Notes

EVE Evolved The Secret To EVE Online's Success

Space-borne MMO EVE Online was not an immediate success when it first launched in 2003. It launched to far less attention than other games are used to and claimed only 50,000 subscriptions in the latter half of 2004. EVE was targeted at a segment of the MMO market that was relatively new to sci-fi. It was difficult to estimate the number of players who would be interested. In addition, World of Warcraft, which came out in late 2004, attracted many of the MMO market which caused significant disruption to subscription numbers. Despite all of these initial problems, EVE Online has been an enormous success, with constant growth in subscribers. What is the secret behind their success, you may ask?



Only a few days remain before the Apocrypha expansion is released and boxed copies of EVE are available in retail stores. I take a look at the choices CCP made and offer some tips for other developers to take a lesson from the success of EVE.



Free expansions: The standard MMO development model is to charge for regular expansions that add new content and areas. EVE Online has taken a different approach, and it has been a huge part of its success. Nathan "Oveur" Richardsson, CCP's Executive Producer, stated in an interview that he believes the cost of expansions to be something that's included in the subscription fee. The expansions in EVE are available for free and are accessible to all game players. This can be less of a headache for the developers as they no longer have to maintain old content that's modified by an expansion, and there's no need to divide players into different regions depending on the expansions they've purchased. Additionally, the concept of free expansions can help to increase subscriptions and the money made over time from those subscriptions is far more than the money they'd make by charging for expansions.



Iterative development: While most MMOs will offer free balance and bug fix patches throughout the year, very few will release all their new content for free. EVE Online does, and it's all part of an approach to development that involves iterative processes in which the game is a constantly changing product. Rather than seeing the game as a series of individual sales, subscriptions are seen as upkeep for continued development costs. The result of the game's constant change is that it keeps players entertained and helps to prevent the game from becoming dull. This is why EVE's player retention rates are higher than average, which results in an ongoing growth in the number of subscribers. Players still come into the game at the same rate but they tend to leave at a lower rate.



This method of development is not restricted to EVE Online. It's been the basis of many other MMOs that have experienced the same gradual increase in subscribers in one way or another. Lord of the Rings Online updates (called "books") often include new content. Runescape is a popular game among younger gamers, releases new quests and areas to the game every few weeks. Apisanet.com The majority of players view their MMO subscriptions as a long-term investment and the fact that they get something new for their money every month makes the deal a lot more appealing and makes them less likely to quit.



Server model: I covered more detail about this in a previous feature but this article wouldn't be complete without talking about the server model of EVE. CCP took the decision early in the development of the game to create a single server on which all players could interact, rather than creating multiple servers or shards that could be distinct instances of the game world exist. This has had profound implications for game play, making territorial conflicts seem more real than have been if different servers were in existence, as well as forging economic stability in the markets that are run by players.



Part 2 of 2 The secret behind EVE's success


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