EVE Online has always had a unique place in the gaming ecosystem. Despite its huge player base and incredibly deep and detailed mechanics, however, it hasn't made a lot of impact on the wider gaming scene. You don’t hear its players clamoring for a film adaptation (outside a few diehards), nor do you see much merchandise relating to the game’s ships and iconography; there are very few gaming videos or internet personalities that hang their hats on the franchise (as there are for so many popular games today). This is all a shame, frankly. While EVE Online is extraordinary just the way it is, it has so much potential to expand further into gaming and surrounding entertainment circles.
With that in mind, we wanted to look at a few great ways the game could branch out.
Mobile Spin-Offs
In recent years, we’ve seen mobile spin-offs of online and console gaming franchises explode in popularity. For example, Fire Emblem, not one of Nintendo’s best-known franchises, received an iteration in the mobile gaming space with Fire Emblem Heroes which went on to become far and away Nintendo's most successful app. It also bolstered the sales of the original IP. An EVE-based app, while lacking the heavyweight Nintendo brand, could achieve a similar result. CCP is working on EVE: Echoes supposedly (has anyone heard anything since October?) and transferring the basic mechanics of the original game to mobile, while simplifying things for newcomers and a broader audience could result in droves of new players getting on board. It could also lead to fans of the original falling in love with the concept all over again, through the mobile title. In other words, it's a win on all fronts and probably our preferred option for EVE Online expansion if CCP can pull it off.
Online Gambling
A direct foray into paid gaming or online gambling could be another creative way for the franchise to branch out. Some may not realize it, but digital casino gaming has become extraordinarily popular in much of the world, and with the current growth of U.S. gambling, there's potential for the sizable American market to help make such games even more prevalent. The modern casino games you find online incorporate all sorts of existing franchises and themes and infuse them with gambling practices (Battlestar Galactica has its own digital slot game, for instance). This would seemingly be a fairly straightforward initiative for those behind the EVE Online franchise. It doesn't need to be a big new game or a foray into a new medium, so much as permission for licensed material to be used in a standard slot game. The benefit, though, would be putting EVE Online in front of millions of new players, as well as giving any existing fans who enjoy casino games a fun new way to enjoy the franchise.
Film and TV Collaborations
Another great way to expand the reach of EVE Online and attract new players is to aim for some kind of adaptation as a film or TV show. We've seen in the past that cross-promotion like this can result in a lot of interest in a foundation franchise: The Castlevania Netflix series drove up the sales of Castlevania games, for instance, so why couldn’t the same thing happen for EVE Online? While an animated action show probably wouldn’t be as good of a fit for EVE, there are plenty of other routes to go down. A live-action espionage thriller based on the game’s infamous Circle-of-Two heist would be incredible to see, for example. The various twists and turns the original events take certainly have all the makings of an incredibly popular show.
Some purists undoubtedly prefer EVE Online right where it is, and that's perfectly understandable. These days though, there is limitless franchise expansion potential in gaming and entertainment, and it might just be fun to see this beloved game branch out in some of the ways discussed above.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment