The Final Board Of Directors' View Of CCP Games From The 2025 Consolidated Financial Reports

Two weeks ago the 2025 financial reports for Pearl Abyss Iceland and CCP ehf came out on the website of the Icelandic national taxing authority. Croda over on marketsforISK did his annual analysis on the finances of Pearl Abyss Iceland. But something changed this year. On 6 May the three Pearl Abyss members of CCP ehf's five person board of directors resigned as a result of the management buyout and rebranding of the company to Fenris Creations.

I'm going to try to do something rather foolish and write a couple of posts looking forward based on the 2025 financials. But as the statement in CCP ehf's filings was dated 21 April 2026, what follows is probably the last statement from the old Pearl Abyss dominated board. Except for a couple of points of clarification, what follows below is the statement of the board before the management buyout occurred.

CCP ehf. designs, develops, markets, and operates immersive virtual worlds and games accessible over the internet. Our mission is to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life. Headquartered in Iceland, the Company operates subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, China, and the United States.

I just want to point out the Pearl Abyss Iceland is different from the now Fenris Creations. "Pearl Abyss Iceland ehf. is a holding company established in 2018. In October 2018 the Company bought all issued and outstanding shares in CCP ehf." As far as I can tell, Pearl Abyss still owns Pearl Abyss Iceland.

Operations during the year

In 2025, CCP generated revenues of USD 70.3 million, compared to USD 70.4 million in the previous year. Notably, game revenue increased by USD 4.8 million (8%) year-on-year, reflecting strong ongoing engagement across EVE Online. However, the Company reports a net loss of USD 14.0 million compared to a USD 2.9 million loss in 2024. This is a continuation of CCP's deliberate and increased fully funded investment in multiple active development projects — including EVE Frontier, EVE Vanguard, and the Carbon open-source platform — which are scheduled to enter key release phases from mid-2026 onwards. These investments, while impacting short-term profitability, are central to CCP’s strategy and position the Company for strategic and sustainable growth in the years ahead. As of year-end, shareholders’ equity stood at USD 13.2 million, with an equity ratio of 21.5%, and total assets of USD 61.2 million. The Company employed 165 people at year-end, compared to 173 people at the beginning of the year.

Here once again I have to stop to provide figures from Pearl Abyss Iceland. PAI showed revenue of USD 65.3 million, compared to USD 60.2 million in 2024. The Group also reported a net loss of USD 28.8 million, compared to a USD 19.5 million net loss in 2024. The numbers for PAI are much worse than for CCP, meaning outside factors played a role even before the management buyout. Yes, Angelice Prime Foundation is involved, but that subject requires its own blog post or two.

During the year, the Group continued to expand the EVE Universe through major updates to EVE Online while advancing development across multiple new titles and platforms, alongside ongoing live operations. In January 2025, the Group published the EVE Online development roadmap, outlining two major expansions supported by continuous narrative events and systemic improvements designed to strengthen the player-driven economy and large-scale conflict across New Eden. 

Community engagement remained strong throughout the year. In February 2025, the Group announced that tickets for EVE Fanfest 2025 had sold out in record time, demonstrating the continued strength and global reach of the EVE community. 

I should point out "community engagement" was a very big topic on Pearl Abyss quarterly earnings calls. I'm not sure if that is one of the subjects the overlords in Anyang learned from CCP/Fenris.

The first expansion of the year, EVE Online: Legion, launched in May 2025. 'Legion' introduced new systems aimed at broadening participation in both economic and military gameplay, including features designed to support more flexible and accessible collaboration across player organizations. The expansion formed part of the Group’s ongoing strategy to evolve EVE Online’s sandbox by enabling new forms of player agency and contribution. 'Legion' continued to be refined through updates and live iteration throughout the year. 

This was the point in the year EVE Frontier also came into its own with its universe hosting 24/7 access to the game. I would have to wonder how the new board that took its seats over the last week or so would have written the above paragraph.

