There is no road map for taking a first-person shooter and injecting it into an existing MMO universe, so developer CCP Games is attempting to draw one. Combining the worlds of the (extraordinarily intimidating) cult hit EVE Online and its upcoming, self-published free-to-play console shooter Dust 514 isn't as easy as tying a narrative thread between both games, there's a sensitive balance the developer has to consider.

"If there's anything about EVE that's particularly notorious, it's the fidelity of its virtual economy. You can equate the loss of a giant ship in EVE to some real world amount of money, just based on the time and effort it takes to build," CCP Chief Marketing Officer David Reid tells Joystiq.

Reid says that because EVE's in-game economy is so unique, it's essential for the developer to introduce changing aspects - like a completely different game's economy - gradually. Currently in closed beta, Dust 514 is testing its in-game links to EVE Online, but it's a careful play of checks and balances and minuscule tweaks that will make the games work well in tandem.