In a blog post last Friday, CCP Games announced that Project Nova, a tactical first-person shooter set in the Eve Online universe, is “going back to the drawing board.” As a result, the upcoming invite-only planned for the game last November has also been delayed until further notice.
Project Nova is a joint venture between CCP Games, the creators of the long-running space-based MMORPG Eve Online, and the Britain-based studio Sumo Digital. This game represents the second attempt to integrate a first-person shooter experience with the Eve Online experience of space combat, trade, and plenty of political intrigue. Their first attempt was Dust 514 for the PlayStation 3, which released in 2013 and lasted three years. Its successor, Project Nova, was announced in Spring of 2016 at the Eve 2016 Fanfest, just as Dust 514 was on its last legs. A common complaint players had with Dust 514 was that integration with Eve Online was difficult enough to be nonexistent.
In their blog post, CCP Games spoke about the playtesting they did (internally and externally) and the “community stalwarts” they brought in to evaluate their project. They add:
Now, after taking all this research and feedback into account, we see that the gameplay experience in its current form does not live up to our original vision and would not achieve our ambitious goals for this project. As a result, we will not be moving forward with the upcoming invite-only Alpha until further notice.
There’s no word on how far into development Project Nova is/was, but CCP Games said that “Project Nova continues to evolve” and they remain “committed to delivering a high-quality team-based shooter experience.” They understand the disappointment of their fans not to be able to see the alpha, but they want to do their best to create something better and more meaningful to the Eve Online universe.