What bothers me is that as a game developer myself, there is zero reason to roll distinct servers with a diminished set of mechanics if your only goal was to make a mobile client for your existing game. You have the assets, the UI isn't difficult, you have an present economy and universe, the majority of the technical investment concerning gameplay logic within a MMO is on the server anyhow, etc..
It's not that tough to make a mobile client for an present game, and have it connect to the same servers, in the same universe. It is more of a UX/UI difficulty than a thorny technical one. It is tremendously more expensive and time consuming to essentially"start over" and begin constructing a new world from scratch, one gameplay mechanic at one time, on standalone servers. Even outsourcing the sport like they did, it still doesn't make sense.
The only way that this whole business adventure makes sense (and I promise the only way it would have gotten through its greenlight procedure at CCP) would be if the goal was to make a version that has been balanced therefore significantly different from the first that it couldn't be incorporated into the present universe. And the only way you get that approved is whether you can convince them that doing so will bring in a brand new playerbase that is not already paying you for EO.
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