One of the worlds largest space battles is occurring right under our noses right now in EVE Online, with 6,500 participants engaging in combat, making it the most populated space battle in EVE Online history.
The battle is between two major factions, the Imperium, and PANFAM, along with their allies. The fight itself is currently over a Keepstar in EVE Online, which is essentially a giant space station that likely would cost players a ton of real-life money to build and maintain in the virtual space simulator.
The Keepstar currently being contested is the FWST-8, with the PANFAM and their allies attempting to defend the Keepstar from an invading Imperium force.
The whole battle can actually be watched in real time right now, on the Imperium News Network on Twitch.
Space battles from EVE Online are a fairly commonplace, with the popular Sci-Fi MMO being pretty hands off when players in various factions compete for resources or take over territories. The battle currently has a reported over 6,500 individuals playing, with what is believed to be the most number of individual pilots and fighter ships in one location. This makes it on record the largest battle ever to take place on EVE Online.
In comparison, EVE's most famous battle, nicknamed the Bloodbath of B-R5RB, would see over 5,000 players participating in a space battle that would take place over two days, from January 27th and 28th, 2014. The results would see the loss of over $300,000 in real life currency, all of which were invested in in-game ships and other items.
EVE Online was originally released back in May of 2003, and has been a constantly played MMORPG for nearly twenty years. The MMO has been steadily updated with new expansions, ships, and abilities across the in-game world, some of which are heavily mined by players with real life currency.
The current results of the battle are still ongoing, with the PANFAM and Imperium factions still locked in combat.