Google DeepMind Partners with EVE Online to Research AI Agent Memory and Long-Term Planning

Overview

Google DeepMind announced a research partnership with CCP Games, developer of EVE Online, on May 6, 2026. The collaboration uses EVE Online's complex, player-driven universe as a safe sandbox to advance AI research in memory, continual learning, and long-term planning — three capability areas critical for general-purpose AI agents.

Why EVE Online?

Running since 2003, EVE Online is a massively multiplayer online game featuring thousands of star systems, player-driven economies, and large-scale political alliances. DeepMind identified it as an ideal research environment for several reasons:

Complex long-term strategic decision-making across vast timescales

Multi-agent scenarios combining cooperation and competition between players

A safe, isolated sandbox where AI agents can be tested without real-world consequences

Research Focus Areas

The partnership targets three core AI capabilities: Memory — how agents retain and leverage information over extended periods; Continual learning — how agents adapt to changing environments without catastrophically forgetting prior knowledge; and Long-term planning — multi-step strategy across complex economic and military systems.

DeepMind's History with Game AI

DeepMind has a long track record of landmark AI research using games as proving grounds. From AlphaGo (2016) to AlphaStar in StarCraft II (2019) to AlphaCode (2022), games have served as critical benchmarks for AI capability. This EVE Online partnership extends that tradition to massively multiplayer, economically complex environments — environments far closer to real-world complexity than any previous game-based benchmark.