Despite the fact that it began life as a mere virtual reality tech demo, CCP’s space-based dogfighter, “Eve: Valkyrie,” garnered so much attention that the developer decided to make it a full-blown title. New information reveals that CCP is going one step further, and “Eve: Valkyrie” will now be a launch title for the Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus VR headsets.

The news comes via VRfocus, which states that the announcement was made by CCP during a “Meet the Valkyries” panel during the recently concluded 2015 EVE Fanfest in Reykjavik, Iceland. CCP confirmed that while similar, the two versions of “Eve: Valkyrie” would not feature cross-platform play due to the differences in hardware between Project Morpheus and the Oculus Rift Headset.

During the panel, the developer released a new trailer for the game, recorded from pre-alpha gameplay footage captured using a VR headset. The trailer is hosted on the VRfocus YouTube channel and sees players launch from a fighter bay on a routine escort mission before engaging a fleet of incoming enemy fighters.

PC Gamer reports that “Eve: Valkyrie” will be exclusive to the Oculus Rift on PC, at least at first. Executive Producer Owen O’Brien stated that the game would be a Rift exclusive at launch, but he quantified that by saying that there was a possibility the game would come to other VR headsets, such as the HTV Vive, in the future.

“We are exclusive on the Oculus on PC at the moment but we're not ruling out other platforms in future. We're making a VR game; ultimately, there's scope to be on other platforms in the future,” he said.

O’Brien goes on to admit that there are still questions about whether there will be enough support for VR but says that the vast majority of people who have been able to give the platform a try are sold on it. That doesn’t mean that the company is squarely focused on VR, though. “Eve Online” does well for the studio, and Polygon reports that after a troubled launch and a period of uncertainty, the free-to-play first-person-shooter “Dust 514” is now a profitable game, pulling in thousands of new players daily.

(Credit: YouTube/VRFocus)

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