In November 2025, the Group released the second major expansion, EVE Online: Catalyst, focused on evolving the industrial and resource systems that underpin the game’s economy. 'Catalyst' introduced new resource flows, alongside improvements to exploration, navigation, and strategic mobility, reinforcing the foundations of New Eden’s player-driven ecosystem. Subsequent updates in early 2026 further expanded on these systems, supporting continued engagement and long-term economic balance. EVE Online maintained strong player engagement throughout the year and delivered its strongest revenue performance in several years. 

The comments about content released in 2026 leave a clue that content in the document isn't just about the past.

Significant progress was made during the year on EVE Frontier, a new hardcore space survival MMO set within a persistent single-shard universe. Frontier expands the EVE Universe into a new genre while introducing programmable infrastructure systems that enable players to build, automate, and operate complex in-game structures. During 2025, the Group expanded access through its Founder Access program and introduced multiple gameplay cycles, allowing early participants to engage with evolving systems and provide feedback that informs development. 

This is why I wonder about how the write-up was done. I'm used to seeing events pretty much documented in chronological order. Nothing wrong with ordering the content by game, but I wonder if a subtle message is being portrayed in a document almost no one will read. Probably not, but given the history of the company, one can never tell.

In October 2025, the Group announced a strategic collaboration with Mysten Labs and the Sui network to support the technological platform underlying EVE Frontier. This partnership provides scalable infrastructure for programmable in game systems and digital assets, supporting the development of a broader ecosystem of tools and services around the EVE Frontier platform. 

The above paragraph shows how Fenris looks at blockchain technology. As a ready-made scalable infrastructure. I'm not sure the rest of the world would apply the tech to game systems and digital assets. Perhaps if Frontier succeeds.

Development also progressed on EVE Vanguard, the Group’s sandbox first-person shooter set within the EVE Universe. In September 2025, the Group launched Operation Nemesis, a large-scale public playtest introducing new mission structures and gameplay systems, while demonstrating early integration between planetary combat and events occurring in EVE Online. EVE Vanguard continues to be developed in close collaboration with its player community as the Group works toward future release milestones. 

Given the ordering of the year by game, is anyone surprised by the first person shooter showing up third in the priorities? 

The Group also continued live operations of EVE Galaxy Conquest, the mobile strategy title developed by the Group’s Shanghai studio. The game extends the EVE Universe to mobile platforms, enabling players to engage in large-scale strategic conflict through fleet command, territorial control, and alliance-based gameplay, supported by ongoing content updates and live operations.

And finally the mobile game. I really have to wonder if the mobile game was pressed upon Fenris by Pearl Abyss. Black Desert Mobile was such a hit in its first few years I can well imagine the folks in the home office in Anyang thinks a mobile game would produce big money in a short amount of time.

I have not seen the forms listing the members of the new board of directors. But that is a subject for the future. For now, we are closing down the Crowd Control Productions chapter of Fenris Creations history.

Highlights From The EVE Fanfest 2026 Keynote

At the end of day 2 of the 2026 EVE Fanfest convention Fenris Creations (the studio formerly known as CCP Games) held its keynote presentation. I watched the presentation live and am just going to go through some of the notes I took of the approximately hour and a half session.

First, Fenris does have two mobile games related to the EVE universe, the NetEase-run EVE Echoes and the internally built EVE Galaxy Conquest. A lot of people disregard the mobile games, but they do bring in a not insignificant amount of revenue. According to the group's recently released financial accounts for 2025 Echoes probably brought in $4 million in 2025. And while no figure was given for Galaxy Conquest, cost of sales of $1.3 million lead me to believe mobile game revenue for the company was over 10% if not 15% of total game revenue. Thus, a subject to pay attention to.

EVE Echoes next expansion is titled Titan Descent. Galaxy Conquest was recently updated with pirate invasions, new ships, and a new map. Upcoming additions to GC are achievements, Gurista invasions, and relic explorations. And, like in EVE Online, the mobile game has its own player council.

Next up were player run tournaments in EVE Online. After a review of the Tuskers victory in Alliance Tournament XXI, Fenris announced host of AT XXII would be Amarr. Other player-run tournaments like Anger Gamex VII are supported by Fenris-created tools. Those tools should improve for the upcoming year's tournament season.

The EVE Partner program was mentioned, but I'm not sure exactly how much actually changed. The winners of the new content creator awards will be announced during the closing ceremonies.

