EVE Online developer CCP has announced that its upcoming expansion EVE Online: Revelations II will be available June 19.
Revelations II will be free, the seventh expansion released by CCP to be so. Among the changes included in the expansion are a broader sovereignty scope, optimization of the game’s tutorial to improve the experience for new players, “significant” CPU optimizations with an eye toward full Vista support in the future, improvements in corporation and alliance management, better options and opportunities for solo exploration, and new tactics for dispersing large fleets.
First opened to the public in 2003, EVE Online is one of the few successful MMOGs on the market to be maintained by an independent developer. While its subscription numbers are nowhere near those of industry behemoths such as World of Warcraft, Everquest or Lineage, the game has been able to distinguish itself with its non-traditional setting, near-complete freedom in play styles, and unique approach to player levels. Currently, EVE Online has a subscriber base of about 200,000.
Speaking of his company’s success, CCP’s Hilmar Petursson said in an interview that most traditional fantasy-based MMOGs were doomed to fail because of World of Warcraft’s dominance. “I just don’t understand why people do yet another fantasy game. Why make a clone of World of Warcraft?” he said. “World of Warcraft is the perfect implementation of this. It’s been done. Do something else.”
