Heading into EVE Fanfest 2025 , I deep underestimated the impact of this sci - fi MMO from CCP Games . I ’d find newspaper headline surround the secret plan every duet of years , but mostly still saw it as a game with a corner but passionate community , destined to only now and again break out when someworld record was brokenor amajor holdup was pull off . After drop some metre in Iceland around EVE Fanfest earlier this month , though , the true impact ofEVE Onlineand CCP Games pop to lapse in .
I not only saw how passionate the residential district attending was , but I also realize EVE lucubrate with Modern games and a grow Icelandic indie shot that owes its current growth toEVE Online’ssuccess . EVE : Vanguardis a promising shooter with the potentiality to garner a whole new audience , while Iceland ’s indie plot prospect has the potential to be home to the next surprisal indie bang .
“ EVE Forever ” was a phrase cast around a quite a little at EVE Fanfest . While it ’s a catch phrase intend to energize fan who made their path out to Reykjavik for this BlizzCon - like event , it speaks to something bigger . It suggests EVE in another sci - fi franchise that will have an undeniable bequest through the larger enfranchisement and its impact on the emerge Icelandic video secret plan industry .
CCP
More than one game
Although theEVE Online : Legionexpansion was the centerpiece of EVE Fanfest this class , it was not the only game taking up time and attention on the show floor . On the 2d level of the Harpa concert hall , where EVE Fanfest took place , role player could jibe outEVE : Vanguard , a new MMO shooter that CCP Games London is grow . Vanguardis an extraction shooter likeArc RaidersorMarathon , where player unload onto planets , fight AI - control enemies and other players , and tuck loot .
Even in this inscrutable - in - development state , Vanguardfeels smooth to fiddle with weapons that pack a punch and angle more into sci - fi concept than your typical extraction shooter weapons . It also be given into MMO component with a “ Bastion ” arrangement that picture participant defend for control over sure grouping of planets , inevitably leading to conflicts as player Bastions expand into each other . As someone who could never get themselves too inscrutable intoEVE Onlinebecause of how hard-core it was , EVE : Vanguardfelt much more instantly reachable as a PC gun for hire .
Its ideas ofEVE Onlineconnectivity and human beings persistence through the Bastion system also give it a pegleg up against more generically designed extraction gunslinger . It has even attract developers like Senior Producer Jamie Stanton , who did n’t play muchEVE Onlinebefore working at CCP , because they had faith in EVE as a franchise and its potential to draw people in .
“ I guess the power of the EVE stigma and the reputation that it has is going to draw in a luck of players who , even if they do n’t require to play [ EVE : Online ] , will require to be a part of that universe , ” Stanton tells Digital Trends .
For those who do n’t want to find out the In and outs of a heavy UI orplay in Microsoft Excelas much as the game client , EVE : Vanguardwill offer a much more appealing entry point to EVE when it launches in 2026 . While I ’m much less bullish onEVE Frontier , CCP ’s Web3 survival MMO , it has also drawn a passionate interview participating in a hackathon at EVE Fanfest to help CCP construct out that biz . Toss in recent peregrine game likeEVE : Galaxy ConquestandEVE : Echoes , as well as a teased dice - based tabletop plot , and by the close of the 2020s , EVE could have a fleet of popular game like it never has before .
An emerging industry
Even if you ’ve never touched an EVE game or do n’t project to , you soon might find yourself playing an Icelandic indie biz . Like CD Projekt Red helped jumpstart Poland ’s video plot manufacture over a decade ago , CCP did the same for Iceland ’s local secret plan dev tantrum . IGI president Halldór Kristjánsson discussed the story of Iceland ’s biz industry with me onwards of EVE Fanfest . For a long time , it was quite small outside of achiever story like CCP and Plain Vanilla Games’QuizUp . Then , in 2018,CCP Games was acquiredbyBlack Desert Onlinedeveloper Pearl Abyss for $ 425 million .
