EVE Online, the popular MMO for spaceflight, has just seen the biggest and most expensive battle in the game’s history, setting a Guinness World Record. ‘The Massacre at M2-XFE’ cost two of EVE Online’s largest factions an estimated total of $ 378,012. The fight was part of an ongoing war that cost around the world and cost a total of $ 700,000.
On December 31, 2020, 5,000 players collided with EVE’s PAPI and Empire factions in the game’s M2-XFE region near a ‘Keepstar’ (a kind of extra large space station) when PAPI forces began firing on trapped Empire -ships. Earlier in the day, a lone Empire pilot managed to eliminate a ‘cyno sorry’, enabling the Empire to bring in additional reinforcements.
The ensuing battle lasted about 14 hours, and both factions lost supercapital ships (the largest species in the game, about the size of seven Empire State buildings) at a relatively equal rate. Fighting only stopped when EVE was planning to stop.
Of the 1,304 Titan ships that took part in the battle, a whopping 257 of them were destroyed. PAPI forces lost a total of 130 Titans, while the Empire lost 122. Among all classes of ships, PAPI lost a total of 1,810 ships, while the Empire lost 1,566.
“This fight is a bit like a poker game where both players stored weapons for a few years and then switched everything on.” fully, not only in terms of manpower, but also the value of the assets committed. in this rare case, it did happen, causing the biggest battle we have ever seen, both for the number of players involved and the amount of assets destroyed.
To commemorate the event (and the associated damage), an official monument containing the names of all players involved in the battle is being built by developer CCP.
The estimated total damages in $ USD are based on the amount of currency in the game (called PLEX) to replace each ship. However, many of the ships are the result of thousands of man-hours grinding for resources. The most expensive ship destroyed during the battle cost the Vanquisher of Grencia Mars about $ 5,500 in $ USD.
Despite the digital bloodshed, the massacre at M2-XFE is just one battle amid EVE Online’s ongoing “World War Bee 2”, the game’s third world war. More than 130,000 players are still keeping it in play for the area.
Funny enough, while M2-XFE is definitely the most expensive fight in EVE history, it’s technically just the third biggest fight in terms of number of players. EVE’s Battle of FWST-8 beat 6557 players. The previous record for the most expensive fight in USD was held by the Battle of B-R5RB, which cost the players an estimated $ 302,000.
You can watch a recording of the fight from YouTuber 1adog1.
Joseph Knoop is a writer / producer / support class ship for IGN.