CCP Games’ Dust 514 will be shutting down its servers in May. There won’t be an update as originally planned and there won’t be any items sold in-game or through the PS Store, though players with in-game currency can still access the former.

The studio stated that, “We are very proud of what we’ve learned and accomplished with Dust 514 on PlayStation 3 over the past three years and it is an honour to be a part of such a dedicated community. We consider Dust 514 one of the best free-to-play offerings on the platform, but the years have caught up with us. It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that Dust 514 will be shutting down.”

The team is currently moving on to Project Legion instead. “Their experience is being utilized to build a new game from scratch using Unreal Engine 4 while harnessing all our learnings from Dust 514. This is in many ways an evolution of Project Legion, the concept we announced at EVE Fanfest 2014, but without the limitations of technical debt and development paths we quickly discovered in that effort that could never serve as a future-proof technology base for a full production game.

“This new project is still in an early phase of production, and we feel like we’re on the right track and plan to give an update at EVE Fanfest on April 21st as a part of the free livestream of the event. Since this new game will be different from Dust 514 (although keeping many of its great parts), we will provide tiered recognition rewards to our loyal Dust customers; details to be announced.”

Thoughts on the same, especially since Dust 514 has been around for three years? Let us know in the comments.

Remember Project Legion, Eve Online developer CCP Games’ first person shooter meant to be a re-imagining of DUST 514? There hasn’t been much progress on the same since its initial announcement and according to CCP Shanghai managing director Jean-Charles Gaudechon at the EVE Fanfest 2015, the focus is on DUST 514.

Speaking to PCGamesN, Gaudechon stated that with regards to Project Legion, “I would always like to share as much as possible with our fans and players, but of course it then creates expectations. All I know is that we’re working really hard on trying to deliver the best experience.

“Of course PC is a target because that’s our primary platform for Eve Online, [but we’re] seeing how Dust is evolving. Making that as good as possible, and then seeing how that translates – if that ever translates.”

CCP boss Hilmar Veigar Pétursson stated there was “nothing new to report” and that as far as Project Legion goes, the developer is “still exploring in that area.”

At the very least it seems that DUST 514 has been a good thing for the studio, which further drives the motivation to bring it to PS3. Gaudechon stated that, “We’re obviously thinking of the future, but I feel we owe Dust players on PS3 everything. Which means hotfixes and all the things we can do to keep them happy. We have players right now playing and paying for an experience.”

After announcing Project Legion at the EVE Fanfest, which was met with some criticism by fans after it was revealed to be a re-imagining of DUST 514 for the PC, VP of product development at CCP Games Sean Decker spoke to Polygon about learning from the mistakes of the latter to make a compelling project that fans will like. Of course, the success of the game will still depend on feedback from fans.

“I ran DICE for awhile, and the first shooter game out of DICE was a game called Codename Eagle, which tons of people don’t know anything about, and never would, and probably shouldn’t. It was horrible, and at the end of the day, teams usually have to do multiple iterations of something to get to something really great.

“We want to take the things we’ve learned from DUST, and yes it’s in the same IP, same place and all the rest of it, but we want to do some fundamentally different things with it that we feel we missed out on and that we didn’t do right. Honestly, we didn’t make a great game to begin with. It has to be a great game. We tried to do too much [with DUST] honestly in terms of connecting it into the universe and there’s this MMO piece and all the rest of it.

“If Legion does well, we’ll continue to invest in it. If it doesn’t, we’ll open up some beers, have some fun and say,’Ok, that was fun, let’s do something different now and go again.’”

This doesn’t mean that DUST 514 will be going anywhere any time soon. “In terms of three years from now, if there are tons of people playing it, and people are really enjoying it, we’ll keep doing it. It’s as simple as that, and I think it’s true for any game service.”

What are your thoughts? Let us know below.

CCP Games recently announced during the EVE Fanfest that its spin-off of EVE Online – Dust 514 – would be reimagined as a new game for PC, currently dubbed Project Legion. CCP head Hilmar Veigar Pétursson said that this would be “a new approach to being a mercenary on the ground” when speaking to Eurogamer and that it would be a free to play shooter.

“It’s almost that experience made anew. It’s taking all we learned from Dust and almost making a new game from scratch, even though it’s the same team doing a first-person shooter, so they’re very experienced now. And we’ve made good headway on it. [It’] significantly different. It’s almost more a revolution than an evolution, and that’s why we’re calling it Project Legion, because it’s, frankly, more like a new game.”