Other partners besides players

I'm going to rush past the 1 billion scientific classifications EVE players have submitted over the past 10 years to Kickstarter news. Andrew Groen, the author of the Empires of EVE books, has a new project, The Archive. Covering the history of many MMORPGs besides EVE, the book has received enough support to be published. I backed the Empires of EVE books and just backed The Archive as well.

Now for the news most readers want to know: the summer expansion. Fenris Creations not only changed its name, but also the name format for EVE Online expansions. The next expansion, launching on 9 June, is Cradle of War.  The trailer wasn't too bad.

Since I started playing EVE in 2009 I've heard players wanting to include high sec in factional warfare. With Cradle of War that long held wish is coming true in the form of military campaigns. Players no longer have to engage in PvP in order to participate in FW.

Expansion highlights

FW apparently will now have an in-game interface to track the progression of the war. Each empire will always have a military campaign running for players to which players can contribute. These campaigns are built on the freelance jobs system introduced to New Eden in the Legion expansion in May 2025. 

For those wondering, all the changes planned will not show up in the CoW. The changes will take the next three expansions to implement.

Something I bet some will hate is the introduction of titles and achievements. A staple of MMORPGs not made in Iceland, I hope the system will complement the new starter space also coming in CoW. The region is known as Exordium and the 53-system region will be the first ever safe space in EVE. 

Of course, every EVE expansion must have new ships. CoW will introduce another line of faction navy destroyers and four Tech 2 Command Carriers, one for each empire. More information about the ships was promised during Saturday's EVE Online keynote address.

The next major news came from EVE Vanguard. The Vanguard devs let the world know that the game would enter alpha on 7 July with the introduction of Operation Avalon. The alpha will also launch a new map for the extraction shooter set in the EVE universe. The alpha's first playtest period will run from July 7-20 and be available on Steam. Eventually the shooter will tie into EVE Online, with Operation Avalon introducing the first economic tie-ins between the two games.

The final game presented was the debut of EVE Frontier. For those wondering who gave the presentation, that was Frontier's Creative Director FC MaximumCats. The presentation was more of an introduction to the game than anything else, with MaximumCats perhaps going a little over the top in the roleplay department. For that I blame the influence of FC Burger.

I've watched MaximumCats presentation a couple of times now. The one time people in the audience seemed really interested was the possibility of using Frontier's hyper-modularity to create their own spaceships. I have the feeling I'll want to dig into the EVE Frontier keynote scheduled to stream on Twitch at 1400 UTC. 

I don't want to go too far into some of Hilmar's takes on AI. He seemed to imply that AI programs like Deep Blue defeating Gary Kasparov and AlphaGo defeating Lee Sedol helped make the games more approachable to the general public, and more popular. If he is counting on such a thing happening with Google DeepMind's research into EVE Online, well, I think he took a wrong turn down the rabbit hole. But I can imagine Google DeepMind learning a lot of things about artificial intelligence studying EVE and its massive database of player interactions.

I didn't quite cover everything but the Fanfest keynote presentation is a general overview. The real details show up on the various keynotes covering EVE Online, EVE Vanguard, and EVE Frontier on Saturday.

Pearl Abyss Q1 2026 Earnings Letter

Yesterday Pearl Abyss released its earnings information for the first quarter of 2026 in a new format. Instead of a call the South Korean game maker posted a letter which had most of the information given in a typical earnings call. 

The big news, of course, was the launch of Crimson Desert on 19 March 2026. The company described some rather impressive numbers.

[T]he game solidified its position as a AAA game by recording 2 million copies on the first day of launch, 3 million within 4 days, 4 million within 12 days, and 5 million within 26 days. In addition, we enhanced the overall user experiences by adding new content and improving user experience through patches based on user feedback.

According to the letter, Crimson Desert brought in ₩266.5 billion ($177.1 million) in the first quarter, meaning the first 4 million copies sold were recorded in the earnings letter. Sales were split roughly 50-50 between the PC and console versions of the game. 

Selling those 4 million copies did come with costs. Commissions increased quarter-over-quarter by ₩28 billion ($19 million) due to an increase in sales on Steam. Also, quarter-over-quarter advertising costs increased 151% up to ₩23.4 billion ($16 million).

