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Dust, Draenor, Destiny
The one bit of news out of CCP’s Fanfest 2014 that peaked my interest was Project Legion. Which is, for all intents and purposes, a rebooting of Dust 514 on the platform it should have been released on in the first place: the PC. I’m not actually sure a sandbox PvP/PvE hybrid shooter MMO is what I’m looking for anymore, but given I have continued to grudgingly slink back to PlanetSide 2 for my FPS urges, let’s just say that I’m not exactly opposed to new experiences. It should be noted that in that article, CCP basically states that Dust still has 100,000 active daily players, which is around 100k more than it seemed to have any reason to have last time I played.
Incidentally, NoizyGamer believes that this year or the last one might have marked the last year of consecutive EVE subscriber growth. That’s noteworthy specifically because the ~10 consecutive years of growth itself was noteworthy. And rather annoying to argue against with my MMO market saturation theories.
Speaking of bodies, WoW lost another 200k of them since last quarter, bringing the total to a mere 7.6 million. I’m not really sure what to think about this sort of thing anymore; at the moment, I’m leaning towards simple incredulity that there are 7.6 million people paying a subscription to a game that will be going on a full year without any new content. I mean, I too was that guy years ago, but that sort of shit doesn’t fly with me these days.
Speaking of questionable Activision Blizzard moves, the console-only FPS MMO Destiny is reportedly going to cost $500 million:
To put some perspective on this, the money being spent on Destiny is more than twice the amount EA reportedly spent on Star Wars: The Old Republic and a little less than double the $265,000,000 Rockstar paid to get GTA V made. The Reuters article cites analysts saying that Destiny will have to sell 15-16 million copies at $60 to break even. So, the final game has to make a very, very good first impression.
For reference, Borderlands 2 cost ~$35 million and sold 8.5 million copies as of February 2014. It’s worth noting that the first link estimates Destiny at $140 million, so it’s entirely possible that the $500 million is in reference to the entire 10-year franchise run that Activision Blizzard purchased from Bungie rather than the BorderHaloLands game we have on display.
Still… goddamn. This doesn’t even seem like the same ultra-conservative game company of a year ago, who didn’t want to branch out into the mobile space simply because the Top 10 games change every year. I’d like to imagine those executives with a fat Hearthstone egg on their face, but great handfuls of money make for surprisingly effective yolk removal.
Interesting Move, CCP
Way back in February, I was quoting Bullshitter in Chief, David Reid, on how Dust 514 could make EVE “the biggest game in the world at the end of 2012.” There are only 33 days left in the year for this to be theoretically possible, but nevermind.
At that time (and still currently), my questions focused on the “what the hell were they thinking with a PS3 exclusive” angle. The related followup question was how CCP planned to muscle into an already crowded FPS marketplace with a completely unknown IP (the FPS portion anyway); free-to-play will only get you so far, if no one knows about you.
Well, with all the game console browsing I have been doing lately, I have a partial answer:
Product Features
Platform: PLAYSTATION 3 | Edition: 250GB Uncharted 3: Game of the Year
- The new 250GB PlayStation 3 System, with a built in Blu-Ray player, can hold over to 1800 Games, 140 Movies, 99,000 Songs, and 40,000 photos
- The PlayStation 3 system includes a free PlayStation Network membership for online gaming, streaming movies and music, and access to the PlayStation Store
- UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception Game of the Year Edition showcases Nathan Drake’s journey through new challenges and includes over $45 of Bonus Content
- With a 30-day trial of PlayStation Plus, access your instant game collection and download from a free library of hit games. Save over $70 with the PlayStation 3/Uncharted 3 Game of the Year bundle
- Dust 514, a free to play game available exclusively on the PlayStation Network, thrusts you into the explosive ground conflict of the EVE universe
- Included with this PlayStation 3 bundle is a promotional code for your personal DUST 514 ordinance pack containing a 7-day active skill booster, a permanent Armored Personnel Carrier, an assortment of digital items, and 2,000 Aurum to spend on in-game gear, weapons and equipment. Over $30 in total value.
That’s right, somehow CCP got Sony to include $30 worth of item shop goods in the, er… PS3 Uncharted 3: Game of the Year bundle. Because nothing says sci-fi F2P FPS like a 3rd-person action game.
It is an interesting move, and certainly one that will garner some extra attention from whomever takes advantage of that bundle. I can’t help but get confused though, when it appears that the Dust 514 mention is missing from the other bundles like the 500gb Assassin’s Creed 3 and even the 320gb Uncharted 3 bundle. Did CCP only pay enough to get on the 250gb bundle instead of the 320gb? Surely there is no hardware difference, so did they just change their minds? Did Netflix out-bid them?
Regardless, I find myself even more intrigued by this unfolding drama than I was before. And, hey, now that I own a PS3 myself, I might actually go full gonzo and try it at some point.
In An Age 
Dust to Dust
Nov 29
Posted by Azuriel
Over 10 years ago, CCP released an EVE-based FPS called Dust 514. An exclusive to the PS3, I was nevertheless intrigued enough to download and play it. The results were… less than ideal. The bones of something were there, but between the decision to be PS3-exclusive and the rather insane competitive environment in which it was released, it had no chance to breathe. Dust 514 was shut down in 2016.
Cue my surprise in 2023 to then receive this email:
I guess technically it should not have been a surprise that the ghost of FPS past has returned. It was not even a year after Dust 514’s original 2013 release that it was potentially getting “rebooted” on PC. Then again, CCP says a lot of things, and its only nine years later that they appear to be on the verge of delivering them. Maybe.
Let me just say, from my perspective, it’s actually a great time to be releasing a FPS. Back in 2013, the competition was at the top of its game: PlanetSide 2, Battlefield 3 & 4, Warframe, Call of Duty: something or other, Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Titanfall, and more. A decade later and… I dunno. PlanetSide 2 is still around, but it’s not the same. Battlefield 2042 is a flop and Battlefield V wasn’t good either. Call of Duty still sells millions of copies, but there’s controversy. Look, there are tons of arena-based shooters and Fortnite and whatever, but what I’m saying is that now is probably the best time to try to penetrate the market with something new.
So, CCP, I have subscribed to your newsletter. Just, please don’t immediately slam your dick in a car door agai…
Goddammit, CCP! I mean, OK, maybe that makes sense for early access. Then you pivot, right? Right?
What the literal shit. What the actual fuck. A subscription-based FPS?
I mean, congratulations, I think that might be a first. There are battlepasses galore in this space, but I don’t think anyone had the chutzpah to outright charge $19.99/month to play their FPS. If this was any other company, I would think it silly to assume this monetization strategy would persist outside of Early Access. Leveraging your existing customer base to playtest your new title is Marketing 101.
But this idea is stupid enough that I think CCP will go for it. In which case, I would ask: what was the fucking point? The goal is either to make the EVE tent bigger or extract more dollars from your existing playbase. This accomplishes neither! Maybe there is an angle where you lure the Alpha (F2P) portion of players to pony up money for the real subscription, but that seems really weak.
For now, this is all just prognostication. Maybe upon release, CCP will do the sensible thing and either sell a box or go F2P again with an optional Omega subscription granting battlepass-level benefits. In which case, I will try out Vanguard like I did Dust 514 before it. God knows I’m starving for a more modernized PlanetSide 2 or Battlefield analog that doesn’t suck.
But I’m certainly not going to be subscribing to one.
P.S. NoizyGamer has a good write-up from the EVE side of things.
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Tags: CCP, Dust 514, EVE, EVE Vanguard, FPS, I Can't Even