CCP Games’ popular sci-fi MMO EVE Online has a big crossover FPS sister game launching in Steam early access next summer with EVE Vanguard, but it’s available to try for free for the next few weeks during the limited-time Operation Nemesis campaign event.
Operation Nemesis starts today, September 16, and runs through October 2. During the event, players will get the chance to preview key narrative and gameplay features from EVE Vanguard ahead of time. Sort of like an early open beta test that will impact the game’s trajectory and connections to the main EVE Online MMO.
The event introduces a New Player Journey, designed to pull players into the lore as awakened Warclones navigating the political and military struggles of New Eden, the fictional setting where the games take place. Players can expect an expanded arsenal including long-range rifles, shotguns, energy pistols, and more, as well as new enemy types such as the Charger and Opressor, and a brand-new PvP greybox map named Sulphur Basin for 9v9 insurgency-style combat.
Operation Nemesis also adds weapon manufacturing in orbit, features like Down But Not Out revival, proximity voice chat, and more refined UI elements to support strategy and immersion. Expeditions aligned with factions and corporations grant unique rewards tied to the unfolding storyline.
EVE Vanguard is notable for the fact that it’s not just a standalone FPS set in the same universe as EVE Online, it’s directly connected. Events in both games affect the other game. For example, intel that players gather in Vanguard can help players in EVE Online reveal and raid convoys in space. The idea is a more “unified” war effort across fronts and across games.
Additionally, this increases the importance of events such as this because it’s not just a network test or demo, but rather an early narrative touchpoint for players that will shape events across both games.
In the past, we’ve seen a few examples of other games trying similar cross-media ideas. One of the most famous examples that failed spectacularly is Defiance, an MMO meets TV show crossover franchise that just never found an audience. Interestingly, the game itself was rebooted not once, but twice, as an MMO-only experience.
This also isn’t CCP Games’ first experiment with an on-the-ground FPS having a connection to its primary MMO game, EVE Online. Back in 2013, CCP Games launched DUST 514 as a PlayStation 3 exclusive online shooter set in the same New Eden universe. It had a similar interconnected concept, but launching so late in the PS3’s life cycle definitely hurt its appeal. Not to mention the fact that it was a PS3 exclusive, missing out on the MMO game’s massive PC audience.
Attempting a cross-media franchise, or at least having two live service games interconnected by not only their settings, but also actual events that take place in each game, is an ambitious framework we haven’t really ever seen pulled off successfully.
Perhaps CCP Games has learned some lessons from its previous missteps.