Opinion: Eve Online’s yearlong war ends with an epic retreat

EveEve Online’s latest player-led war has come to an end, not with a bang but with a cavernous whimper. Those on the offense have turned tail, and the defenders are putting everything they have into running them down.

The massive coalition known as PAPI campaigned for 55 weeks in a quest to destroy The Imperium, led by Alex “The Mittani” Gianturco, before losing the will to fight. Along the way, Eve Online developer CCP Games told Polygon, combatants destroyed more than $3 million worth of in-game ships and virtual infrastructure in the conflict dubbed World War Bee 2.

“This is as real as real talk gets,” said Brave Collective’s Dunk Dinkle in a live address to his fleets, in what amounted to PAPI’s concession speech. “The war is over and we have lost.”