As with most free-to-play games, CCP's upcoming PS3-exclusive shooter, Dust 514, will end up costing something for dedicated players. For example, fully outfitting a character with high-end gear will cost pennies.

"If you assume that somebody came in and had to buy, with real-world money, the best gear for a serious throw down--it was like a 24-cent thing," CCP's Morgan Godat said.

"We're talking about relatively small amounts of money," Godat told Eurogamer. "You can buy 100 copies of this gun, you can buy 100 copies of this suit of armor." The reason you will buy so much gear is because when you die, you lose it. "We've got to make sure we're pricing things at the right level, because if you die [you lose these things]."

Pricing is still in flux, something being determined by current players in the beta."We're still tuning prices--the costs will change according to the feedback we get on the beta."

The game is currently in closed beta for EVE players, and many of them have already been paying real money for gear. CCP plans to refund that money once the beta ends. On or around June 29, the beta opens to non-EVE players and will also hook up to EVE's tranquility server, joining the two games for the first time. The actual launch date for Dust 514 has not been set yet.