CCP Games announced today that their players broke two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles in EVE Online, the community-driven massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, with an enormous battle resulting from the game’s ongoing inter-player war. More than 8,000 players duked it out for territorial control in what has been called “Fury at FWST-8”, a 14-hour long clash between two of EVE Online’s largest player-run coalitions.
The two GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS titles now held by EVE Online are:
- largest multiplayer video game PvP battle (8,825 players)
- most concurrent participants in a multiplayer video game PvP battle (6,557 participants)
The events of the battle and its significance for EVE Online players are detailed in this video from CCP Games:
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS has shared additional information about this achievement in this feature: EVE Online’s Record-Breaking Fury at FWST-8
By the Numbers: A total of 8,825 players participated in Fury at FWST-8 with 11,258 characters from 114 different alliances in an engagement that lasted 14 hours, breaking the previous GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title of 7,548 players. The peak of Fury at FWST-8 saw 6,557 concurrent participants, breaking the previous GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title of 6,142 peak concurrent participants.
Both of these records were previously set by EVE Online during 2014’s “Bloodbath of B-R5RB” and in 2018’s “Siege of 9-4RP2” respectively.
“EVE Online is no stranger to massive in-game conflicts. Every time a big battle breaks out or our community comes together for a cause, it’s always a sight to behold,” said Hilmar V. Pétursson, CCP Games’ CEO. “CCP may have created EVE Online, but it’s our community who built the universe of New Eden. Their ingenuity created the impressive logistics networks, both in-game and in the real-world, to field such a high volume of ships in one battle. Our players deserve all the credit that made these record-breaking achievements possible. Their support and dedication are what makes EVE Online the game that it is today.”
Craig Glenday, Editor-in-Chief for GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS added, “The limitless potential of EVE Online provides once again an epic, record-smashing battle that’s a test of both human and technological prowess. No game has the kind of passionate, invested, and empowered community that EVE Online enjoys, which is why it’s still, nearly 20 years on, reigning supreme as the ultimate MMO space game. Congratulations to all those involved – even those off licking their wounds will agree it was a battle to be remembered for a very long time.”
“We’ve been sitting on the edges of our seats this entire war. The player-run factions in our game often rival those of real-world governments, with some even adding US politicians into their ranks, so we knew it was only a matter of time before something big happened,” said Bergur Finnbogason, EVE Online’s Creative Director. “It still blows my mind that EVE’s players are able to break these records for massive player battles. Setting two world records for a single battle is humbling and just shows the amount of dedication EVE Online players have for our game.”
Since July of this year, a massive player-driven conflict between alliances has been unfolding in EVE Online. Dubbed “World War Bee 2”, upwards of 130,000 players have battled it out in a war for in-game territory and geopolitical dominance. World War Bee 2 is the third such universal war since the game’s release in 2003. Fury at FWST-8 is just one of many battles in the war as players continue the fight.
Fury at FWST-8 was the PAPI coalition’s attempt to establish a beachhead Keepstar citadel in the region known as Delve, which would have enabled PAPI to strike deeper into the Imperium coalition’s territory with their forces of supercapital-class spaceships. To prevent this, the Imperium fought long and hard to destroy the Keepstar and push PAPI back. As a result, 6,746 ships and the Keepstar structure were destroyed, with 362 capital-class ships lost on the battlefield. Assets worth a total of 1.443 trillion ISK (in-game currency) were lost in this battle, equating to $18,712 USD, of which 705 billion ISK worth was destroyed completely, equating to $9,148 USD.
Some EVE pilots who participated in Fury at FWST-8 shared their impressions of the battle:
“The FWST battle was the latest example of the iconic EVE Online battles that everyone reads about, and being able to say ‘I was there’ is a great feather in the cap for everyone involved. Even more impressive to me was the camaraderie and teamwork leading up to the kill. When we’re still around playing this game in the years to come we may not remember all the minutiae of the battle, but we’ll absolutely remember that we were there fighting side by side and having fun with our space tribe.” – Klavas (USA) – Goonswarm Federation, Imperium
“The scale of the fighting, the numbers of players involved on both sides, and the extent of the losses in FWST-8 and the weeks that followed has been incredible. I have fought in nullsec for nearly 15 years, nothing I have done before even comes close. Every player involved has been tested to the limits of endurance, it’s the stuff nullsec players have dreamt of for years.” – Hedliner (UK) – Pandemic Legion, PAPI
“Fights like FWST-8 don’t happen very often but they are what makes EVE, EVE. I was impressed that the servers held up as well as they did. It’s the second time I’ve been involved in setting the record for most concurrent players. Hopefully, all good things come in threes?” – Killah Bee (Germany) – Northern Coalition, PAPI
“The battle in FWST is undoubtedly a historic event, not only for EVE Online and the MMORPG genre, but for video games themselves. Our alliance and coalition campaign commanders undertook a colossal amount of work and planning to make this happen, not only for this specific battle, but throughout the past two weeks.” – strbrr (Russia) – Northern Coalition, PAPI
“The battle of FWST-8 is among the few, incredible moments of EVE Online, those we hear of in the media, those we tell about to the new players with a proud ‘I was there’. Participating in the biggest battle of the history of video games along with thousands of players all across the world, and the feeling of being a part of something bigger than myself as everyone gave their best in the face of impossible odds is a memory I’ll never forget.” – Naice Rucima (France) – Goonswarm Federation, Imperium
EVE Online can be downloaded for free by visiting www.eveonline.com.
