While I’m sure most of you will agree that Eve Online is arguably the best Sci-fi MMO out there at the moment; it sheer scale, ambitious single-shard environment and its relentless, dedicated and often called “too-smart-for-their-own-good” player base is close to none.
But as it stands right now, EVE Online is not without its competition; Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, PlanetSide 2, Destiny, and Seldon Crisis, all games that have a premise somewhat similar to EVE Online and that have the potentiality to take subscribers away. Here are the afore mentioned games explored in both what makes them great and what could lead them to flop.
PlanentSide 2 is the one of the few released game on my list of Eve Online competitors and is a First Person Shooter set in an open world where the player joins one of three factions: The Terran Republic, New Conglomerate, and Vanu Sovereignty, and then proceed to wage war in the open world capturing bases, ammo depots, and simply fighting for supremacy; the balance of the game shifts with every move.
Why It Could Do Well
PlanentSide 2 could be seen as the “EVE” of First Person Shooters as they both share a sandbox in which players are free to engage each other in a myriad of ways and hundreds of players often gather together to capture that depot or protect their baby Aeon. This can make the game very interesting at times similar to Dust 514 and Project Legion that are set inside the Eve: Online universe.
Why It Will Never Live Up to Eve
I believe that PlanetSide 2 will not become as large as Eve as it lacks the large community behind EVE, as a game its core concept of sandbox play is the same however what makes Eve special is that our community extends beyond the game. We have countless out of game events and being connected to EVE Online goes past the client due to the countless efforts of applications such as the Official Forums, EVE Live, EVE News24, Eve Central, and of course Dotlan and EFT/Pyfa.
Destiny, which just launched recently, is made by Bungie who have proven to be an extremely talented studio before. Much like Planetside, Destiny is a FPS and rather than having a single player campaign and matchmaking lobbies like can be seen in the Halo series, Bungie decided to make Destiny an open world. It boasts both a PvE story where the player becomes a guardian, choosing between Humans, Awoken, and the mechanical Exo as their race as well as PvP encounters in “The Crucible”.
Why It Could Do Well
Bungie have proven themselves many times that they are able to make successful games and taking on something more ambitious is only natural for them. Already in its beta it has been receiving positive feedback on the Co-op missions and the ease of joining a fire team for the random events. Graphics are stunning and the ability to play with other players appeals to many people.
Why It Will Not Be As Big As Eve
EVE and Destiny are two very different MMOs with different player bases, Destiny is of course a FPS that has a focus on its narrative that is completed with other players. While there is PvP involved it is in the form of lobbies similar to Dust 514 and Project: Legion rather than open world like Planet Side 2 which I covered above. While Destiny may very well grow to be larger than Eve, Eve will be unaffected in my opinion.
Elite: Dangerous is the next game in the “Elite” series. With 400 billion star systems possibilities for exploration are endless and what you choose to do is up to you. It is currently set to launch in late 2014 but continuing updates to the game are promised after that, such as planetary landings and yes, being able to walk around in ships and stations…
What Could Make It Great
Elite: Dangerous offers a lot of potential, the graphics are amazing and the idea of fuel consumption for all ships will make long trips exciting and dangerous. It will support facebook’s Oculus Rift as well as a varied array of joysticks such as Logitech, Thrustmaster, and Trackir making flying your ships fun and challenging. Voice communications will be integrated in the game removing the need for a TS3 server.
Why It Will Not Live Up to Eve
400 Billion Star Systems while likely exaggerated, will make finding PvP a nightmare and the fuel consumption feature if not balanced well will make travel extremely long, difficult or even impossible. Conflict drivers in the game are currently unknown, as with the large amount of systems resources will likely be plentiful.
Star Citizen is likely the most controversial game right now. Whether it will fail or meet its promises is mentioned in many a thread and article. Personally I believe that it won’t meet its promises but will be playable, though I will refrain from that debate. It has been funded from Kickstarter and has raised over 40 million dollars. Its Arena Commander module recently came out and despite lag and other bugs it has been steadily improving.
What Will Make It Great
Star Citizen offers a lot, detailed ships, and both a single player campaign of “Squadron 42” and a dog fighting multi-player experience similar to Eve: Valkyrie. It will not have classes like many other MMOs and focuses on the option to fly with your friends in these missions either as a wingman or by manning your guns.
Why It Will Not Be As Big As Eve
The hype for Star Citizen is enormous. It has already raised millions of dollars from people who are willing to pre-purchase ships and special features, the sheer amount of these with very little actually delivered so far leads me to believe that Star Citizen, while it will still be a good game, will not meet the standard it increasingly sets for itself.
Seldon Crisis is a game that you likely have heard little about. It is a sandbox MMO much like Eve based off a novel and will allow you to travel the galaxy without the need of star gates, similar to Elite: Dangerous. Everything is player driven and it contains 4 major factions in the galaxy with various micro factions in between.
Why It Could Do Well
Seldon Crisis at first glance appears very similar to EVE Online, in fact it lead development team is comprised mostly of seasoned ex-EVE Online players. Many types of missions, thousands of systems, modules and a player driven economy. What stops it being an EVE “clone” is the fact that many UI, game play and new ships can be added and these changes while small are enough to make or break a game, I think we all can agree that there are many things we would change about Eve and if Seldon Crisis can get these right it will be an amazing game.
Why It Could Fail
As I mentioned above its the little things in a game like Eve that will make or break it. If Seldon Crisis is not able to listen to its players and neglects crucial features it will not grow as other games that do are more appealing. Eve has followed the same premise and has done well but whether Seldon Crisis will succeed or fail is up to time.
