CCP Games has announced that Dust 514, the PlayStation 3 free-to-play first-person shooter, will move into Open Beta on 22nd January, being free to download and play for anyone with a PS3 and an internet connection.
A milestone was already reached on 10th January when CCP Games merged Dust 514 with the sci-fi massively multiplayer online game EVE Online on the Tranquility server that hosts the EVE universe. Both games take place in the same universe, so events in one game can dictate and affect events in the other game online and in real-time, despite Dust 514 being on PS3 and EVE Online being on PC.
The press release states, “By uniting DUST 514 and EVE Online on the same single-shard server, CCP has accomplished something unprecedented in videogame history: a single persistent online universe of incredible depth and scale that bridges the PC and console platforms in real time. Furthermore, this marks the first time two games from different genres, a space combat simulator and a first-person shooter, have been linked together into one, massive online experience.”
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP, said, “The launch of the DUST 514 Open Beta is another step towards our long-term vision for CCP and EVE. But this is just the beginning. As we have done with EVE Online, in the coming weeks, and for years to come, we will continually improve upon and add to the DUST 514 experience , as well as add deeper integration between the two games and their communities.”
Although EVE Online requires a monthly subscription, Dust 514 does not, the game instead relying on a micro-transaction model.