If you’ve got a lot of friends who don’t play EVE (say two million of them), and you fancy inviting them to join you for a galaxy road-trip tomorrow, please don’t. CCP have said that the game couldn’t cope with a sudden increase in players.
“If two million players came in tomorrow we’d be in a really bad spot” said Lead Designer Kristoffer Touborg. “Where do we fit two million people?”
Touborg explained that the problem is down to technology, but pointed out that they’ve grown since EVE launched and will continue to grow. “I think that we have a tech ceiling that’s constantly getting better, our server capacity compared to ten years ago is gigantic, and I think that’s why it’s good that we don’t grow [rapidly]. If we hit a million people, it’s fine if we do it in a few years and not tomorrow because it would be seamless for us.”
CCP are certain that more players in EVEs universe makes for a better game, but sheer force of will is not enough to make it grow quickly. “We can’t grow indefinitely overnight. It doesn’t work. We have to put up multiple servers and stuff like that, and it would probably ruin the game. I hope we get to a million people but let’s give it like three or four years,” explained Touborg.