Pearl Abyss' other IP, Black Desert, saw a 2.2% decline in revenue, both QoQ and YoY, down to ₩61.6 billion ($42.1 million).

Now for the elephant in the room: the divestiture of CCP Games, now Fenris Creations. As part of the move Pearl Abyss removed all trace of Fenris from the report except for one line in the appendix stating the losses caused by the "Discontinued Operation". From what I found, standard accounting practice is to reclassify as "Discontinued Operations" any activity of a subsidiary that is sold. Doing so provides investors with an apples-to-apples comparison of Pearl Abyss' current business to historical data. As such the graphs in the letter had any data from Fenris/CCP removed.

Unexpectedly, at least to me, the earnings letter provided an answer to the question, just how many resources was Fenris/CCP taking from Pearl Abyss in developing games. According to the appendix, the "Discontinued Operation" would have experienced ₩33.6 billion ($23 million) in net losses in 2025 with an additional ₩12.1 billion ($8.2 million) in the first quarter of 2026.

I was also able to calculate the operating losses generated by Fenris/CCP during 2025 by combining the data from the letter to the information in the Q4 2025 earnings call. Those came out to ₩47.0 billion ($33.1 million).

This breakdown highlights why management likely moved toward the divestiture. By removing a segment that was averaging a roughly ₩10–13 billion quarterly operating loss in 2025, Pearl Abyss's baseline profitability appears significantly stronger once the Crimson Desert revenue hit the books. Given Pearl Abyss' recent history with investors, they can use all the help looking good they can get.

Flying Solo In EVE: Prelude To Fanfest 2026

Last week was a pretty momentous week in the history of Fenris Creations, the studio formerly known as CCP Games. In a week normally focused around celebrating the launch of EVE Online (including associated sales) the business side came to the fore. But before looking ahead to the start of Fanfest on Thursday, let's take a quick look back at last week.

ACU up a bit last week

Last week hit a peak that probably won't be matched until the launch of the expansion. The celebrations of the 23rd anniversary of the launch of EVE Online saw the weekly average number of concurrent users logged into the game reach 26,000 +/- 500, another rise from the previous week. With the peak concurrent users for the week only 36,252 though, I'd guess the numbers came in at the lower range of the spread.

I think the long slog to completing tier 5 of the Capsuleer Day event activities might have had something to do with the lower numbers. I don't really feel like reaching the end of the event track on a second character. I started but not enthusiastically.

The price of PLEX up slightly last week

With the celebrations on-going and the Capsuleer Day event handing out a lot of PLEX, the market volumes went down. The amount of PLEX traded on the global PLEX market fell by 3.8% last week, with players spending 5.1% less exchanging PLEX for in game currency. I am waiting for the Fanfest sales to kick in over the weekend to influence the PLEX market for good or for ill.

Stats through the end of week 19

Normally I was start reviewing the first 10 days or so of the Capsuleer Day event, but another celebration occurred. The 23rd anniversary of the launch of EVE Online now marks the rebranding of CCP Games to Fenris Creations. Was the opening of EVE Fanfest a week later taken into account with the rebranding move or simply a coincidence? I'll go with the former.

I almost wish I was at Fanfest with access to the press events this year. Although, to be honest, I'd probably get tired of all the "FC" jokes that will be told at the event as everyone at Fenris gets a name change. Hopefully, though, press will do interviews with everyone from the senior director of Google DeepMind to some of the venture capitalists making the studio's escape from Anyang possible.

Since this year's article about the streaming schedule is up I thought I'd highlight the sessions I'll have an immediate interest in (all times in GMT/UTC):

Friday

13:00 UTC - The Infinite Game: FC Hellmar and Adrian Boloton Senior director at DeepMind. Opening remarks by the President of Iceland Halla Tómasdóttir.

16:30 UTC - EVE Fanfest Keynote: Some say it’s the highlight of the year. Others say it’s the highlight of the decade. Join Fenris developers live for the latest updates from the EVE Universe. Get an exclusive look at this summer’s expansion for EVE Online, new developments for EVE Vanguard and EVE Frontier, fresh updates on the Capsuleer Edda, and more.

