CCP
Games sends word that beta testing has officially started in China for
their sci-fi MMORPG, Eve Online. According to the publisher, on
the first day the server was opened up, there were 30,000 Chinese
players that hopped on. Also, the game has had over 200,000
players sign up for the open beta so far.
“It
was quite amazing to see the population of EVE China exceed the
population of Iceland in the second day of open Beta testing.” said
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. “EVE China has been an
exciting collaboration project and continues to be so, as we continue to
refine the experience to accommodate for the steep growth rate of both
our English and Chinese worlds.”
“The
enthusiastic response of the Chinese player community to EVE Online is
rewarding,” said Kjartan Pierre Emilsson, Managing Director of CCP
Asia.“We believe that
our unique ‘one world’ design, great flexibility in character
advancement, and social game play are a perfect fit for the highly
dedicated and knowledgeable Chinese player base.”
Not
surprisingly, the Chinese player base will have their own server cluster
that runs independent of the one currently in place for Western
gamers. This is most likely due to language barriers, not to
mention possibly restrictions put in place by local authorities.