Google DeepMind partners with EVE Online for AI model testing (3 minute read)

# Google DeepMind partners with EVE Online for AI model testing Source: [https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/05/google-deepmind-partners-with-eve-online-for-ai-model-testing/](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/05/google-deepmind-partners-with-eve-online-for-ai-model-testing/) Google’s AI\-focused DeepMind division has taken a minority stake in the developer of popular sci\-fi simulation*EVE Online*, saying it will use the game to study “intelligence in complex, dynamic, player\-driven systems\.” The research partnership comes as the management behind*EVE Onlin*e developer CCP Games[announced](https://www.ccpgames.com/news/2026/studio-behind-eve-online-goes-independent-rebrands-as-fenris-creations-enters-research-partnership-with-google-deepmind)that they have spent $120 million to buy themselves out from their former owners at South Korean publisher Pearl Abyss*\(Crimson Desert*\)*\.*The newly independent entity is being rebranded as Fenris Creations, which will continue to operate as normal without any restructuring or layoffs, the company said\. ## “Something that already behaves like a living world” In today’s announcement, Fenris and DeepMind said that*EVE Online*presents “a uniquely rich environment for study,” especially when it comes to developing AI systems that use “long\-horizon planning, memory, and continual learning\.” DeepMind says it will conduct controlled experiments on its models in a specially designed offline version of the game running on a local server, without directly impacting the experience for online players\. The two companies “will also explore new gameplay experiences enabled by these technologies,” they wrote\. Google DeepMind has a long history of using games as a proving ground for machine learning models, from enabling[breakthroughs in complex board games like Go](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/01/googles-ai-beats-go-champion-will-now-take-on-best-player-in-the-world/)to[outperforming humans in Atari VCS games](https://deepmind.google/blog/agent57-outperforming-the-human-atari-benchmark/)and[*StarCraft*](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/01/an-ai-crushed-two-human-pros-at-starcraft-but-it-wasnt-a-fair-fight/), for example\. More recently, the company has[begun using so\-called “virtual world” models](https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/08/deepmind-reveals-genie-3-world-model-that-creates-real-time-interactive-simulations/)to help AI systems[learn](https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/can-todays-ai-video-models-accurately-model-how-the-real-world-works/)[to operate in physical reality](https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/10/can-todays-ai-video-models-accurately-model-how-the-real-world-works/)\. Fenris CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson said[in an open letter addressed to players](https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/a-new-era)that “*EVE*is one of the few environments where questions about intelligence can be explored inside something that already behaves like a living world\.” Studying*EVE*will allow Google DeepMind’s models to explore “difficult problems, long timelines \[and\] strange possibilities,” he added\. “As a gamer and games producer, I’ve long admired*EVE*,” Google DeepMind Director Alexandre Moufarek said in a statement\. “What the*EVE*community has created together with \[Pétursson\] and team is truly unparalleled in gaming\. It is a one\-of\-a\-kind simulation for testing general\-purpose artificial intelligence in a safe sandbox environment\. I’m excited to partner with the team at Fenris Creations to push the frontier of artificial intelligence and explore new player experiences\.”