Saturday

10:00 UTC - EVE Vanguard Keynote: Get the latest updates on what’s coming in EVE Vanguard, including new features, evolving gameplay systems, and the vision shaping the future of EVE’s upcoming extraction-adventure.

14:00 UTC - EVE Frontier Keynote: Awake eternally for a cold and hostile look at the past, present, and future of the EVE Frontier universe.

15:00 UTC - [Redacted] Expansion Unlocked: Get a much closer look at the EVE Online expansion coming this summer.

I know, more of a business interest than anything, but now that Fenris is independent again its more important than ever to see how the rebranded company plans on making money and staying independent.

Goodbye Copilot, Hello Google AI

Over the last two weeks we discovered that Crowd Control Productions (CCP) management group bought itself from Pearl Abyss and rebranded as Fenris Creations. One of the companies backing the move financially was Google DeepMind which purchased a share of the Icelandic game studio. Which led me to a somewhat unrelated rabbit hole: should I switch to Google AI?

I've been open about using Microsoft's Copilot. One thing I didn't mention was I was paying $20/month for the privilege. That's right. The free version isn't that good. And when the subject turns to EVE Online, I got more garbage then when I used Copilot to help with writing the Python code I use to help generate data, charts and graphs for the blog. A couple of those rabbit holes were kind of frustrating.

Surprisingly, a big factor is the personality of the AI. I felt the AI would start pouting when I questioned the information provided and wanted a source. Can AI actually pout? If not, Microsoft certainly produced a good simulation of the behavior. As weird as it seems, Copilot's personality was a bit fragile and sometimes I had to be careful of my prompts if the AI was wrong two or three times in a row.

The part of Google AI I've used so far is Gemini. Considering I can pay for one year, reducing the cost down to $16.67/month, switching was a no-brainer. Also, Gemini seems to have a personality. The first thing I noticed was my page turned black. Apparently Gemini prefers night mode, although the Google DeepMind website is bright white.

Gemini seems more cheerful than Copilot and I can see why. Google AI has an application called LMNotebook in which I can provide the sources I want used and the AI won't go elsewhere looking for information. Copilot would do that, which means sometimes even summarizing a document would become an adventure. I get the feeling Gemini won't pout when I ask for the sources I need to write a blog post.

The biggest reason for the change, however, is the ecosystem of applications Google comes with. For example, Google runs Blogger, the platform that hosts The Nosy Gamer. I use Google Sheets to store most of my data, from historical financial data about game companies to PLEX sales information in EVE Online. I use Google Analytics to determine when I'm getting hit by bots from China or Singapore. I even have a subscription to YouTube to get rid of all those annoying ads. In short, I use a lot of Google products. Using one more seems like something I would naturally do. And if Google DeepMind using EVE Online for research purposes results in an AI that can reliably answer questions about EVE, so much the better.

Pearl Abyss Stock Down 13% Since The Divestment Of CCP Games/Fenris Creations

I think a lot of people think that now that CCP Games purchased its freedom from Pearl Abyss and changed its name to Fenris Creations I don't have to worry about Pearl Abyss financial reports anymore. Wrong. I need to see if the company line coming out of Anyang that CCP was dragging down Pearl Abyss is true.

How can I do that? One way is looking at the stock price of the South Korean game maker. If divesting itself of CCP/Fenris was a good move, investors should reward the move by buying up stock. If the move is bad then the price should decline.

Through the first 5 trading days since the buyout was first noticed the price of Pearl Abyss shares on the KOSDAQ has declined 13%. Friday's trading was neutral so the decline actually occurred over 4 trading days. I wonder if the price will continue to decline as the EVE IP brought in 26.2% of all gaming revenue for Pearl Abyss in 2025. And please note I used the $65.2 million figure from the investor calls, not the over $70 million figure claimed in the press release from Fenris.

For those wondering, in 2019 the gaming revenue percentage was only 10.5%, showing the EVE IP had become an increasingly important source of revenue generation over the previous 7 years.

