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CCP claims DUST 514 is 'driving' PS3 sales
DUST 514 may be causing the CCP faithful to go out and buy a PlayStation 3, Vice President Thor Gunnarsson suggested. He claims that sales for Sony's console are increasing thanks to the popularity of the sci-fi MMOFPS. "We already see that DUST 514, during open beta, had been driving hardware sales for Sony. We actually track that together," Gunnarsson said. "We know that our fanbase, DUST-curious players, are buying the PlayStation 3 to get into our game." Recently, the studio claimed that DUST 514 was vital to the "long-term trajectory" of the company.
GDC 2013: DUST 514's Uprising update conquers your PS3 on May 6
Although DUST 514 is still in open beta, a big update will soon deliver some significant changes to the game, changes that will bring it more in-line with the CCP's vision for this MMOFPS companion to EVE Online. During a presentation at GDC 2013, Thor Gunnarsson (VP of business development) and Halldor Fannar (CTO) shared more details about this update, dubbed Uprising after a merc revolt in the title's lore. Fannar explained that Uprising focuses on two main themes. "The first theme we are calling 'making it matter.' It's about creating a more meaningful connection between DUST 514 and EVE." While the Caldari Prime event was the first step on that journey (20,000 battles took place on the ground), the planetary conquests system in this update will introduce features that will further intertwine the two games. "The other theme is basically visual improvements," Fannar explained, "making the graphics look better, making the graphics run faster, and also adding more graphics." Players will get to see for themselves exactly how these themes play out when the updates releases on May 6th. In the meantime, enjoy our impressions from GDC.
DUST 514 could be the PS3's 'most important game'
Still miffed about CCP's decision to limit its DUST 514 MMOFPS to Sony's PlayStation 3 console? According to an article at Develop, the title is worth following anyway because it could be just what the doctor ordered in terms of bridging the gap between the PC and console gaming markets. "The console space right now is where the PC was before the internet really kicked off," CCP's Thor Gunnarsson told Develop. "It is about to leap forwards and it won't look back." Unlike traditional console games that may see an update or two (and in more recent years, a handful of downloadable content packs) before fading into obscurity, DUST will be built "iteratively in front of our community, with the same tight feedback loop as before," according to Gunnarsson. The ongoing attention, and the game's real-time connection with EVE Online, should allow for an engaging console experience to be found nowhere else. It's not all roses, though, as Develop points out that console shooters are casual games almost by definition, while the EVE Online experience is anything but. Hit the source link to read the full article.
