What does CCP want for Dust?

So E3 just blew through like a quick thunderstorm. It's hard to believe, but this marks the second year since Hilmar announced that Dust 514 had found its one and only home on the PlayStation 3. Maybe I shouldn't indulge in the cliche, but I'll swear it hasn't been two years.


Hilmar threw something of a curve ball when he went up on Sony's E3 stage in 2011. CCP certainly aren't known for their experience with any platform except PC, and prototypes of Dust shown off at Fanfests previous weren't running off of anything exotic. It takes some history, a riot in Jita, a game about dark, edgy vampires, and a pinch of speculation even to dream of figuring out exactly what CCP want out of Dust 514. They're apparently not telling.

(inb4: to make money)


There are two things that CCP seem to want from Dust: longevity and equal stature with Eve Online.

Why longevity?

The long arm of financial necessity has been a major player for quite a long time. After Eve's disastrous Incarna expansion CCP laid off quite a lot of its staff...mainly at CCP Atlanta, who were working on World of Darkness. Couple that with the info Jester wrote this blog way back in 2011 showing that CCP have spent quite a chunk of capital investing into Dust's development. Then layer on the fact that CCP evidently got capital from Sony when Dust became a PS3 exclusive. From a business perspective, Dust must succeed to keep the boat sailing in Iceland.

There's also the actual release of Dust on May 14th to consider. Really it's the most telling move coming out of Shanghai for awhile, all said and told. Every single person involved with Dust knew that a release in May would lead reviewers to rip Dust a new one based on the state of the game. I took a personal detour months ago to figure out whether or not Sony had pressure on the devs to get their product out the door, and the unified answer from every angle was a resounding no. That leaves only one reason that CCP could have decided to release Dust on 5/14: they didn't give a damn about the reviews. The only perspective from which that makes any sense is a very long-term one.

The feature prioritization from June 2012 to January 2013 also points to a long-term focus. During that time frame updates to Dust seemed to have little else other than back end adjustments to the game, particularly on its MMO framework. From a short-term view only crazy people would almost completely abandon core content updates in order to barely plug an FPS game into Eve Online.


Why equal stature?

Two words: FanFest and PS3. Yes, I cheated.

Here's all that has to be said about FanFest:

As far as the PS3's concerned, it's a bit debatable as to whether CCP found themselves forced to find new capital to keep the Dust project running. I'm sure that they had other options on that front, though. Shifting Dust to a PS3 exclusive game guaranteed that the community that developed would become an entity of its own, and not just some red-headed stepchild of Eve- a virtually inevitable outcome if it had released on PC. The decision maintains its share of controversy even years after its announcement, but not a single fuck has been given from the Vikings. 

There's more that could be said on the topic, but really that's the crux of it. Dust 514 as a game was given every honor that Eve Online got at FanFest 2013, down to its own keynote. CCP have made it clear that they have a deep desire to make Dust a game in its own right and not just an add-on to Eve Online.






So here's the question that's begged: Are CCP making the right moves to achieve their two goals? If the current community outlook has anything to say, the answer's a flat no. The real answer though? At the very least it's definitely a bit more subtle than that. Either way, yes or no, it'll have to wait until next week.