EVE Online is a game with a strong, active metagame that has come to consume large segments of the game. Now, CCP is learning to play the metagame themselves. In a new press release, CCP has beat themselves to the punch of their own product announcement for EVE Echoes by dropping the announcement a full day before their EVE Vegas Keynote Address. EVE Vegas, the largest of this year’s EVE Invasion events, is the logical place for CCP to make announcements of this sort, but now CCP has found a new way to get out the advance buzz: metagame their own announcements.

In our initial analysis of the EVE Echoes Alpha testing, Mistwarden said that “not much of the game has been shown off to date, but what we have been able to see, from photos and trailers, is a simpler user interface and interaction for players. A notable example of this is Planetary Interaction, where you simply click for which resources you wish to extract. This feels like a chance to start EVE all over again with the knowledge and experience that I have now. I have high hopes of an exciting new age for Eve and a chance to play again from the start.”

We distinctly hope that CCP are aware of the metagaming possibilities available to individuals engaging in a fresh new universe that has not yet seen large powers become entrenched throughout the economy and terrain of what may be New Eden 2.0.

Developed by Netease, EVE Echoes will enter Open Beta this December for iOS and Android.