Of course, I still need to follow other sources of information. Pearl Abyss should hold its next earnings call covering Q1 2026 next week. I am also waiting on the latest financial filings with Skatturinn (Iceland Revenue and Customs) which should provide a lot of information. I have a suspicion the documents will be filed later than usual as the section covering future expectations might need some revision. Also, some old familiar faces are showing up besides Birgir Már Ragnarsson, the chairman of the board of Fenris. I need to update my notes with the latest on those as well.

CCP Games Rebrands To Fenris Creations

Shortly after I posted my article about the 23rd anniversary of EVE Online CCP Games announced they were no longer CCP Games.

REYKJAVÍK, Iceland – May 6, 2026 – The company formerly known as CCP Games today announced that it will become an independent entity operating under the new name Fenris Creations.

Just a little history about the company now known as Fenris Creations. The company was founded in 1997 as Loki Multimedia and stayed that way until the name was changed to Crowd Control Productions in I believe 1999. For those into Norse mythology, Loki was the father of the wolf Fenrir. Fenris is another name for Fenrir although apparently the alternate name doesn't come from Old Norse.

Fenris Creations is now governed by its own Board of Directors, returning to a model similar to how the company operated before 2018, and one designed to support strategic decision-making for persistent live games and long-running virtual worlds. The ownership group comprises Fenris Creations’ senior management and long-term investors aligned with the company’s future as a developer, publisher, and operator of player-driven online experiences. As disclosed in Pearl Abyss’ regulatory filings, the transaction value is $120 million USD, with consideration comprising both cash and non-cash elements.

I don't think people have pointed out the "non-cash elements" of the transaction. Did Pearl Abyss receive shares in Fenris? Or is the publishing and marketing organization CCP merged into Pearl Abyss remaining with the South Korean company? One of the many questions I have about the transaction.

The change reflects a shift in ownership and governance only. Fenris Creations will continue to operate as a standalone studio, responsible for its strategy, operations, and creative direction. Fenris Creations’ leadership team, studios, products, and ongoing development plans remain unchanged, with the same people who have guided the EVE universe for many years continuing to lead the company.

This section leads me to believe Pearl Abyss didn't get the Shanghai office. And as a stray note explains why Fenris uses NetEase as its Chinese publishing partner and Pearl Abyss uses Tencent.

Alongside this transition, Fenris Creations is entering into a research partnership with Google DeepMind, focused on advancing understanding of intelligence in complex, dynamic systems. The collaboration will explore areas including long-horizon planning, memory, and continual learning, using EVE Online as a uniquely rich environment for study. Google DeepMind will work with an offline version of EVE Online running on a local server to test and evaluate models in a controlled setting. Together, the partnership will also explore new gameplay experiences enabled by these technologies.

Google has invested in Fenris Creations as part of this transition, taking a minority stake in the company.

Google DeepMind seems a fitting partner considering the direction the company has headed in the past 4-5 years. The AI studio has involved itself with games, producing AlphaGo, the first computer program to defeat a Go champion. But looking on Wikipedia I see an application designed to run data centers efficiently. Fenris has a long history of being involved in data centers in Iceland. If the off-line servers Google DeepMind plans to use to simulate EVE are located in Iceland, Alphabet may gain first hand experience with geo-thermal powered data centers.

I should note that Google is now a part-owner of Fenris Creations. I haven't seen a credible source stating how big the stake actually is. Sorry Reddit, but you don't count. Another question to wait on financial filings with the Icelandic taxing authority.

“EVE is built to endure - and it only works if you’re willing to keep pushing into the future. This transition gives us direct ownership, clear accountability, and the independence to invest in worlds that grow over decades,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of Fenris Creations. “We’re grateful to Pearl Abyss for their partnership and for the consistent support they’ve shown us over the past seven and a half years. EVE Online exists today because of pioneering thinking, patience, and trust between developers and players. Our new structure and partners enable us to carry that legacy forward - continuously evolving a living universe and actively exploring what it can become, with forever in mind.”

Hearing from Hilmar is pretty standard by this time for those who have covered the company for a few years. But the next block is from someone new.

