Last Friday CCP Games published a press release on its website unveiling a roadmap for its upcoming first person shooter, EVE: Vanguard. In the interest of full disclosure, I don't play first person shooters. If I didn't cover Pearl Abyss' finances, I'd wonder why the company insisted on trying to make me care about a game I have no interest in playing for the last six months. But since the company wants me to care so much, I'll cover the latest news.
The new roadmap does offer up some useful information. CCP plans to continue testing and refining the new Solstice map introduced in June. The private monthly playtest periods presumably will continue until November when the developers plan to unveil a new update. Based on the past, I would guess an additional map since I think CCP would not want to open up early access on Steam without at least three maps.
As I am not that excited about CCP's fourth attempt at producing a first-person shooter set in the EVE universe, I'll turn to the press release for some hype.
The 'Solstice' era roadmap showcases how EVE Vanguard's evolution will continue, including expanded gameplay elements, enhanced player agency, and deeper integration with the EVE Online universe. Private Founders' Playtests, part of the game's gated pre-alpha development phase, will be conducted through to the end of the year.
A major update is planned for November 2024, which will introduce new features such as stronger economic links to EVE Online, a strategic deployment map featuring diverse planetary environments, engagement with multiple factions, weapon chipset crafting, and more emergent activities.
Further out, plans are in place to launch EVE Vanguard into Steam Early Access, with the exact timing to be announced at a later date. In the interim, interested players can add EVE Vanguard to their wishlist on Steam.
These additions and future plans aim to create a more immersive and interconnected experience between EVE Vanguard and the broader EVE Universe, furthering the game's evolution and accessibility.
Looking at the timeline I do wonder a bit about the presence of EVE London on the roadmap. The Vanguard development team is in London, so their presence at the event would be natural. I just don't know if Vanguard information will be presented at the event.
Finally, CCP produced a short 5 minute video covering the future development of EVE: Vanguard. The video is described as "detailing the development team's vision for EVE Vanguard in the ‘Solstice’ era and beyond, including plans to deepen the gameplay loop with more content that strengthens the connection between EVE Online and EVE Vanguard."
Overall, the press release didn't provide that much new information. I still assume a major announcement about Vanguard will occur at Fanfest 2025 in May 2025. I think the press release did reveal CCP's plans to announce the early access release on Steam in 10 months. The question is whether the company will announce an immediate release or one in conjunction with the release of the Summer 2025 expansion, presumably in June 2025. My guess is the latter based on the integration discussed in the various materials mentioned in the press release. But until CCP puts up a compelling case why I should care, I'll only follow the game's development for blog content.
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