CCP Games has put the brakes on Project Nova, according to a message plastered on the company website today. The game isn’t over, as CCP says it’s “return[ing] to the drawing board,” but the alpha has been postponed indefinitely as the devs figure out “how all this hard work can translate into something better and more meaningful for the EVE Universe.”

“Over the course of Project Nova’s development, we conducted a number of player research sessions with external partners, tirelessly playtested the game internally and brought community stalwarts in to help us evaluate the project,” says the studio. “Now, after taking all this research and feedback into account, we see that the gameplay experience in its current form does not live up to our original vision and would not achieve our ambitious goals for this project. As a result, we will not be moving forward with the upcoming invite-only Alpha until further notice.”

“Remaining true to our vision of Project Nova’s future in connection with EVE is essential. That is the only way we will be able to continue creating memorable experiences that ensure you – our ineffable players – are satisfied and make us proud as developers. Project Nova continues to evolve and we remain committed to delivering a high-quality team-based shooter experience to EVE Online fans, while exploring new and exciting opportunities to integrate the two games. CCP is in no rush to release Project Nova until we’re satisfied it provides a rock-solid gameplay experience and visuals to match.”

MMO readers will recall that Project Nova was meant to be the reimagining of CCP’s failed EVE-universe shooter DUST 514 and that CCP was bought out by Pearl Abyss just a few months ago. MassivelyOP’s EVE expert Brendan Drain got his hands on the title just a month ago at EVE Vegas, characterizing the demo as a highly strategic PvE/PvP shooter in need of a “killer hook” as well as more integration with EVE itself – which seems to be the conclusion CCP came to as well.

“Project Nova is already a genuinely engaging shooter and definitely triggers my ‘just one more game’ reflex, but it’s still struggling to identify itself as a true EVE universe experience,” he wrote. “I worry that CCP may be over-estimating how much a solid core FPS brings to the market by itself and might fail to carve out a niche for Nova by the end of alpha without a compelling killer feature.”

Here’s a peek of Brendan’s footage at the event too: