CCP Games has announced the first-ever EVE Frontier Winter Classic PVP Tournament, marking a major step forward in the live multiplayer features of its web3-powered MMO, EVE Frontier.

The Winter Classic will bring together teams from across the game’s playerbase to battle for dominance in a 5v5 double-elimination format. The event will be broadcast live on CCP’s official Twitch channel, with prizes for the top teams up for grabs alongside a separate social media contest for the community to participate in during the sign-up period. If this sounds like your cup of space tea, here’s everything you need to know while there’s still time to register.

What Is the EVE Frontier Winter Classic PVP Tournament?

The Winter Classic is EVE Frontier’s first official competitive PVP event, hosted by the development team and held on the game’s live server, Stillness. Scheduled for December 6 and 7, the tournament will feature teams of 5 players competing in tactical arena battles within a designated zone known as the Exclave Accelerator Facility.

Each match will test both coordination and precision, challenging Riders to manage movement, positioning, and line-of-sight while engaging their opponents in combat. The matches will unfold inside a controlled arena defined by a 50-kilometer boundary. Any ship that ventures beyond the boundary will be immediately destroyed, forcing teams to balance aggression and caution in equal measure.

The event will use a point-based system for ship selection, where every available ship in the game has a designated point value. Teams are allowed to field up to 50 total points’ worth of ships. Choosing the right combination of ships will be a key factor in determining victory, as unused points are automatically awarded to the opposing team before the match begins.

Ship point values include:

  • MAUL (Cruiser) – 25 points
  • TADES (Destroyer) – 15 points
  • HAF / MCF / LORHA / USV (Frigates) – 10 points each
  • Recurve / Reflex / Reiver (Corvettes) – 5 points each

The Chumaq freighter will be excluded from the event.

Each match will last up to 10 minutes. If neither team secures victory within that time, the match will move into sudden death mode with accelerating game speed to force an outcome. The game will move at 2x speed for 1 minute, 4x for 1 minute, and 6x for 1 minute. Should the tie persist after these blazing 3 minutes, a swarm of Sarana-class feral drones will be released into the arena to ensure a decisive end.

Prizes will be awarded to the top 3 teams:

  • 1st Place: 5 tickets to EVE Fanfest 2026 and 10,000 Grace (split evenly among the team)
  • 2nd Place: 5,000 Grace
  • 3rd Place: 2,000 Grace

Grace is a temporary currency that gets converted to EVE Points at the end of each Cycle, with the points set to be used for possibly gaining some unspecified rewards in the future.

What Is EVE Frontier’s Social Media Contest About?

Running alongside the main tournament, CCP Games is also launching a Social Media Contest designed to engage the community beyond the battlefield. Participants are invited to create original images or videos that promote the Winter Classic PVP Tournament. There are no creative restrictions, as players are instead encouraged to interpret the prompt in any way they choose.

Entries must be submitted through the “Winter Classic Social Media Contest” channel on the official EVE Frontier Discord. Each participant can submit up to 3 entries, although only 1 entry per person will be eligible for the final round of judging.

There will be 10 submissions chosen by judges from the EVE Frontier development team, with the top 3 creators receiving Grace prizes and community recognition. All 10 featured works will be showcased across the web3 game's social media platforms.

Contest prizes include:

  • 1st Place: 500 Grace
  • 2nd Place: 350 Grace
  • 3rd Place: 200 Grace

The Social Media Contest will run from November 10, 10 AM UTC to November 24, 2 PM UTC, matching the sign-up window for the main tournament.

How to Sign Up for Winter Classic PVP Tournament

Sign-ups for the Winter Classic PVP Tournament opened on November 10, 10 AM UTC, and will remain open until November 24, 2 PM UTC, and any team can register for free using the official application form linked in the announcement post on the game's website. 

Teams must register a minimum of 5 players and may include up to 10 members to allow for substitutes. A team captain must be designated to handle all official communications with tournament organizers. Teams do not need to belong to the same in-game tribe to participate. 

Once registration closes, CCP Games will release the full tournament schedule, with the first matches expected to begin around 4 PM UTC on December 6. Each team will be required to provide its own ships before each match. Match officials will verify that every team’s setup complies with the point system before teleporting both sides into the arena.

The event’s unique arena setup inside the Exclave Accelerator Facility offers diverse terrain that includes both open areas and tight industrial spaces. Teams are encouraged to adapt their tactics accordingly, using the environment to gain an advantage over their opponents.

At the end of each match, teams will be returned to their original locations (except for players who died during the match), and the arena will be cleared for the next round.

About EVE Frontier

EVE Frontier is a survival-based space MMO set in the EVE universe and developed by CCP Games. Unlike EVE Online, which centers on interstellar trade, politics, and large-scale warfare, this web3 entry focuses on rebuilding civilization from the ground up in a fractured galaxy.

Players take on the role of Riders, which are clones awakening without memory in a dangerous and resource-scarce environment. The game combines exploration, base-building, and industry with survival mechanics, with each object, from ships to crude extractors, having its own properties and history, making every construction unique to its creator.

The game’s seasonal structure, known as Cycles, resets the world periodically while introducing new threats, goals, and technologies. This system allows the developers to continually refresh the gameplay while preserving a sense of progression and discovery.

Player actions shape the world through Smart Assemblies, modular systems that allow for building tools, factories, or even entirely new mechanics within the universe. These assemblies give players the power to create and modify their environment, leading to a player-driven sandbox where every structure and innovation has real consequences.

Built to support extensive moddability, this blockchain title encourages player expression and collaboration in both survival and industrial gameplay. The game’s design philosophy centers on giving players control of their destiny in a world that reacts to their decisions in real time.

With EVE Frontier’s Winter Classic PVP Tournament, CCP Games is expanding that sandbox into competitive gameplay, offering players a new platform to test their skills, teamwork, and strategies under live conditions. Make sure to sign up with your team before November 24, 2 PM UTC, if you’d like to take part in the game’s very first tournament.

Last month, it was revealed that CCP Games is set to launch EVE Frontier on the Sui blockchain.