Fans did not take to it
Back in April of 2016, Project Nova, CCP’s second foray into the EVE Online-related shooter genre, looked like a healthy, vibrant game….at least on paper.
As Jean-Charles Gaudechon, managing director at CCP Shanghai explains it, “We took a lot of feedback from fans, and I mean a lot of feedback, and we faced some harsh realities.” Feedback it seems that the developer is taking to heart, as they’re moving the production of Nova to their Reykjavík Iceland headquarters.
“For years, it’s always been the dream from both CCP and fans to have a boots on the ground EVE game,” Gaudechon explains. “Because of Nova some of our staff is even moving to Iceland to make this a reality. We want it to happen and won’t give up just yet.” That makes sense, given that CCP eventually did give up on Dust 514, their ill-fated PS3 shooter that also tried to bring ground fights to the EVE universe.
When I asked about how Dust impacted the direction of Nova, Gaudechon looked a lot less glum than I expected him to. “The chief lesson we learned is that we need to make a good shooter first, then an EVE game second. We need to be more humble this time around and not reach for the stars. If we do launch Nova, odds are it won’t be directly linked to EVE Online…at least, not initially.”
That’s about all I could pry out of him. CCP isn’t saying much about Project Nova right now, but I hope we get to see it next year — even if it needs to go back into the hopper for a second time.
