Notice: At the request of the publisher, EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone is no longer available for sale on Steam.
That was the first hint that something was amiss with EVE Valkyrie, the product being unlisted from sales earlier this week.
EVE Valkyrie: Warzone
We are not at the very end of the road for EVE Valkyrie, but you can certainly see it from where we are now. A follow up news item on Steam laid out the details:
‘See you in the next life’
Thank you for being a part of EVE: ValkyrieIntrepid pilots
All good things come to an end, even to the immortal Valkyries. Today, we have begun the process of discontinuing support for EVE: Valkyrie to focus CCP Games’ efforts and resources on new developments in our evolving portfolio of EVE Universe titles.
We are incredibly proud of what we accomplished with EVE: Valkyrie and its Warzone expansion and want to extend our deep appreciation to all our players for their support throughout the game’s lifecycle. It is an honor to have been a part of such a dedicated community.
For the time being, you won’t see any effect if you own a copy of the game. The game will continue to be playable with our servers remaining active until Fri 5 August 2022.
On Fri 5 August 2022, EVE: Valkyrie’s servers will be turned off, social media profiles will be closed, and this website will go offline. Once servers are deactivated, customer support for EVE: Valkyrie will no longer be provided.
Thank you for being a part of EVE: Valkyrie. We look forward to the next chapter in the EVE Universe and hope you’ll be a part of it and continue the journey with us.
That is it. Everything gets shut down on August 5th.
A little over six years ago CCP looked like they might have stolen a march on the competition as they threw money into VR and managed to be a launch title with the much anticipated Oculus Rift VR headset.
There were many voices declaring that VR was going to be the next big thing, that the upside was going to be huge. But there was the price, the system requirements, the cable mess, the motion sickness, the lack of a truly killer app for the hardware, and the whole need to sit there blind to the real world with an overweight set of goggles strapped to your head. That has added up to making VR something of a niche item.
Not that VR isn’t cool. I played EVE Valkyrie at EVE Vegas. But it isn’t cool enough for the price and the inconvenience… and I am still pretty sure my PC still can’t support an Oculus. It can’t even support Windows 11 according to Microsoft.
CCP saw the writing on the wall a bit too late, but tried to correct. With the Warzone expansion we were able to play the game without VR. A normal 3D PC version was released. I even own a copy, purchased at a discount. It was kind of neat, but not that neat. The VR aspect was what made it special, and if you don’t have that it is just okay.
A little over a year after that VR was dead at CCP. There were layoffs and statements about refocusing on EVE Online… and Project Aurora, the mobile title, and Project Nova, the elusive first person shooter that CCP seems determined to pursue forever.
Meanwhile, a little digging showed that the August 5th end of life applied to all of CCP’s VR products.
For Gunjack the message was:
Courageous gunjacks – all good things come to an end, even to fearless turret operators. Today, we have begun the process of discontinuing support for Gunjack to focus CCP Games` efforts and resources on new developments in our evolving portfolio of EVE Universe titles.
We are incredibly proud of what we accomplished with Gunjack and want to extend our deep appreciation to all our players for their support throughout the game`s lifecycle.
For the time being, you won`t see any effect if you own a copy of the game. The game will continue to be playable with our servers remaining active until August 5th 2022.
On August 5th 2022, Gunjack`s servers will be turned off, social media profiles will be closed, and this website will go offline. Once servers are deactivated, customer support for Gunjack will no longer be provided.
Thank you for being a part of Gunjack. We look forward to the next chapter in the EVE Universe and hope you`ll be a part of it and continue the journey with us.
And the Sparc page showed something similar:
vSports fans – all good things come to an end, even to plasma-clad champion athletes. Today, we have begun the process of discontinuing support for Sparc to focus CCP Games’ efforts and resources on new developments in our evolving portfolio of EVE Universe titles.
We are extremely proud of what we accomplished with Sparc and want to extend our deep appreciation to all our players for their support throughout the game’s lifecycle. It is an honor to have been a part of such a dedicated community.
For the time being, you won’t see any effect if you own a copy of the game. The game will continue to be playable with our servers remaining active until date August 5th 2022.
On August 5th 2022, Sparc’s servers will be turned off, social media profiles will be closed, and this website will go offline. Once servers are deactivated, Sparc will no longer be playable.
Thank you for being a part of Sparc. We remain open to exploring future opportunities in the VR space, but for now, we look forward to the next chapter of the EVE Universe. We hope you’ll be a part of it and continue the journey with us.
I wouldn’t take that statement about being open to VR in the future too seriously. They sold off the team who did the work to another studio, so would have to start from scratch again. Also, VR would have to be a lot more popular than it is now.
In an odd coincidence, news of EVE Valkyrie being not longer available for purchase (which I saw over at MMO Fallout) showed up on the same day as 25th anniversary of CCP’s founding.
It was likely a coincidence, though I do find it a bit odd that CCP was founded on the last day of the fiscal quarter. But fiscal quarters are something companies worry about when they’ve grown and gone public. Starting a company happens when you can make it happen.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 