The Nosy Gamer
Monday, November 4, 2024
A Look At EVE Online Activity In October 2024
Friday, November 1, 2024
Cloud Imperium October 2024 Sales Revenue Declines 36.9% Year-Over-Year
After recording a very good third quarter for 2024, Cloud Imperium Games' revenue from the sales from its online cash shop came in at $9.2 million according to the CCU Game dashboard. While the second highest sales month so far in 2024, the figure represents a 36.9% year-over-year decline from last October's total of $14.6 million in sales. For the year, the company's sales revenue is down by slightly more than $3 million, a 3.7% year-over-year decrease over the $80.7 million recorded in the first 10 months of 2023.
For those who keep track of new accounts (aka "new citizens"), October's 31,204 was 3.9% less than the total of 32,479 in October 2023. For the year, new account creation is down 29.8% for the ten seven months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
Overall, the recorded sales tracked on the CCU Game dashboard is $735.1 million since the launch of the Kickstarter in October 2012. But Cloud Imperium has additional funding sources not tracked by the dashboard. Overall, the company has recorded $833.7 million in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2022 financial report).
- Sales/Pledges: $735.1 million (through 31 October 2024)
- Subscriptions: $33.0 million (through 31 December 2022)
- All other sources: $65.6 million (through 31 December 2022)
In addition, the company has received a total of $63.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2022 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $897 million, or $892.2 million when excluding the returned funds.
October's stunning year-over-year sales decline does not necessarily represent a huge drop in interest in the game itself. I expected a drop-off, especially after seeing CIG not repeat a big ship sale in the middle of the month. On 10 October 2023, CIG made the Drake Vulture the subscribers' ship of the month and apparently the promotion was very popular. At least, the beginning of the offer coincided with a big jump in cash shop revenue. One not matched in October 2024.
For me, November is now a critical month financially. CIG's cash shop revenue has not declined year-over-year since 2017. Over the previous six years, the median year-over-year sales increase for November was 25.4%. If CIG repeats that type of performance in November, the sales total will exceed $120 million. If the sales increase is only 19%, the company can match last year's total of $117.6 million. And if revenue can't keep up with 2023's aggressive sales and marketing plan for a second consecutive month? I think the internet will hear a lot of "the game is dying" from beyond Star Citizen's critics.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
CCP Games Begins Its Seventh Year Owned By Pearl Abyss
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
CCP Games News: Galaxy Conquest And EVE Online Patch Notes
EVE Galaxy Conquest is looking for content creators within our player community! Whether you are an accomplished content creator or an enthusiastic beginner, whether you plan to depict epic battles, dive into the meta, or provide tutorial guides, our team has prepared generous rewards for you. We look forward to seeing you showcase EVE Galaxy Conquest and grow your audience!In addition to in-game rewards such as Quantum, As an EVE Galaxy Conquest partner you can expect the following:
- Access to the devs via Discord
- Featuring on CCP promotional channels
- Sneak peak at upcoming content
- All remaining Sovereignty Hubs which were running in Legacy mode have been automatically converted into using the new mode.
- It is no longer possible to remove rigs from structures which were eligible for rig removal.
- The bounty rewards for the destroyer, battlecruiser and battleship NPCs which are exclusive to the Forsaken Sanctum/Teeming horde sites have been increased by 20%.
- The chance of a Large Mercoxit Deposit spawning in a nullsec sovereignty system with a level 2 Prospecting Array Upgrade present has been increased by 3x
- The Magmatic Gas cost to run a Metenox Moon Drill has been increased from 88 to 110 per hour.
- Reduced the NPC buy order price of Superionic Ice.
- The SoCT has expanded journal buy orders to Genolution stations, including new buy orders for recently discovered journal entries.
- Combat music no longer plays over other music.
- Insurgencies - Fixed an issue where the pirate FOB could move from reinforced back to vulnerable again if there was a temporary outage with the external service while it was reinforced.
- Insurgencies - Fixed a bug which could cause empire factional warfare HQ solarsystems (Amo, Intaki, Mehatoor and Onnamon) from not starting at suppression level 2.
- Insurgencies - Fixed a bug where corruption effects could linger after an insurgency ended.
- ESS - It’s no longer possible to place deployables (like Micro Jump Units and Mobile Tractor Units) closer than 1000km to the ESS in the main ESS room.
- Fixed an issue where NPC kills would not be counted towards daily goals and events if an NPC was one-shot by a player.
- Fixed an issue where NPC kills would not be counted towards daily goals and events if an NPC was killed indirectly with a smartbomb or an EDENCOM vorton projector weapon bounce and wasn’t targeted by any player directly.
- Fixed a killmail bug which could occur if a player killed themselves in one shot (Such as dying to their own bomb in a stealth bomber/failing Ghost Site hack etc).
- Fixed a killmail bug which could occur if a player got a final blow on a player’s ship, but the damage they did was all in one-shot and they didn’t damage the target previously.
- Adjusted the distance from which certain objects are visible in space.
- Shattered Paradigm decals no longer clip on the Orthrus.
- IGC logo on Shattered Paradigm SKIN is now grey instead of red.
Monday, October 28, 2024
EVE Online News Not Important Enough For The News Feed
Over the weekend a couple of events concluded in the EVE Online world that didn't make the news feed. I didn't even think to check until I read Wilhelm's coverage of the CSM 19 election results on The Ancient Gaming Noob. I did manage to find some news on Twitter (aka X, which is a totally stupid name).
Congrats to the winners of CSM 19!!!#Tweetfleet #EVEOnline pic.twitter.com/mGNpb5QMZC
— EVE Online (@EveOnline) October 26, 2024
For the first time since I started playing in 2009 I didn't vote. I might wind up doing a voting breakdown, but to be honest, I'm a bit burned out on CSM content. Also, I might have to install Python 2.7 on a computer and I've moved on to Python 3. Then again, I saw a presentation at Fanfest last year in which CCP plans to move on to Python 3 as well. I wonder if the election script will need any updating.
The other piece of news was the results of Alliance Tournament XX.
Congratulations to The Tuskers Co. for winning Alliance Tournament XX 3-2 over Truth.Honour.Light.
— EVE Online (@EveOnline) October 27, 2024
Thank you all for watching and supporting AT XX - we couldn't have done it without you!#Tweetfleet #EVEOnline #ATXXChamps pic.twitter.com/Im7fWy71WP
A long-time tournament powerhouse, The Tuskers, defeated the winner of Alliance Tournament XVIII, Truth.Honour.Light. This year's win is the second for The Tuskers, as their previous win was in 2016. The Tuskers did not set a record for time between AT wins. That record still belongs to HYDRA RELOADED, winners of Alliance Tournament IX (2011) and Alliance Tournament XVII (2021).
Perhaps CCP will publish the news later on today. But I would have thought at least the CSM 19 results would have had better publicity from CCP. Unlike the finals of the Alliance Tournament, the news could have been set to release at any time.
Friday, October 25, 2024
Ashes Of Creation Alpha 2 Begins Today
I really didn't anticipate doing any coverage of Ashes of Creation. The game is still in an alpha state and probably 5 or more years away from a commercial release. But then a crazy thing happened. Tiny indie studio Intrepid Games stumbled into a tech war with the giant, 1000+ employee Cloud Imperium Games, developers of the upcoming Squadron 42 and Star Citizen. The technology? Dynamic server meshing. And since how Ashes of Creation performs can affect the finances of CIG due to the comparisons of each game's technology, I feel I need to at least do a little coverage.
The Alpha 2 testing of Ashes of Creation starts today for selected people. The full testing calendar describes a rollout lasting 7 months.
- 25 October 2024 - For players who attained Alpha Two access via a giveaway, or Kickstarter Pack, Kickstarter Addon, Pre-order Pack, and Pre-order Addon.
- 8 November 2024 - For those who purchased a First Wave Bundle.
- 20 December 2024 - For those who purchased a Second Wave Bundle.
- 1 May 2025 - For those who purchased a Third Wave Bundle.
The wave bundles are a bit controversial. Charging to test a video game? Yet, people are willing to pay for the privilege. The bundles are:
- First Wave - $120. Sales of the bundle end 1 November 2024.
- Second Wave - $110. Sales of the bundle end December 2024.
- Third Wave - $100. Sales of the bundle end 27 May 2025.
Each bundle comes with Alpha Two, Beta One, and Beta Two access, 1 Month of Subscription Time ($15 value), and $15 in Embers, the in-game currency. Remember when I mentioned 5 or more years until commercial release in the introduction? Intrepid is planning two rounds of open beta testing before launch.
The testing also feels more like the alpha testing I've seem from CCP Games in their player testing of EVE Vanguard and EVE Frontier. We are 7 months away from 24/7 testing of AoC. The schedule for how long servers are available for testing is below.
- On Friday, October 25, 2024 Alpha Two begins. Phase I of this testing phase will be weekend testing that starts on Fridays and ends on Sundays.
- On Friday, December 20, 2024 we will move to Phase II of this testing phase which will be periods of testing for 5+ days in a row.
- On Thursday, May 1, 2025 we will move to Phase III of this testing phase which will be testing that is up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with downtime for game updates.
- Note: Dates are subject to change due to development, but Intrepid will notify testers of schedule changes in advance.
One thing I think changed is that the Alpha 2 playtesting is not under an NDA. At least, a quick look at Twitch gives that impression. The NDA for the testing before Alpha 2 was lifted a few days ago.
The allowance of streaming the Alpha 2 could lead to embarrassment for other developers, primarily Cloud Imperium Games. CIG's CitizenCon presented a vision of Star Citizen highly reliant on the ability to mesh servers together. If Intrepid shows the ability to have massive PvP fights with tech developed faster and with far less people than CIG, I can see a lot of sniping at Intrepid from Star Citizen white knights looking to defend their game by tearing another game down.
Which brings me back to the concept of the server meshing wars. People will defend their game on the claim that their favorite game studio is developing cutting edge technology. What that does to funding for the various games is something to watch for the future of crowdfunded gaming projects.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
The Financial Implications For Cloud Imperium From CitizenCon 2024
Vehicles Attributed Through the Website, and not Earned In-GameUNCHANGED PLAN: All insurance will last for varying durations, just like it's always have supposed to. (No change.)UNCHANGED PLAN: Level 1 is chassis and original, purchase-included components only and is the insurance that has always been offered since the project began. (No change.)UNCHANGED PLAN: [EDIT HERE WITH CORRECTED INFO BECAUSE I'M OLD AND OUT OF PRACTICE AND I SHARED SUPER-DUPER OLD THINKING ORIGINALLY] If your vehicle is destroyed without insurance, the intention is that there will be an additional in-game cost to recovering it, but it remains on your account and accessible forever. There will be ways to track its duration in game when the system is implemented, and a warning when you summon your vehicle if it is without active insurance. The choice to operate without insurance will be deliberate, very noticeable, and entirely yours. (No change.)UNCHANGED PLAN, AND UNIQUE TO WEBSITE PROMOTIONS: Lifetime duration means you never have to bother with renewing it in-game. All other durations are intended to be renewed through in-game means once the system is fully implemented. This has always been chassis and stock components, meaning it is Level 1 insurance with a lifetime duration. (No change.)FUTURE NEW ADDITIONAL OPTION: Level 2 adds custom components coverage to chassis. This is new and cool and especially important in a universe with massive crafting options and will be addable in game.FUTURE NEW ADDITIONAL OPTION: Level 3 adds coverage to all your upcoming ship decorations, and still includes chassis and custom components, which is awesome and will be addable in game.
Monday, October 21, 2024
What Will Star Citizen 1.0 Look Like?
... the star systems of old are not the star systems of today. They were based on the Privateer and Freelancer model. They were unexplorable planets with an isolated and small landing zone and had automated landings ... and we all know how that went.To give you an idea Stanton had four points of interest (POI) and the entire 100 systems only had 90 POIs. Compare that to Stanton today and we have 1626 points of interest. And that is going to be dwarfed once we start using the Starchitect tool you saw yesterday.
