CCP Games’ EVE: Valkyrie, one of the first-ever multiplayer VR games, is shutting down next month along with Sparc.
Tweets from both games’ official accounts confirmed the news. Both Valkyrie, a space combat game, and Sparc, which offered Tron-style athletic future sports, will take their remaining servers offline on August 5. After that, the games will no longer be playable.
Valkyrie is of particular significance as one of the first-ever VR games to be announced, serving as a launch exclusive for the Oculus Rift before coming to the HTC Vive and PSVR headsets too. A spin-off of CCP’s popular EVE Online MMO, the game saw you jump into the cockpit of spacecraft and face off with opponents online.
In fact, it’s so old it was one of Upload’s first video reviews, too. Seriously, I can’t even remember who’s narrating this.
Though the news may seem sudden, the writing had long been on the wall for both projects. After previously committing to VR in a big way with new studios and projects, CCP exited the VR market in late 2017, closing those new departments. Valkyrie implemented flatscreen support to help sustain its numbers but its developer, CCP Newcastle, was sold off. Neither game ever ended up releasing on the Quest platform, where many struggling long-time VR developers have gone on to find success.
What are your thoughts on EVE: Valkyrie and Sparc shutting down? Let us know in the comments below!
