EVE Online is launching on the Epic Games Store today, and CCP to celebrate the launch the team released some stats about the historic playerbase in New Eden.
According to CCP, EVE Online has seen over 24 million pilots enter the universe of New Eden in the 18 years its been online, with just over 2 million pilots being added since 2020 began alone. Over the course of its lifetime, EVE Online players have also seen over 91 million ships destroyed, whether by misadventure, other players getting the better of each other or the massive player wars that have been the hallmark of EVE's history.
The latest quadrant update, Gateway, is all about new players, and the launch into the Epic Store continues that push by the Icelandic developer. One of the pillars of Gateway is the massive overhaul to the New Player Experience, designed to keep those new players engaged in EVE once the initial tutorial hands them off to the vast sandbox that is New Eden.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Epic to bring EVE Online to the masses on the Epic Game Store,” said Bergur Finnbogason, EVE Online’s Creative Director via a press release this morning. “We recently gave EVE’s new player experience a major overhaul and launched a plethora of activities designed to excite players logging in to EVE for the first time. We look forward to meeting you in New Eden!”
To celebrate the launch on the Epic Games Store, EVE Online players can take part in the "Researching the Rogues" event, which sees players research rogue drones across combat and exploration sites.
EVE Online has had an interesting year, with a major player war sparking in July 2020 that has led to multiple world records being broken in gaming, including the largest PvP battle in video game history, as well as the most costly in the Massacre at M2-XFE.