Eve Frontier: CCP’s ‘Evil’ Blockchain Spinoff Built to Be Unstoppable
CCP Games is building a new Eve title called Eve Frontier. The project is a spinoff set in a remote part of the Eve Online universe, and it adds survival-focused gameplay plus a set of player-facing systems that use blockchain-style tech and server-side modding tools.
- What Eve Frontier is and how it relates to Eve Online.
- Key tech: blockchain-style persistence and Smart Assemblies for server-side modding.
- How CCP says the economy and business model will work.
- Community reaction and how to access the pre-release build.
What Eve Frontier is
Eve Frontier comes from CCP Games, the studio behind Eve Online. Hilmar Pétursson has been with CCP since 2000 and has served as CEO since 2004. The new game looks like Eve in that it features spaceship combat, mining and base-building, but it is set in a different, remote region of the same universe and adds a tougher survival angle.
Blockchain-style persistence and Smart Assemblies
CCP says Frontier uses a form of peer-to-peer and blockchain-style technology to provide persistent, decentralized elements. In addition, the game includes Smart Assemblies, a set of tools that let players build custom tools and write new game rules that run on the game servers. In other words, CCP describes this as integrated server-side modding for an MMO.
Hilmar Pétursson framed the idea as wanting something that “can’t be stopped.” He contrasted this with traditional online games, which he called stoppable because they run as company-controlled databases. Moreover, he has talked about using peer-to-peer design and smart contracts as a way to make server-side changes persistent and less dependent on a single operator.
He said the blockchain-like technology is currently the best practical tool to achieve those goals, while acknowledging the tech will continue to evolve. For more detail on the cryptography side, he referenced topics such as zero-knowledge proofs, homomorphic encryption and indistinguishability obfuscation; there is a public Wikipedia article about that latter topic.
Economy and business model
CCP says Frontier will use a subscription component similar to Eve Online’s existing model. In addition, CCP plans to enable as much peer-to-peer commerce as practical. The studio points to PLEX in Eve Online as a precedent for in-game items that enable trading of subscription time between players, with CCP taking a cut of transactions.
Hilmar described a goal of letting third parties build services and businesses on top of the game. Currently, many Eve community tools are hobby projects or ad-supported sites; CCP says Frontier aims to provide infrastructure where creators can monetize extensions and mods more directly. He also explained why this is being built as a new game rather than retrofitted into Eve Online: changing Eve’s long-running architecture and economy would be extremely complex.
Regulatory and practical context
CCP noted that integrating game currencies with real-world value is legally and technically complicated. Hilmar referenced Second Life as an existing example where in-game currency had real-world value, but pointed out that operating as a regulated money service is a heavy burden. CCP frames Frontier as an R&D project exploring how to make in-game economies more open while navigating legal frameworks.
Community reaction and background
The Eve community has responded strongly. Some players are suspicious of the implications of blockchain tech and in-game cryptocurrency trading. CCP has acknowledged those concerns and said it sees the project as exploratory R&D rather than a simple monetization scheme.
Historically, CCP has tried several Eve-related experiments. For example, there are earlier spinoffs and related projects, including titles referenced on sites like Eve Galaxy Conquest and coverage of other attempts such as on PC Gamer. CCP has also discussed making parts of its engine open-source to help with long-term resilience; see the studio’s comments on that at GamesIndustry.
How to try it
A pre-release version of Eve Frontier is playable on Windows PC and Mac. It is available through paid Founder Access or by registering for limited free trial periods. CCP describes the project as experimental and warns it is exploratory work on new systems rather than a finished retail product.
