Harpa buzzed with anticipation as Fanfest 2025 kicked off in Reykjavík, Iceland. For veterans and rookies alike, the pulse of New Eden beats strongest when capsuleers congregate under one roof, and nowhere does that happen with more force than at CCP’s flagship event. While the spectacle of rock concerts, trade hubs, and themed dinners might grab the headlines, for us at EVE News 24, only one thing matters: the keynote.
The 2025 EVE Online keynote wasn’t just a highlight reel, it was a declaration of intent. CCP Games used this stage to not only address the player base but to shape the narrative arc for the next chapters of New Eden. In classic EN24 fashion, we’re cutting through the noise and getting straight to the substance.
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games, opened the show with a tone that was both celebratory and grounded. The message was clear: EVE Online is not just surviving in 2025, it’s evolving. Hilmar reaffirmed the commitment to “forever EVE,” underscoring CCP’s vision to not only maintain but enhance EVE’s legacy as a living, breathing MMO ecosystem.
The underlying theme? Community-driven persistence. New Eden isn’t defined by graphics or mechanics, it’s the sandbox, the politics, the betrayals, the corporations. And this year, CCP Gamesis doubling down on enabling player agency like never before.
Arguably the most important announcement of the keynote was the formal unveiling of Project Awakening, a long-gestating initiative finally seeing daylight. This is CCP’s next major evolution of the EVE experience; not a separate title, but a platform built on the Unity engine that proposes to “extend New Eden beyond the screen.”
Project Awakening isn’t just vaporware or concept art anymore. A live demo revealed a tangible environment: players moving around a planetary station as avatars, not ships. We’re not talking about the ill-fated Incarna redux, this was smoother, more polished, and more grounded. There’s an understanding that immersion matters, but only when tethered to purpose.
If CCP Gamescan deliver the promise of Project Awakening, persistent character presence across environments and interfaces, then we’re looking at a future where EVE may no longer be just a “spreadsheet in space.”
CCP Gamesconfirmed what many had been speculating, a fundamental overhaul of the sovereignty system is underway. Hilmar and his team alluded to the current mechanics being “too static, too defensive.” What’s coming is a more organic, localized system of control, one that incentivizes smaller corps and creates flashpoints for emergent conflict.
The goal is clear: diversify power projection. Whether that takes the form of redistributing entosis mechanics, enhancing mobility, or changing citadel anchoring rules, CCP Gamesis looking to ignite local wars again. That’s good news for content creators and bad news for blue donuts.
Expect a test server rollout by Q4 2025.
While Vanguard has hovered on the edge of relevance for over a year, Fanfest 2025 gave us the first signs of CCP’s intent to interlink it with the EVE universe in a meaningful way. What we got was a full cinematic reveal, new gameplay footage, and the roadmap for Vanguard’s evolving Alpha.
The standout: assets in Vanguard will soon impact EVE Online’s ecosystem. The prospect of planetary-based incursions affecting moon mining yields, local NPC behavior, or even sovereignty timers was presented as a mid-term goal.
This is high-risk design, but if executed properly, it could finally achieve what DUST 514 could not: true transmedia gameplay that respects both ends of the pipe.
In a rare moment of internal transparency, CCP Gamesshowed updated data from the Economic Council, revealing trends in ISK inflation, asset consolidation, and RMT suppression.
They confirmed over 1.2 million USD worth of RMT-related assets had been frozen or banned since the start of the year. The message was stern: illicit transactions are being hunted with machine learning and human analysts working in tandem.
In response to persistent concerns about capital proliferation, CCP Gamescommitted to refining loot tables and insurance payouts for titans and supercarriers. There will also be continued emphasis on active ISK sinks, with events and campaigns directly tied to systemic balance.
In between hardcore announcements, we saw glimpses of CCP’s renewed focus on player experience. The VFX overhaul of ship weapons, particularly beam lasers and hybrid turrets, now includes contextual audio and better combat feedback.
UI/UX improvements are also rolling out. A streamlined fitting window, improved corporation management tools, and a new “rookie assist overlay” are hitting TQ within weeks.
For accessibility, support for color-blind mode and keyboard remapping was demonstrated, a nod to inclusivity long requested by the community.
After years of faction stagnation, CCP Gamesis investing in narrative arcs that interweave player events with NPC lore. The “Drifter Summit” was a player-led RP-lite event that now ties directly into a new high-concept lore arc involving the Sisters of EVE, the Triglavians, and a mysterious rogue element within CONCORD.
Expect to see empire space destabilize in Q3, with factional warfare getting its first significant injection of lore relevance in nearly five years.¸
To round out the keynote, CCP Gamespushed the marketing playbook: 25% discounts on Omega and flashy Police SKINs. Twitch Drops will remain a major part of weekend events, driving engagement and viewership across CCP Gamesstreams.
But beyond the loot, it’s the signal that matters: the company is serious about retaining and reactivating dormant players through value-driven incentives.
The EVE Fanfest 2025 keynote wasn’t just a roadmap, it was a manifesto. CCP Gamesis making a calculated bet: that EVE Online can remain a cultural and mechanical juggernaut if it adapts without breaking its foundational sandbox DNA.
There are risks. Project Awakening could easily collapse under its ambition. Vanguard could remain a side-project curiosity. Sovereignty 2.0 might disrupt the delicate balance between nullsec titans. But if even half of what CCP Gamespromised gets delivered, we are entering a bold new era for capsuleers.
As always, EVE is what we make of it. But now, CCP Games seems ready to match that energy.
Warrior, Chronicler, Oracle of the Void. In systems unmapped and forgotten, Riverini’s shadow drifts beneath cosmic ice. He listens to the murmurs of eldritch horrors in spaces untouched by sanity. The hour approaches when his return will fracture the cosmos.
