EVE Online celebrates 20 years of free MMO space-faring action and community this spring and summer with live and in-game events.
EVE Online is a free-to-play MMO that first launched on May 6, 2023. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, CCP Games revealed a major content expansion called Viridian.
According to CCP Games, Viridian is the first of two major game expansions coming to EVE Online this year. Viridian launches for players this June and gives them more tools, personalization options, resources, and social-driven content so they can continue to build toward their in-game futures.
“Viridian builds upon last year’s pivotal Uprising expansion by giving corporation leaders more means and methods to help their group flourish. There is no better time than the present for reconnecting with your corporation members to plan your next venture—you never know what’s on the horizon,” said EVE Online’s Creative Director, Bergur Finnogason, in a recent press release.
EVE Online has given players a number of ways to celebrate its 20th anniversary. There was an in-game fireworks display at Jita 4-4, and players with an active Omega account from before May 6th got a chance at being engraved on the Worlds Within A World monument in Reykjavík, Iceland.
EVE Online also shared a digital mosaic, Fabric of New Eden, that features 80,000 EVE Online players. The 20th-anniversary mosaic is quite literally made up of EVE’s players; it’s made up of their portraits. By right-clicking on the mosaic, you can see each player’s portrait and their name.
EVE Online has also been showcasing specific events and players to celebrate 20 years. Two players EVE Online chose to celebrate this month were The Space Pope and Katie Sae.
The Space Pope, aka Charlies White, a NASA Knowledge Management Analyst, is a famous figure in the EVE Online community. White started the game off as Max Singularity, an industrialist Caldaari admiral before he became famous as EVE Online’s Space Pope. As The Space Pope, White has blessed players’ newborns, presided over memorials and even officiated players’ weddings.
Katie Sae became the first EVE Online player to explore every reachable space system in EVE Online. Sae successfully visited 7,805 systems in the game and never lost a ship in combat. Sae’s exploration is forever memorialized in EVE Online’s University archives in-game.
The Bloodbath of B-R5RB is part of the larger conflict called the Halloween War that started in January 2014 after one player failed to meet a scheduled in-game matinee payment. This one failure left the star system vulnerable, and a record-setting battle quickly ensued. The battle lasted over 21 hours with 7,548 players involved, a total of 576 capital ships were destroyed, and 75 Titans, the largest ships players can use, were destroyed. This massive event has a permanent monument in-game called ‘The Titanomachy.’ EVE Online will continue to showcase these types of monumental events and players throughout the month of May.
According to a press release quote from the CEO of CCP Games, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, there will continue to be a number of events to celebrate the 20th anniversary this summer. “From breaking world records to selflessly rallying around those in need, EVE Online’s players continue to prove why it is an MMO unlike any other. Join us in New Eden for live events and in-game activities observing this incredible 20-year milestone throughout the summer,” Pétursson said.
How do you plan to celebrate EVE Online’s 20th anniversary?
