EVE Frontier is migrating to the Sui network. | Credit: Credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images.
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Key Takeaways
EVE Frontier will be migrating to Sui, a high-performance blockchain optimized for Web3 gaming.
The Web3 MMO is planned to have over 100,000 solar systems to explore.
Over 11,000 characters have been created on EVE Frontier.
One of Web3 gaming’s biggest and most ambitious titles, EVE Frontier from CCP Games, has announced that it will be migrating onto the Layer-1 blockchain network, Sui (SUI).
CCN spoke with CCP Games and Sui network creators Mysten Labs to find out more.
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As per a press release shared with CCN, the space survival multiplayer online (MMO) Web3 game will now be built on the Sui blockchain.
EVE Frontier will be built on @SuiNetwork – a blockchain purpose built for gaming, with all the tools needed to truly put the Frontier in the hands of our players and third-party developers. pic.twitter.com/OkWldoFTqk
EVE Frontier is a grim, dark, and incredibly deep game that forces players to use their wits and strategic thinking to survive and build in a dying pocket of space.
The game, which is still in early development, spans thousands of star systems populated with thousands of player-built ships and infrastructure, all of which exist on the blockchain.
CCP Games, EVE Frontier’s creators, said that Sui’s object-centric architecture is a “natural fit” to model its gigantic and complex virtual world.
Responding to CCN, a spokesperson from CCP Games noted that they’d set out to “create a virtual world that would outlast and outgrow its underlying tech stack. Our goal was to build a truly persistent, player-owned, virtual world.”
In 2022, the team began EVE Frontier’s journey by looking at Ethereum, which it noted was the most “mature” ecosystem at the time.
Fast-forward a few years, and the industry is bigger and better than ever.
“It is no longer a question of ‘is there a blockchain that can do this at all?’ but rather, ‘which blockchain is most suited to the specific needs of this project?'”
CCP Games noted:
“With Sui, we saw an opportunity to align with an architecture that offered a strong foundation for our forever game, and one that demonstrated true alignment with EVE Frontier’s philosophy of Digital Physics — a framework of immutable, verifiable rules underpinning EVE Frontier’s player-driven universe.”
There are many parts of Sui’s blockchain that make it “the most appropriate tech stack for us” the spokesperson said, adding “we just felt that Sui was the solution that was best suited to our desired end state.”
New Possibilities
A representative of Mysten Labs told CCN that Sui brings capabilities to EVE Frontier that aren’t possible on “any other chain,” which they say is thanks to its “object-focused architecture and Move smart contracts.”
“The performant nature of the network is leveraged by EVE Frontier in two ways – enshrining the physical rules of the game (“digital physics”) and providing a programmability layer.“
EVE Frontier is also designed to be a massively moddable sandbox universe, granting players and third-party developers ways to innovate and create custom new structures, objects, and systems called Smart Assemblies.
These functions are bridged through the game’s Smart Assemblies, the Mysten Labs spokesperson explains:
“Because Smart Assemblies are built on Sui’s Move-based smart contracts, players can define their own game logic and behaviors around these objects, opening up unprecedented levels of freedom and flexibility.”
Furthermore, EVE Frontier will feature tens of thousands of star systems that can handle hundreds of thousands of players exploring, building, and battling.
CCP Games explains that the “sheer scale” of the game demands a blockchain that can handle speed and complexity. Sui, they say, makes this a possibility with its “near instant finality, parallel execution of transactions, and more expressive smart contracts. That was not possible a few years ago.”
CCP Games admits that it doesn’t know “the full extent” of what is possible within Frontier yet, but the EVE community builders have “always exceeded our expectations.”
“Frontier creates the virtual world with Sui, and the players and builders get to see how far they can push the technology within the confines of the Frontier.”
Next Phases
As noted, EVE Frontier is still in early development and has already conducted a couple of playtests, the first being for the “Founders Access” for early backers.
It ran a second playtest, which was a free trial, from Sept. 5 to Sept. 15.
Now, the team is focusing on porting the current Founder Access build of the game over to Sui and implementing its features, which begins with zkLogin to enhance accessibility.
Mysten Games further explains:
“Sui will also enable sponsored transactions within the game, allowing for developers, player-led Tribes and Syndicates, or CCP Games themselves to sponsor operations on-chain and ensure players don’t need to hold tokens to play.“
Looking ahead, Mysten Labs reveals that EVE Frontier will leverage its developer platform for trustworthy data, Walrus, Seal, the network’s native secrets management platform, and Nautilus, a trusted execution environment.
This will see EVE Frontier utilize the entire Sui stack “to unlock the next major chapter of the EVE gaming universe.”
Eddie is a gaming and crypto writer at CCN. Covering the often weird and wonderful world of Web3 with an adoring, but skeptical eye.
Prior to CCN, Eddie has spent the past seven years working his way through the crypto, finance, and technology industry. He began with PR and journalism with Bitcoin PR Buzz and BitcoinNews.com, eventually working his way to become a copywriter with a dozen firms, including the likes of Polkadot before returning to journalism in 2023.
Having studied Radio production and journalism at University in the UK, Eddie spent a few years making podcasts and presenting on a local London radio station as he built up his writing chops.
A lifelong skateboarder, Eddie can often be found at the skatepark or touring the streets looking for something new to try. That, or kicking back playing JRPGs on his original PSP.
