'Eve Online' Massively Multiplayer Spinoff Coming to iPhones and iPads Next Year

Developer CCP Games has revealed that a mobile spinoff of its massively multiplayer game Eve Online it coming to iOS next year. Launched back in 2003, Eve became famous for its vast sandbox universe and spectacular space battles involving thousands of players, even going on to spawn its own history, politics, and galactic economy.

Codenamed Project Aurora and co-developed by Playraven, the smartphone version to debut in 2018 is set in a standalone Eve universe separate from the existing MMO theater, but involves many of the elements fans of the massively online multiplayer should instantly recognize.

Players will have to advance their space stations and build out their fleets while competing with each other to collect ancient relics, which are used to repair jump gates that ultimately lead to the center of the galaxy. Trading, ship research and technology development will all remain central facets of the mobile Eve universe, so there should be plenty to keep veterans of the MMO happy.

TouchArcade is currently attending the EVE Vegas event, so be sure to check in at the site in the coming days and weeks for more details on Project Aurora's interstellar mechanics.