Whether it will head to consoles depends on fan reception. As of now, a release date is far off and Project Legion isn’t even the final name. It will use assets from Dust 514 and also be a sandbox style game however.

Stay tuned for more details.

Developers CCP Games have announced that they have released a new update for their free to play online shooter DUST 514. The new update- update 1.8, to be specific, adds several new items to the game, such as new weapons and some new dropsuits.

New dropsuits in the game include the new Caldari, Gallente and Minmatar Heavy Frames, which come in Basic, Sentinel and Commando roles for each faction, and Caldari and Amarr Light Frames that come in Basic and Scout roles.

The update also adds some new weapons to the game. The Caldari Bolt Pistol is one of the weapons that have been added to the game’s arsenal, while others such as the Caldari Magsec SMG and the Gallente Ion Pistol is also included in the update.

The patch also adjusts overall time-to-kill. “Standard damage modifiers will retain their 3% damage bonus, whereas Advanced and Complex damage modifiers were reduced to 4% and 5% respectively from 5% and 10%,” the developers have revealed.

DUST 514, the companion shooter to CCP’s massively popular EVE Online, today got the latest in a series of monthly updates. Uprising 1.7 adds innovative new weapons, an overhauled vehicles system, a new battlefield mood that should get you pumped, and major changes to Factional Warfare that should bring the shooter closer to the lore of EVE.

Of note should be the new vehicles system- the old one has been a sticking point for players, and this new one has been modeled to allow for better handling and control, along with also allowing for the possibility of customizing and retrofitting vehicles. In addition to this, there are, of course, new weapons, a new volcanic mood that changes the tone and intensity of the game to that of fiery lava, and and a plethora of changes to Factional Warfare, which include the addition of friendly fire.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more updates on the game.

CCP Games’ Dust 514, the first person shooter released exclusively to PlayStation as a companion for the massively multiplayer online game EVE Online, was met with a tepid reception amongst critics when it launched; however, CCP has been hard at work since, working on implementing fixes and improvements via massive updates.

The latest in this line of ongoing improvements for the game is the hiring of veteran game producer Jean-Charles Gaudechon executive producer of Dust 514. Gaudechon will drive future development of the persistent-world first-person shooter at CCP’s Shanghai studio.

“In addition to his extensive experience in the free-to-play space, Jean-Charles brings a tremendous sense of product vision and creativity to Dust 514,” said Sean Decker, senior vice-president of product development at CCP. “His track record of developing major online titles will serve the growth of Dust 514 very well.”

“The scope and vision of DUST 514, and its integration into the massive EVE Online Universe is unparalleled, creating the largest single-shard online multi-player game to date,” said Gaudechon. “I look forward to my journey with CCP as we push the boundaries of the game even farther, to an experience as large and meaningful as the EVE Universe itself.”

CCP’s long promised updates to the free to play shooter that ties into EVE Online, Dust 514, are now finally live. The updates, collectively titled Uprising 1.5, focus on new and expanded Corporation Roles as well as a revised New Player Experience and the all-new Squad Finder.

Among the tweaks to the core gameplay experience that Uprising 1.5 brings are included a new, revised player experience (which includes a completely redone tutorial, and rewards that are granted in the form of militia dropsuits, vehicles, weapons and modules), a Squad Finder, which will list any open squads for the player to join, and new roles for the corporations (CEOs and directors can now distribute specific roles to other members within the corporation. The roles that can be assigned are: Accountant, Personnel Director, Terrestrial Combat Officer and Terrestrial Logistics Officer).

Dust 514, the free to play firs person shooter, ties directly into CCP’s other, much bigger game, EVE Online; it aims to expand the experience. Stay tuned for more coverage.

Developed by CCP games, the guys behind massive online title EVE Online, Dust 514 is an online FPS that serves as an accompaniment to their sci-fi MMO. It’s a fantastic concept, having players take control of the individuals that make up the huge mercenary groups in the EVE universe but, even if you discount a lot of boring gameplay ideas and sketchy design, the integration between Dust 514 and Eve Online only tangibly affects the PC MMORPG. So, unless you’re part of a large cross-platform corporation, you won’t be feeling the true effects of galactic conflict as a Dust 514 player alone.

You won’t really feel much of anything when playing Dust as, whilst the action is serviceable, gun mechanics lack any sense of weight and satisfaction. The movement always feels a bit too floaty to keep you truly immersed in the game and, despite fairly functional hit detection, weak sound effects and player feedback make gunning down your foes an underwhelming experience.

"Despite sporting a vast roster of stages that accommodate many planets in the Eve universe, the maps themselves lack the panache and focused design of other shooters."

