CCP partners with Nexon to release EVE Online in Japan [Updated]

The Japanese games market can be difficult for western companies to break into, with accurate client localisation and translation acting as a huge potential roadblock. In an unexpected press release today, EVE Online developer CCP Games announced a strategic partnership with Japan-based MMO publisher Nexon to bring both EVE Online and DUST 514 to the Japanese market. EVE is currently available in English, German and Russian, and Japanese players have so far found considerable difficulty in playing the game.

Unlike EVE's Chinese release, the Japanese client will connect to the main Tranquility game server. Nexon will add the game to its portal website and use its own billing system for Japanese subscribers. As we've seen with EVE's sizeable Russian playerbase, it's likely that entire alliances and communities will build up within the game once it hits the shelves in Japan. While the language barrier between players from different parts of the world can limit social interaction, it turns out that everyone understands the language of smashing internet spaceships to bits with lasers. The PC release of EVE Online in Japan will appear later this year.

[Update: CCP has informed us that this deal with Nexon does not apply to anything DUST-related.]