EVE China - A Serenity Update!

Hi there,

I’m CCP Ingo, Global Brand Director for EVE Online at CCP Games.

Some of our players may remember a Dev Blog released by CCP Heimdall back in December 2012, which gave details surrounding the re-launch of EVE in China, and the handover to a new publisher, Tiancity.

Since Chinese New Year is fast approaching, and during this time many people take a look at the previous year in review while also looking forward to the year ahead, we decided here at CCP that it was time to give our players on Tranquility a brief update of how EVE China is progressing.

After the upgrades to the Serenity cluster in Shanghai and the re-launch of EVE in China, we have become truly inspired by our Chinese players’ enthusiasm for EVE Online as we have watched Serenity’s subscription numbers double since the commercial launch of EVE China at the beginning of last year.

This is an event that has not been seen before in the history of EVE, and is a milestone for EVE China that would never have been possible without the support and dedication of such a vibrant and creative Chinese player base, and the skill and dedication from the Tiancity staff in Shanghai.

Working with both NVIDIA and ASUS in 2013 to host a grand spring event in order to promote both the Retribution and Odyssey expansions, Tiancity held a summer offline gathering comparable in size to EVE Fanfest, and in the fall of 2013, were successful in bringing EVE to the K1 e-sports professional tournament, a first for both Serenity, and EVE Online.

Finishing the year off with a brand new commemorative game time card collection, saw players on Serenity celebrate the end of 2013 in a huge high.

Serenity differs vastly from Tranquility in terms of player population, time zone spread (despite the fact that China is a vast nation), player preferences, in game territorial distribution and a myriad of other factors, giving it an ecosystem of its own that has provided immense challenges for Tiancity, who have performed amazing work in the successful localization of EVE.

We are often also reminded that Chinese players have a very different approach to online gaming, with higher personalization demands and a completely different play style that has seen Serenity make its own steps, some of which have even been ahead of Tranquility. With account management services helping trial accounts convert remaining game time into allocable skillpoints upon first-time subscription, new players can get started a little faster and can spread their wings further while taking their first brave steps into New Eden. By sending certain special ships as a gift for subscription, new pilots are also given a myriad of new options for fittings and adventures.

The introduction of EVE to live broadcasting in K1, an e-sports platform with huge influence in China, has demonstrated the charm of EVE Online’s gameplay to thousands of potential new players, and as we can see from community feedback, these localized services which have been worked on relentlessly by Tiancity have been extremely well received.

In 2014, CCP and Tiancity are hoping to repeat the success of the previous year by bringing Chinese players more interesting and customized services in typical EVE flavoured style, along with more development support for Serenity in the hope to continue the level of growth since launch.

We do of course also hope that the lessons learned by both CCP and Tiancity can be put to practical use to benefit all our players, across both Tranquility and Serenity, and we sincerely hope that players in both locations enjoy the next year of EVE Online’s development.

With this in mind, CCP staff from our offices across the globe in Reykjavík, Newcastle, Atlanta, Shanghai and San Francisco would like to express our best wishes in 2014 for our players on Tranquility, and wish our players on Serenity, and our partners at Tiancity the best of success and happiness in year of the horse.

CCP Ingo