EVE Online officially goes free-to-play starting today

EVE Online is one of the most fascinating MMO's on the planet that I have never played. That might have to change with the launch of Ascension, EVE Online's major update/expansion that officially makes the space company MMO free and open to anyone to play. CCP Games sent out a blog post earlier today detailing the changeover.

They said:

We are happy to announce that EVE Online: Ascension has been successfully deployed!

The largest and most significant update in the history of EVE Online, Ascension brings a new access paradigm to EVE Online that allows pilots to play for free.

The headline feature of EVE Online: Ascension, Clone States, brings free access to EVE Online in the form of Alpha Clones, using a pre-determined skillset, giving access to a whole host of playstyles and in-game content without the need for a subscription. In addition to this, the first phase of a completely re-worked new player experience, Inception, will offer new pilots more assistance and guidance than ever before as they take their first steps into the vast expanse of New Eden.

EVE Online has always been one of those games that if you weren't already in the pretty exclusive loop (AKA if you are a n00b), then it was almost impossible to gain a foothold in the ever-moving economy. That said, watching the things that go on with this game are nothing short of phenomenal and one-of-a-kind. There was once a 21-hour in-game battle that ended up costing players $300,000 in real world money as a result of the losses and another time that an in-game feud led to a $75,000 bounty.

EVE players don't mess around.

Source: [EVE Online Community]