There was direct interaction between the two; player actions in one game affected the political, economic, legal, environmental, and social status of the other.

The development of faster-than-light travel allowed mankind to expand at an extremely fast pace, leading to violent competition between space-faring corporations.

Five unique space-faring cultures emerged from the colonies to become the only interstellar powers in the new galaxy; the Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, Jove and Minmatar.

[6] Eve Online players take the role of capsuleers, who are elite starship pilots made immortal using cloning technology and consciousness transfers.

[8] Combat took place on the various planets found in Eve Online, each offering a substantial amount of unique maps and sockets.

Only the natural landscapes of each planet remained constant; the placement of buildings and surface structures was controlled by the player corporations.

This gave players a broad range of customization choices and the ability to create specialized fits to perform specific roles and tactics on the battlefield.

Orbital bombardments allowed a player in Eve Online to provide direct assistance to friendly forces in a battle in Dust 514.

Both games shared the same namespace, so a player in Dust 514 could not choose a username that already existed in Eve Online or vice versa.

[16] In an interview conducted by Simon Carless of Gamasutra, CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson said that he hoped "these [Eve Online and Dust 514] communities will meld over time", bridging the two environments.

To mitigate any performance issues that this might have on either of the two games, CCP designed a server architecture such that the majority of Dust 514 gameplay was run on various "battle clusters" across the world.

This release build improved many aspects of the game, such as the graphics and character progression, and introduced the planetary conquest mechanic.

Although Uprising was the initial release build, CCP said that it would not be the final major update: "Even when we take off the beta tag the launches don’t stop.

On April 21, 2016, CCP announced development of the game Project Nova, a free-to-play first-person lobby shooter for the PC using Unreal Engine 4 set in the EVE Online universe.

[38] On September 22, 2023, CCP unveiled EVE: Vanguard, a free first-person shooter that would have its first beta test in December 2023.

IGN said that the game was highly ambitious[56] and called it "...a Glimpse of the Future",[57] while PC Gamer praised the orbital bombardment mechanic and the unprecedented amount of customization available.

IGN's Vince Ingenito stated that Dust 514's incredible depth and customization were eclipsed by its poor graphics and gameplay mechanics.

Additionally, Ingenito criticized the way the game implemented the free-to-play business model, saying it took too long for players to get into the equipment that they wanted.

[51] Destructoid's Chris Carter gave the game a rating of 6/10, calling it an ambitious and complex shooter that still needed "a ton of work".

[45] Eurogamer reviewer Paul Dean wrote that Dust 514 has great potential but is "saddled with a very dull debut."

Dean noted that despite having interesting factors, such as the metagame and social connection to Eve Online, the game itself was mediocre and contained many bugs.

[47] However Alex Locher of PlayStation Universe praised the unique nature of Dust 514, commending its technological accomplishments and meaningful player interaction.

As Locher remarked, "Dust 514 isn't some superficial and meaningless military shooter; it's a pioneering endeavour of programming, technology and consumer communication that has already created something unlike you've ever seen in gaming".