If you're an active subscriber to EVE Online, good news: you get the first crack at signing up for the closed beta of Dust 514. Developer CCP announced today that it is taking closed beta sign-ups, first from the EVE faithful. All others will have to wait a bit longer.

The announcement calls this version of the beta "Mordu's Private Trials." Being an EVE subscriber doesn't grant you automatic access, but it does allow you to apply, so that's one advantage of exclusivity others don't have. If you want to take part in the beta, you can sign up for a chance now.

Meanwhile, senior producer Arnar Gylfason (aka "CCP Zulu") has announced he is stepping down, passing the torch to Jon Lander (aka "CCP Unifex"). This follows in the wake of CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson apologizing for "estrangement," and the company cutting back on World of Darkness development to refocus its efforts on EVE.

"The task ahead of us in 2012 is not to be taken lightly," Lander said the announcement. "We are changing EVE's internal project structure to bring it in line with a product that has nearly 200 people working on it and making sure that everyone is concentrating on delivering a game which has real value for our players." He says the focus will be updating internal tools and iterating on features that need attention.