Another massive war is brewing in EVE Online, the always unpredictable sci-fi universe that's gearing up to celebrate its 20th anniversary this year. By some lights, the war has already started – now it's just looking for a cause.
Since the conclusion of the year-long World War Bee 2 in 2021, EVE Online's galaxy of New Eden has seen a lot of changes. Developer CCP Games has been working on renovating large swaths of its uniquely complex MMORPG, with major updates changing the way factional warfare works, adding new mechanics and storylines, rebalancing fleets and adding new ships. Those changes have combined to make New Eden a noticeably different world than it was at the outset of EVE's last big player-driven war, which ended with the Imperium – better known as the Goonswarm – breaking a months-long siege of its home system and rapidly reconquering territory abandoned by the retreating "PAPI" coalition of the PanFam Alliance, Test Alliance Please Ignore, and countless other, smaller player-controlled corporations.
