While the deal was announced in late March already (story), here is a part of the official press release for the publishing agreement, discusssing the background story of the game:
EVE ONLINE PUBLISHED BY SIMON & SCHUSTER INTERACTIVE
Movie and Television Opportunities Being Explored
NEW YORK, April 22, 2002 - Simon & Schuster Interactive announced today it has obtained North American and European rights to "Eve Online: The Second Genesis," a space trading / combat Massive Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) for the PC (Windows® XP, ME, 98; Rated: "RP" by the ESRB). Developed by Crowd Control Productions (CCP) of Reykjavik, Iceland, EVE ONLINE will allow upwards of 100,000 gamers to compete simultaneously across a full 3D galaxy which includes 5000 solar systems.
EVE is one of the first of a new breed of computer games. Played online with thousands of other players, EVE draws people into what is essentially an alternate universe set some time far in the future in a place one can only dream of. While Simon & Schuster Interactive will initially be releasing this game on CD-ROM, the Company is actively pursuing the licensing and creation of print, film, TV and other media based on the EVE property.
"Eve is the only MMOG in the Simon & Schuster line-up, so we felt confident that it would get the kind of support it deserves," said Sigurdur Arnljotsson, chief executive officer of CCP Games. "They're a strong partner, and share our vision of the game's massive potential."
BACKSTORY
EVE is a world far away from mankind's original habitat, planet Earth. How far away, and where, no one knows. Humans got there through a natural wormhole, and gazing upon a sky never before seen, were completely unable to determine the whereabouts *of this new world. From the system of New Eden, where the gate of EVE that once led to the old world lies, humans expanded in all directions at a great pace, exploring and colonizing.
Then, seemingly out of the blue, the EVE gate collapsed in an apocalyptic catastrophe of a scale never before witnessed by the human race, ruining the New Eden system in the process. Thousands of small colonies were left in isolation to fend for themselves. For many millennia they endured on the brink of extinction and only a handful survived.
Of those surviving colonies, five were to rise up and become the major empires that hold between them the balance of power in the world of EVE today. These are: the Amarr Empire, the Gallente Federation, the Caldari State, the Minmatar Republic and the Jovian Empire, plus several small independent factions and states.
For more than a century the five empires have lived together in relative peace. They've strived hard to maintain this peace, as each of them realizes only too well the grave consequences of a massive inter-stellar war. Recent technological breakthroughs in FTL travel, and the ensuing increase in space travelers, has shaken, but not broken the fragile peace - at least not yet. The rest can be found following our link. |
Eve Online to be published by Simon & Schuster
