Boxed version of EVE Online due for release in two months

CCP has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that EVE Online will be released on DVD in the US, UK, Russia, Japan and other countries in the next two months.

Speaking in an interview at the company's offices in Reykjavik marketing director Magnus Bergsson said, "It's not going to be the typical retail box. We will do a counter-top, slim-case DVD. It's going to be a 14-day trial with a little booklet and you're going to be able to buy is for USD 3.99 or USD 2.99, or something like that.

"We just got the final codes from the manufacturer to make this, but it takes time. So let's say in two months time it'll be in full distribution," he added.

CCP said that the recent merger with US-based White Wolf will allow them to release a physical version of EVE - currently available as a free download and played by more than 200,000 users.

"This is being done in cooperation with White Wolf as they have such a great experience with physical distribution," said Bergsson.

"You need to have a warehouse, you need to have people taking orders and everything else. We've never really had that, and now we do, and we are getting into physical distribution, not only in the US, but also in Eastern Europe, where people often have to pay from downloads from abroad... Those people are concerned about downloads, even though the client is only 640MB."