Dust 514

Did You Know?

• Dust 514 did not require a monthly subscription; it used a micro-transaction model with two currencies: Aurum and ISK.
• CCP's chief marketing officer David Reid compared the business model to that of League of Legends.

Setting

Dust 514 took place in the same fictional universe as Eve Online, a science fiction MMORPG set 21,000 years in the future. The backstory explains that humanity, after exhausting Earth's resources, colonized the Milky Way using faster-than-light travel, leading to competition between space-faring corporations. A natural wormhole was discovered, and humanity entered a new galaxy, but the wormhole collapsed, leaving colonies cut off. Over time, civilization was rebuilt and faster-than-light travel rediscovered, giving rise to five interstellar powers: the Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, Jove, and Minmatar. Eve Online players are capsuleers—immortal starship pilots using cloning and consciousness transfers. For much of Eve history, only capsuleers were immortal because the technology required a capsule. The discovery of a special implant allowed consciousness transfer without a capsule, enabling the creation of immortal ground soldiers. Dust 514 players took the role of these immortal ground-based soldiers, created by the military shortly after the implant's discovery.

Gameplay

Dust 514 was a first-person shooter with massively multiplayer online elements. Combat occurred on planets in Eve Online, each offering unique maps and districts. Planets were divided into districts holding resources and installations fought over in Planetary Conquest battles. Only natural landscapes remained constant; building placement was controlled by player corporations. Infantry used dropsuits, similar to ship hulls in Eve Online, with module slots for weapons, equipment, and skins. Entities had two health meters—Shields and Armor—each with advantages and disadvantages; certain weapons affected one type more, such as the Scrambler Rifle dealing 20 percent more damage to shields but 20 percent less to armor. Skill training, similar to Eve Online, allowed specialization; CCP stated it would take seven years to train all skills, and players were expected to become experts in selected areas. Player-driven vehicles could be deployed via rapid deployment vehicles and shared the modular fitting system of dropsuits, though modules cost more.

Development

Dust 514 was announced on August 18, 2009, at the Game Developers Conference in Cologne, Germany, with a short trailer. In 2010, CCP updated Eve Online with the Tyrannis expansion, introducing planetary interaction that allowed players to harvest resources from planets. A developer blog noted that while the expansion did not include planetary combat, Dust 514 would handle combat by allowing players to project military force for attack and defense of planetary installations. CCP licensed Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games China in 2010. At E3 2011, it was confirmed that Dust 514 would be exclusive to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, with a beta before the end of 2011 and a summer 2012 release, but CCP delayed the release to 2013 for further improvements. The game was initially planned as cross-platform with Xbox 360, but CCP dropped that platform; Sony's more open platform allowed connection to the Eve Online server Tranquility, while Microsoft's Xbox Live did not. Dust 514 used Havok middleware. It connected to Tranquility on January 10, 2013. To manage performance, CCP designed server architecture where most gameplay ran on battle clusters worldwide, while the main Eve cluster in London handled only character names.

Reception

Before release, Dust 514 was considered innovative for its connection to another game. IGN called it highly ambitious and a glimpse of the future, while PC Gamer praised the orbital bombardment mechanic and customization. Upon release, the game received mixed reception, with aggregate scores of 59.10% on GameRankings and 59/100 on Metacritic. Criticisms focused on bugs and poor gameplay execution. IGN's Vince Ingenito noted that depth and customization were eclipsed by poor graphics and mechanics, and criticized the free-to-play model for taking too long to access desired equipment, giving a score of 5.8/10. Destructoid's Chris Carter rated it 6/10, calling it ambitious but needing work, citing underwhelming graphics, unoriginal modes, and a tedious grind. Eurogamer's Paul Dean wrote that it had great potential but a dull debut, with many bugs. PlayStation Universe's Alex Locher praised its unique nature, technological accomplishments, and meaningful player interaction. Despite mixed reception, CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson stated in March 2015 that Dust 514 was a profitable business for the company.