On Wednesday, INN reported on CCP’s decision to terminate its relationship with distributor Tiancity for oversight of the Serenity server, noting the vagueness in CCP’s statements about Serenity’s future. In a follow-on Dev Blog, CCP has now clarified some of that seeming uncertainty.
CCP announced a new partnership with NetEase, which currently “operates some international online games in Mainland China, including World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, StarCraft II, Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, and Overwatch,” in an existing partnership with Blizzard.
NetEase has an existing relationship with CCP around development of Eve: Galaxy for mobile platforms, and CCP’s latest post touted the company’s demonstrated ability to provide robust support for New Eden’s China-based user community. “With a track record of releasing games of high quality in the Chinese market and abundant operating experience in this territory which remains super close to CCP’s heart, NetEase will no doubt prove to be a suitable publisher for EVE Online in China,” said CCP Falcon.
Current efforts center around the hand-off from Tiancity to NetEase, which is estimated to be complete in October 2018. With Tiancity’s support ending as of September 30, it remains to be seen whether there will be a gap in support, and what that will entail. In the Dev Blog, CCP Falcon also added that “We aim to minimise the window when EVE Online will need to suspend service in China and have a transition that is as smooth as possible.”
The immediate response from the player community was largely one of cautious optimism. Most of the questions revolved around whether this change means that – after a suitable transition period – Serenity-based capsuleers will finally be able to take part in the same content updates that Tranquility-based pilots have enjoyed for the past two years.
INN will be watching these developments closely, and will bring you more details on the Serenity transition to NetEase as we hear them.
