EVE Online developer CCP Games has announced that its PlayStation 3 multiplayer shooter Dust 514 will be shut down at the end of May. Supplementary content like in-game currency has already been delisted from the PlayStation Network, but it can still be used in-game if previously purchased.
Dust 514 operates in the same universe as CCP Games’ hugely popular space-faring MMO, with player actions in each title affecting the game world of the other. For instance, a player fighting on the ground in Dust 514 might call in an orbital strike from a friend controlling a ship in EVE Online.
Interconnecting gameplay like this pointed to great things for the FPS, but the fact that it was released for the PlayStation 3 just months before the console’s successor launched limited its audience. Fortunately, it seems that CCP Games has plans to produce a similar experience within more familiar territory.
The studio is apparently putting together an FPS for the PC using lessons learned from the development of Dust 514, according to a report from Tom’s Hardware. The project will make use of Unreal Engine 4, and sounds like a fresh start rather than a reworking of the PlayStation 3 release.
Previously, there had been plans to release an enhanced and updated version of Dust 514 for the PC, which was being developed under the codename “Project Legion.” However, this effort soon hit technical issues, and it seems to have been decided that a wholly new title would prove more fruitful than a reworking.
It’s no secret that CCP Games is eager to expand the boundaries of the already popular EVE franchise. A virtual reality dogfighting spin-off entitled EVE: Valkyrie is set to be a launch title for both the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR. More information on that title, as well as on the nascent PC FPS, is expected at the EVE Fanfest scheduled to play out in Iceland this April.
