EVE Online’s migration to Python 3 has begun. CCP presents the first batch as part of the EVE Forever initiative, but the announcement describes a staged engineering project rather than a finished switch. published on Steam on August 25, 2026
The codebase involved contains around 2.4 million lines spread across nearly 20,000 Python files. That scale explains why the first release is deliberately limited: the team is preparing a large, long-lived codebase while keeping the transition incremental.
The first stage keeps Python 2.7 in the picture
Stage 1 remains compatible with Python 2.7. The initial changes therefore prepare the code without requiring every part of EVE Online to adopt Python 3 at once. This compatibility is temporary, but it gives CCP room to separate the first code changes from the harder question of whether the game behaves identically after the runtime changes.
The changes were tested on Singularity, EVE Online’s test environment, before deployment to Tranquility, the game’s main server. The rollout has a clear order, but it does not establish that the migration is complete across the game. The official source is available from the EVE Online page: CCP Games’ Steam announcement
Behavioral differences are the next obstacle
Stage 2 still needs to address behavioral differences between Python 2 and Python 3. Compatibility here means more than making code run: systems must continue to produce the expected results after the language transition. The stage details appear in full communication.
For players, the immediate effect is still undefined. CCP has announced no quantified performance or latency gains, and the communication gives no completion date. The confirmed change is the start of the migration itself; any promise of improved performance or lower latency would go beyond the information currently available.
What the announcement confirms
The official Steam announcement, “The Move to Python 3 Begins!”, was published on 2026-08-25 and confirms that tests on Singularity were followed by deployment on Tranquility: steamcommunity.com. Further information is available through the EVE Online page, with additional coverage here: the EVE Online page
This first stage turns the Python 3 migration into an active rollout while preserving Python 2.7 compatibility during the opening step. The trade-off is clear: the project can advance incrementally, but players must wait for Stage 2 and a later completion announcement before its full technical impact can be judged.