According to Kristjánsson , this had many downstream effects . Developers left CCP , eager to bug out or join main studios , and more investment funds interest in such companies also popped up . Almost seven years after the skill , the effects of this are becoming clearer . World War 2 carte du jour gameKards , party gameNo Time to Relax , and survival MMOPax Deihave come out and found modest success . More games are coming , and CCP let those devs show them at EVE Fanfest 2025 .
I love my time withWalk of Life , a follow - up to Porcelain Fortress’No Time to Relaxthat doubles down on being a comedic life story - sim party game . Gang of Frogstaps into the formula of games likeHelldivers 2andRisk of Rain 2to offer up an entertaining roguelite conscientious objector - op shooter where players moderate cartoonish frogs rather than soldier . Island of Windsis a single - player mystifier adventure secret plan enliven by Iceland ’s history and volcanically formed landscapes . at long last , Dig Inis a new World War 1 scheme game where players build out trenches and have to handle with the fact that orders are n’t exigent , but give birth over time .
I see breakout potentiality in these games . Walk of Lifehas a spark that could make it a Jackbox - like hit on Twitch , whileDig Incan dab into the passionate story - drive strategy game audience . If any of the games I remark become aBalatroorClair Obscur : military expedition 33 - similar breakout remove , their existence can be trace back toEVE Onlinein some path , condition , or kind .
The developer of these indie games were lucid about that fact as I speak to them . Gang of Frogs ‘ Lead Developer Ingólfur Halldórsson ( previously a Software Engineer at CCP ) went as far as to say , “ I do n’t think there ’s any studio apartment in Iceland that has not had some kind of personal connection to CCP , ” and that was reflected by the the fact that ever Icelandic indie game developer I mouth to had at least one former CCP secret plan dev on its staff , no matter the size of the studio apartment .
EVE Online’s legacy
If you ’re not deeply ingrained inEVE Online’sgameplay system and intimate about the developer and histrion - shape chronicle of New Eden , then you may underestimate EVE ’s impact . It draws a significant crowd of dedicated fans to a conventionalism every year , has directly or indirectly influenced the creation of so many secret plan studios throughout Iceland , and is gearing up to go even heavy and more mainstream thanks to games likeEVE : Vanguard .
At EVE Fanfest 2025 , spirit seemed high about the future of EVE and the Icelandic game industry . Of course , it ’s too early to tell just how gamey the ceiling is for these EVE spinoffs and Icelandic indie plot . CCP ’s track record with Vanguard - similar shooters is n’t swell , as it shuttered PS3 gameDust 514and canceled another EVE shooter codenamedProject Nova . indie likeGang of FrogsorWalk of Lifehave the potential to break out , but the cosmopolitan indie game picture is more crowded than ever . In 2025 , no secret plan is a guaranteed hit , even if it is attach to a well - known IP or has ample fiscal backing .
Still , CCP and the Icelandic game industry at large exude authority and show growth at a time when many other parts of the video secret plan industriousness aredoing the accurate opponent . Dig Indesign and Vitar Games laminitis Baldvin Albertsson pointed out that there is n’t much infighting because Iceland ’s plot industry is so young , and believes CCP ’s effect on Iceland ’s indie game aspect show the impact one studio can have on a “ microscopical stage . ”
While I ’m not certain I ’ll have the time to immerse myself inEVE Online‘s elaboration anytime soon , it ’s more likely than ever that I ’ll feel the effects of the game . Barring any unanticipated slip at CCP , EVE will be a sci - fi franchise that ’s impossible to push aside . And even ifEVE Onlineand its spinoffs go away one Clarence Day , EVE will live through all of the independent game studios CPP had a part in creating . If I ever retort to EVE Fanfest , I wo n’t be underrate it any longer .
Disclaimer : travelling and accommodations for Digital Trends to attend EVE Fanfest were cover by Business Iceland .
