 for PC. A special event runs from November 28 to December 9 in Vanguard; to participate and secure an access code, visit the EVE Vanguard Discord.