We'll have three tiers of insurance with level one being chassis insurance, level two chassis and component insurance, and level three chassis, component and decorations insurance. Now insurance by itself will only pay out credits based on the wear and age of your ship ... insurance with a warranty though will give you back a new ship plus any other equipment or decorations based on their of insurance you had. Okay, so this is the bit you need to listen to. All ships bought on the pledge store will come with a permanent warranty and their appropriate insurance. This means you will always get your ships back if they're attributed to your account.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Squadron 42 To Release Sometime In 2026
The first day of Cloud Imperium's CitizenCon completed about an hour ago with a live playthrough of the tutorial of Squadron 42 and a release year. 2026. Oh, and the game crashed to desktop twice and encountered a rather embarrassing bug at the end. Not a very auspicious gameplay reveal.
What I do want to point out is I think Chris Roberts perhaps misled some people on just how close to release Squadron 42 at last year's event. Roberts made the announcement in 2023 that the game was "feature complete" and just needed some polish before being released. I think a lot of people thought that meant the game would come out within 12-18 months. I personally thought the game would release sometime before CitizenCon 2025 at the latest, giving CIG two years to get the game ready.
By announcing the game's launch in 2026, I now expect the game to release sometime in the final quarter of 2026. I believe the outside investors may be a little unhappy as delaying the release of the game approximately 12 months affects the calculation of the investors' returns when they exercise their put options at the beginning of 2028. Hopefully the news does not result in the Calders' exercising their put option in 2025 instead of waiting three more years.
I should add Roberts did not mention pricing for the game, although the game is expected to take 30 to 40 hours to play.
Friday, October 18, 2024
Alliance XX Tournament - The First Weekend's Schedule And Rules
Winner's Bracket Schedule |
Loser's Bracket Schedule |
- This tournament is now sponsored by the Guristas. As such, the previous CONCORD directives have been rescinded, reducing multiple pirate faction ship costs instead. Gallente-sponsored ships from ATXIX have had their costs restored.
- The top 4 winning teams from ATXIX have been invited back by the IGC and will have no cost of entry.
- The PLEX Silent Auction Buy-ins have been removed this year, and the entry cost has been increased from 3,000 PLEX to 4,000 PLEX.
- Flagship rules have been adjusted to allow prize ships from the previous three alliance tournament to be fielded. Additionally, several previously restricted ships are now allowed.
- The point system has been overhauled. The new point cap per team is 200 points, and multiple ships now have new unique point values.
- Boosters that don’t directly impact the tournament, such as Cerebral Accelerators, are now allowed.
- Instead of 4 total bans submitted to the referee, 2 bans will be submitted by both teams and then shared, followed by 2 additional bans from each team that will also be shared.
- Several new ship hulls from the Equinox and Havoc expansions have been added to the tournament.
Prizes3 New Alliance Tournament sprize ships are to be issued. The Sidewinder (Frigate), the Cobra (Cruiser) and the Python (Battleship).This Year’s Prize Ship Distribution:The prize breakdown for Alliance Tournament XX is as follows:
- 1st (winner of finals): 40x Sidewinder, 40x Cobra, 20x Python
- 2nd (loser of winner’s bracket): 30x Sidewinder, 30x Cobra, 15x Python
- 3rd (loser of match 61): 20x Sidewinder, 20x Cobra, 10x Python
- 4th (loser of match 60): 12x Sidewinder , 12x Cobra, 6x Python
- Top 6 (2 teams, K.O. in losers round 6): 8x Sidewinder, 8x Cobra, 4x Python
- Top 8 (2 teams, K.O. in losers round 5): 6x Sidewinder, 6x Cobra, 3x Python
- Top 12 (4 teams, K.O. in losers round 4): 4x Sidewinder, 4x Cobra, 2x Python
- Top 16 (4 teams, K.O. in losers round 3): 2x Sidewinder, 2x Cobra, 1x Python
A total of 385 ships rewarded!