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EVE Online's 2025 Plans Include More Player Control Over Their Space, Including Customizing How Space Feels Itself

Joseph Bradford Updated: Posted:
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EVE Online is angling to have another big year, unveiling its upcoming 2025 roadmap on a director’s stream this morning. Last year we saw the return of a two-expansion cycle for CCP Games’ sci-fi MMO, and 2025’s new roadmap confirms we’ll be looking at that same update cadence again this year, with a Summer and Winter expansion, as well as updates and events throughout the months inbetween.

Last year’s Equinox and Revenant expansions for EVE Online were aimed at revitalizing nullsec space, giving more tools and structures to corporations to play with in the sandbox of New Eden. Yet, it doesn’t seem like CCP Games is done trying to give corporations even more power to influence the world around them.

Ever since 2023’s Viridian expansion, there feels like there’s been this concerted effort to revitalize the EVE Corporation, New Eden’s version of Guilds. When we hear of the giant, universe-altering stories out of EVE Online, whether they be grand heists or massive and expensive space battles, oftentimes a corporation is at the center, be it victim or perpetrator - or both. 

Corporation projects (effectively a way to create “quests” for your corp members to complete) were brought with Viridian and have been refined upon with each successive expansion. In addition to corporation projects, CCP Games introduced new ways for capsuleers to show off their own personality and corporation allegiances with player-made ship and station SKINs. 

However, talking with EVE Online’s creative director Bergur Finnbogason and community developer Peter Farrell,  it sounds like the team at CCP Games is planning ways to allow players to take this even a step further, including influencing the look and feel of the space around them.

Bergur broke down what the team is thinking of in a very broad question: How do we allow players more control over their space?

“How can they show off their culture more, and how can they peacock on a grander scale than just coloring their stations or their ships?” Bergur continued. 

This idea of players being able to manifest their culture and what it means to be in their corporation in a way where it is intrinsically felt in the fabric of space they inhabit is a question the CCP Games will be seeking to answer heading into the Winter expansion later this year. 

“We want to open up a conversation about corporation culture and that means in EVE,” Bergur said in our interview. “I really want to have one beer, two beer and three beer conversations at FanFest about these topics.”

In a very real sense, CCP Games is trying to capture the essence of player culture that exists largely outside the digital confines of New Eden. While the in-game experience is certainly important, a lot of the essence of what makes up the fabric of Goonswarm or Brave Newbies, for example, exists outside in other comms channels, such as Discord servers and corporation forums - and even IRL events like FanFest or EVE Vegas. 

EVE Online 2025 Roadmap

Bergur paints a scenario where it’s immediately felt once you warp into space that it’s owned by somebody other than the small icon that appears in the corner of the screen or on the Stargate leading into the territory. But’s more than that. Peter likens the feeling that of venturing into Chinatown after exploring Manhattan. 

“The thing that comes to mind the most is I used to live in Manhattan before here, and just walking through Chinatown for instance. Having that feeling like I was transported somewhere else, even if it’s only for a few blocks. Like, how does that work for EVE Online?”

In my nearly 8 years covering EVE Online, I’ve been lucky enough to attend multiple fan gatherings, including four FanFests in Iceland. I remember my first time walking into the Harpa back in 2017 as someone still learning about this new game I’ve been asked to cover, seeing the banner hanging on the banisters in the concert hall, while players gravitated towards each other, some wearing uniforms emblazoned with their Corporation logos, some dressed in garb I now know to be the entourage of the Space Pope and the Sixth Empire. It was like stepping into a new world, and the beating heart of the players and the factions, cultures and whole societies they had created in this sandbox was on the full display. 

I imagine this is going to be incredibly difficult to capture in game, because as Bergur puts it, a lot of its below the surface level. How do you convey culture, the feeling that makes Karmafleet different from Brave? How does that manifest in the environment around you as you fly through Delve or Feythabolis? 

This can even extend beyond nullsec, as many corporations have their offices in NPC stations, especially the main hub in highsec, Jita 4-4. Bergur is already imagining how those corporation logos could be represented somewhere inside of the station at Jita as a way to make their presence known more. 

“This is something we’re very much in our infancy of exploring,” Bergur says. But he does say the Summer expansion will likely have some of the beginnings of this, “stepping stones,” as he calls it, to test things out for the full-fat version come the Winter expansion. 

This is all as the team builds upon the narrative arc brough with last fall’s Revenant expansion. Last year saw the region of Zarzakh undergo some massive changes, namely shutting down the ability to use it as a highway to zip around New Eden in far less time than it normally would thanks to an invasion by the Drifters. CCP Games states that these tensions between the Deathless and the Drifters will continue to rise into 2025, setting the stage for more story telling and “dynamic” gameplay within New Eden.

Also coming this year is the ability to create Freelance Projects, effectively allowing players to create content for each other. These player-made contracts will include both “mercenary contracts” and “collaborative ventures,” enabling players to build relationships, or in a very real sense just make a few ISK for doing some mercenary work for another pilot outside of the normal Corporation project system.

While we don’t know full details on everything just yet, it’s an exciting look at 2025, especially given the challenges the team will need to overcome to see these ideas come to fruition. If anything, those one beer, two beer, and three beer conversations at FanFest are sure to be interesting. 


lotrlore

Joseph Bradford

Joseph has been writing or podcasting about games in some form since about 2012. Having written for multiple major outlets such as IGN, Playboy, and more, Joseph started writing for MMORPG in 2015. When he's not writing or talking about games, you can typically find him hanging out with his 15-year old or playing Magic: The Gathering with his family. Also, don't get him started on why Balrogs *don't* have wings. You can find him on Twitter @LotrLore