Tight mechanics aren’t always the order of the day though, with plenty of online shooters making up for this with huge and diverse maps and objectives. Dust 514 doesn’t really succeed in doing this in the same way as great series like Battlefield and Star Wars: Battlefront have done in the past. Though you can see ships in the distance and each teams’ mobile command centre orbiting the vicinity, the sense of scale just isn’t there.

Part of this is due to the graphics, a mish-mash of lifeless animations and mediocre textures. A lack of grandeur also comes from the level design itself. Despite sporting a vast roster of stages that accommodate many planets in the Eve universe, the maps themselves lack the panache and focused design of other shooters.

What Dust does share with titles like Battlefield is its vehicles, an inclusion that certainly grants the game a greater scope. Tank type vehicles can be summoned at any time, and a series of other mounted turrets provide a tactical advantage if used correctly. Having said that, it took me a long time to realise that this was the case due to the game’s awful tutorial.

"Dust 514 has easily the worst tutorial I've seen in a modern generation game, throwing so much text your way that you'll probably damage your vision trying to read it all in one go. "

Dust 514 has easily the worst tutorial I’ve seen in a modern generation game, throwing so much text your way that you’ll probably damage your vision trying to read it all in one go. Clunky and poorly designed menus add to the initial confusion that is likely to bewilder any new Dust Mercenaries.

Certainly a part of this lengthy tutorial is due to Dust’s inherent depth. Though the shooting mechanics may be rather plain, the skill and advancement options are vast, with deep and meaningful character development for those who wish to really commit to CCP’s role playing shooter. It’s easy to argue that the lengthy investment required to earn those skill points can turn the game into a bit of a grind though, but it is one that becomes immensely rewarding when handled correctly.

Where your character customisation gets a bit unweildly is when you take the game’s transaction model into account. The free to play nature of Dust allows you to play the full game without spending any money but, if you do splash out on a fresh piece of gear, your purchase only lasts until the next time you die.

Though in-game currency is abundant enough to counteract this, paying real world money for a one use weapon may tally up if you find yourself falling in battle a lot. This kind of pay to win system isn’t especially endearing, but the implementation of F2P transactions in Dust is fair and honourable.

"When you do get a good game going, Dust 514 can often come into its own against adversity. "

Whether you pay or not, a series of peculiar design choices often get in the way of Dust’s joyous character advancement. Glitches of varying severity are painfully noticeable and a few control eccentricities add to the feeling that Dust 514 should have spent a little bit longer with the quality assurance team. Other areas just feel a little undercooked, most notably the stodgy and poorly optimised mouse and keyboard controls. The choice is definitely a pleasant one, but under-sensitive mouse movement and little UI feedback renders the control options a choice of nightmares.

When you do get a good game going, Dust 514 can often come into its own against adversity. Being able to team up with a varied squad composition allows for some seriously tactical pushes and, with support actions being well rewarded, there shouldn’t be any arguments about who has to play the medic.

"For every success there is a crippling failure. "

You won’t find a lot of strangers playing the support classes though, or working together at all really. The large and empty gulfs in Dust’s maps mean lone wolves tend to spread out without any real team work of any kind. Still, bring a group of friends in and you’ll get the best out of Dust 514.

Playing Dust always feels like a game of two halves. Innovative ideas are ruined by some silly design choices, immersive animated lobbies are off-set by bland in-game visuals and the pleasant character advancement is poorly explained by a laborious tutorial. For every success there is a crippling failure and, whilst Dust 514 often can provide a lot of fun when these positives shine through the cloud of poor game design, combining the two halves still only creates a mediocre title. If you love Eve Online, grinding and have some like-minded friends, then Dust’s quirky nature will appeal to you. If you don’t fit into this category, you’re better off looking for alternative F2P games.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.

According to Thor Gunnarsson, who spoke to Destructoid, “We already see that Dust 514, during open beta, had been driving hardware sales for Sony. We actually track that together. We so know that our fan base, Dust-curious players, are buying the PlayStation 3 to get into our game.

Of course, it’s more or less anecdotally – actual sales figures are another matter altogether.

“What we hear, anecdotally, is that PlayStation 3 sales are increasing. Sony have done a phenomenal job of managing console transitions, like they did with the PlayStation 2’s cost and size reductions. We can make the logical assumption that something similar will happen as the PlayStation 4 comes to market.”

As to how DUST 514 is doing with critics, it has scored 61 out of 100 on Metacritic for the PlayStation 3 version.