Over on the official EVE Online community page, "CCP Nullarbor" has revealed and detailed that CCP's successful MMORPG EVE Online will be merging with the studio's F2P PS3 shooter DUST 514.
On Thursday, January 10, the studio has outlined a "slightly longer scheduled downtime" in which they will be migrating over players participating in DUST 514's beta from "Singularity" to "Tranquility." To be more specific, players from both universe (and platform) will be inhabiting the same world.
According to CCP Nullarbor, "you will begin to see unfamiliar faces in local. They may look a little funny and talk about bizarre concepts such as tanks, grenades and “running around” but I promise they are as friendly as New Eden citizens can be and want to learn everything they can about this world you now both share."
In gaming terms, this means DUST mercenaries can belong to EVE Online corporations, as long as players are willing to accept their applications. Similiary, players will see corporations started by DUST mercenaries recruiting EVE pilots to join up with them. Players can share corporation chat including voice chat and invite them into custom channels or private conversations, too.
CCP states that this is just the beginning, but they are aware the various complications this merge will place on EVE Online's economy. So, they also noted that "any ISK transfer between EVE and DUST characters will be blocked. This will then be replaced by a taxable transfer mechanism with the intention of easing the currency control to 0% and removing it entirely once we are happy the economies have reached an equilibrium."
The studio is also working on a FAQ that will answer all questions about the merge and will be posted online later this week.
Needless to say, this is a big gamble on CCP's part. EVE Online is one of the few highly-successful MMOs that has a thriving in-game and real-world economy, while DUST 514 is still in its beta stage. Hopefully, they can pull this off, since this is a major milestone for the PC and PS3's cross-platform integration.
Any EVE Online players worried about this? For those in the DUST 514 beta, what do you make of it so far?
Thanks, RPS
