The CCP developers at FanFest 2025 introduced EVE Frontier, a long-term, community-driven virtual universe integrating blockchain technology and open-source principles to enable player governance, customization, and evolution over decades. They emphasized a gradual, collaborative process focused on security, realism, and community influence, aiming to create a resilient, immersive, and customizable universe that can outlive individual developers or companies.
The video features a Q&A session at FanFest 2025 with CCP developers discussing EVE Frontier, a new project that aims to integrate blockchain technology and open-source principles into a virtual universe. The team, including CCP Goodfellow King, CCP Maximum Cats, CCP Rouser, CCP Kira, and product manager CCP Overload, introduces the concept of a deeply physics-based, blockchain-enforced universe that evolves over decades. They emphasize their long-term vision of making the universe open source, allowing the community to influence and maintain the game beyond the developers’ direct control, with physics laws and game mechanics gradually enshrined and updated through community consensus.
The developers explain that their approach to blockchain and physics laws involves a multi-year, incremental process where core principles are established, tested, and then layered up to create a complex, persistent universe. They highlight the importance of community governance, comparing it to the existing Council of Stellar Management, and envision a future where players have significant influence over changes and updates, effectively controlling the evolution of the universe. This approach aims to ensure the game’s longevity, allowing it to outlive individual developers or companies, and to foster a community-driven development process.
Questions from the audience cover various topics, including game balance, the impact of blockchain on game physics, and the technical infrastructure supporting third-party development. The team discusses how their open development environment encourages innovation, with players and developers creating tools, AI systems, and even mini-games within the universe. They also mention the importance of security, trust, and moderation, stressing that while open systems can be exploited, their goal is to provide tools that make malicious behavior costly rather than outright banning it, fostering a resilient and creative ecosystem.
The discussion also touches on the game’s user interface and onboarding experience, acknowledging that initial experiences are currently complex but promising improvements through layered UI design and guidance systems. The developers aim to ground the experience in scientific realism to make gameplay intuitive and immersive, with plans to evolve the interface to be more accessible while still allowing advanced modding and customization by long-term players. They emphasize that their long-term goal is to give players the keys to modify and expand the UI and game systems, potentially creating independent clients and deeply personalized experiences.
Finally, the team addresses logistical and legal concerns, including funding, monetization, and tax implications of blockchain-based assets. They reaffirm CCP’s strong backing, noting that the project has been ongoing for several years with dedicated resources and a long-term vision of sustainability. They also acknowledge the challenges of regulation and security, promising to monitor legal developments and provide support to players as the ecosystem grows. The session ends with gratitude for community engagement, encouraging ongoing feedback and participation to shape the future of EVE Frontier, emphasizing that their approach is a gradual, collaborative process aimed at creating a revolutionary, community-driven virtual universe.