by EVE Online Team5:30pm on Friday 11th September 2026
If you're just catching up, be sure to read parts 1 and 2 of this blog series! The third and final blog in this series is focused on the future. These are early thoughts, some are concepts, others are aspirations. None of it is set in stone, but all of it informs the decisions made today to ultimately achieve our vision of the ultimate science fiction.
Capsuleers,
When discussions started about evolving the HUD, it was clear we were touching something that capsuleers have built years, and sometimes decades, of muscle memory around. That is exactly why we wanted to bring you into the process early.
But before diving into the future we want to take a moment and thank everyone who has joined the conversation, challenged our thinking, shared concerns, and suggested ideas. We started gathering feedback at Fanfest, and it has already helped shape the designs which we shared in the second blog.
The community response has been really positive overall, which has been great to see. Concerns have been shared around proportional HP, heat and module states, screen space, the minimap, and whether the visual style feels distinctly EVE, along with some great ideas for improving the designs.
There may not be one solution that works for everyone. That is why customization is an important part of the vision, while combat readability and performance remain top priorities.
(Even the Red Dot guy is on board!)
The new HUD will be developed through Feature Preview, giving us time to test, learn, and iterate together. This will be a long process, and we will keep listening and adjusting as development progresses.
The key question is: How can the HUD propel the experience of flying your ship, while bringing you deeper into New Eden?
The work that’s been shared so far is about building a strong foundation. Once that foundation is in place, there are several areas we want to dive into next.
Drones: Today, controlling drones is largely done through a separate window. We want to explore how drones could become a more integrated part of the HUD, making their status and commands feel more connected to flying your ship.
Damage indicators: Another area for exploration is the way the HUD communicates what is happening to your ship. Knowing your shields are disappearing is useful, but understanding where damage is coming from, what kind of damage you are taking, and which threats need your attention would give you a much clearer picture of a fight.
Movement and navigation: Approaching, orbiting, keeping at range, aligning and positioning are fundamental to EVE. We want to explore how the HUD can make those actions clearer and more intuitive, while giving experienced pilots the precision they need.
These are some of the more immediate opportunities. Beyond them, the possibilities get much bigger.
The Overview is incredibly powerful at indicating what is around you, but there is an opportunity to make space itself a more useful source of information.
The tactical overlay, ranges, movement, threats, and navigation could all be communicated more directly in space. We also want to explore how interactions can become more contextual, bringing the actions you need closer to the objects you are interacting with, rather than relying as heavily on right-click menus.
The goal is not put more information on screen. Make the space around you easier to read, understand, and interact with.
No two capsuleers play EVE in quite the same way, and their HUDs should not have to look the same either.
We want to give you more control over which HUD components you use, where they appear, and how much information they display.
A corporation could share a recommended setup with new recruits, or an experienced pilot could share their exploration or pvp layout. We see this happen today through various (sometimes challenging) ways, like community fitting, overview settings, and so on. Customization should be more than personal preference; it should be a way capsuleers share knowledge and mastery.
Looking further ahead, that idea can extend beyond a single customized layout.
Mining, exploration, logistics, travel and fleet combat all demand very different things of a pilot. Rather than trying to create one HUD that rules them all, we are also exploring saved multiple layouts and allowing you to switch between them as you need.
You might have one setup for exploration, another for fleet combat, and another for simply traveling through New Eden, switching between them as your needs change.
The HUD should adapt to how you play, rather than asking every capsuleer to adapt to the same HUD.
More capability also creates a challenge: EVE already has an enormous amount of information to absorb.
We don't want every new capsuleer to encounter all that complexity at once. Instead, we want to explore how the HUD can grow with you. Early on, it can focus on helping you understand what is happening and what you can do. As your experience grows, it can expose greater information, precision, and control.
The goal isn't to remove EVE's complexity. It is to make that complexity easier to approach for new bros, while allowing experienced capsuleers to go deeper than they can today.
By easing into complexity, there is also an opportunity to allow the HUD to play a more active role in teaching the ropes.
Players arrive in New Eden already familiar with a visual language built across decades of gaming: danger, direction, range, activation, cooldowns, and other concepts. EVE is unique, but that does not mean everything needs to be learned from scratch.
We want to use familiar language where it helps, while retaining what makes EVE distinct. As you become more experienced, the HUD can move from guiding you, to becoming a tool, and ultimately an instrument for mastery.
The HUD can tell you more than the state of your ship. It can help tell you the story of what is happening around it.
Different places in New Eden have different characteristics, dangers, and opportunities. Entering a battlefield should feel different from traveling through quiet space. Environmental effects, conflicts, and other changes in a system could become something you understand not only through windows and notifications, but through the way your ship presents the world around you.
The HUD can become another way for New Eden to communicate with you, bringing the interface and the universe closer together.
Ultimately, our ambition goes beyond modernizing an interface.
We want the HUD to help you see, understand, decide, and act. It should adapt to what you are doing, give you greater control as your mastery grows, and bring you closer to the ship you are flying and the universe around you.
We don't want the HUD to sit between you and New Eden. We want it to bring you deeper into space.
There is a long road between this vision and where we are today. Some of these ideas are close enough to explore soon, while others look much further into EVE's future. And, just like the work we have shown throughout this series, where we ultimately take them will be shaped together with you.
Fly safe,
o7