“Games have always been a huge part of my life - I’ve been a gamer since I was a kid, and I started my career designing and programming complex AI simulation games like Theme Park. They’ve also been at the heart of many of Google DeepMind’s breakthroughs - like Atari DQN, AlphaGo, AlphaStar and SIMA - because they’re the perfect training ground for developing and testing AI algorithms,” said Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO Google DeepMind. “I’ve known Hilmar for many years and long admired his work, and I’m thrilled to partner with him and the fantastic team at Fenris Creations to explore new gaming experiences and advance AI research safely inside a player-driven universe as amazingly complex as EVE Online.”

I never thought I'd quote a bible verse in relation to Hilmar, but familiarity breeds contempt. Apparently while people were wondering about Hilmar running around the world acting like a thought leader, he actually was a thought leader. If the co-founder of DeepMind has followed Hilmar, then the Icelandic game executive gains a bit of geek cred.

“I’ve followed CCP’s progress closely over the past several years and have great respect for what the company has achieved,” said Birgir Már Ragnarsson, Co-founder and Partner at Omega Ventures, and Chairman of the Board at Fenris Creations. “As Chairman, I’ve seen firsthand how this company performs when its leadership is set up to focus and execute. We’re entering this next phase from a position of strength, with experienced leadership and strong partners in place. I’m looking forward to playing a part in that journey and supporting Fenris Creations as it continues to make history.”

When I saw Birgir was involved as the new Chairman of the Board, I knew Hilmar was getting the old gang back together. From reviewing all the tax forms submitted to the Icelandic taxing authority plus Birgir's LinkedIn page, he first became involved with CCP Games back in 2005 when he was named to the board of directors. He first appeared on paperwork as the Chairman of the Board in 2013 and was the chairman when the company was acquired in 2018. I can't wait to find out who else is on the board.

"For employees and the local community in Iceland, Fenris Creations emphasized that this transition does not involve restructuring or layoffs. There are no planned changes to the company’s organizational structure, and its headquarters will remain in Vatnsmýrin, Iceland. Studios in Reykjavík, London, and Shanghai will continue to operate as they do today."

I usually don't believe this talk of no job losses. But in this case I wonder if the company will need to beef up some departments that were previously merged with Pearl Abyss. At least Pearl Abyss can't make Fenris lay off people if things get bad in South Korea. Let's just say I won't have a lot of faith in Pearl Abyss' game development until they prove they can produce a game on-schedule.

Since 2018, CCP Games and Pearl Abyss have worked closely together while evolving as companies. Following a joint review of long-term strategy, both parties concluded that the company is now best supported through independent ownership as Fenris Creations, while Pearl Abyss continues to focus on the growth of its own core titles and IP portfolio. Broader differences in operating context, current strategic focus, and long-term priorities were among several factors considered in this decision.

This paragraph I believe is a pile of crap. With Pearl Abyss trying to throw Fenris under this bus for its financial difficulties, something tells me not all was peaceful in the relationship.

Fenris Creations enters this next phase with strong momentum across its sci-fi universe. EVE Online closed 2025 with some of its best results in several years, including a record-breaking revenue month in November and a standout Q4 that became the second-highest revenue quarter in the game’s more than 20-year history. The iconic spaceship MMORPG exceeded internal expectations and demonstrates sustained strength as a live service in its third decade of continuous operation. Adding to this strong position are two upcoming titles in development: EVE Vanguard, an extraction-adventure FPS, and EVE Frontier, an online space survival game. The company remains profitable, with over $70M in reported revenue for 2025 and strong reserves, reflecting sustained player engagement and enabling continued investment in the long-term health of the EVE Universe.

The $70 million figure is huge. From following Pearl Abyss' earnings calls through last year, I have Fenris' revenue from games in the EVE IP at $65.2 million. I wonder what happened for the year-over-year revenue growth in 2025 to be twice that reported on the calls. Foreign exchange effects perhaps?

Pearl Abyss and Fenris Creations part ways with mutual respect following a partnership that supported the company’s growth during an important period in its history. Both companies now move forward with clear direction on their respective priorities.

Sorry, but I've followed Pearl Abyss, or at least its leadership, to believe that for a second.

Aream & Co. and Arion Bank are acting as financial advisors to Fenris Creations, and LOGOS is providing legal counsel.

Fenris Creations will continue to communicate openly as it moves forward under this new model, with a clear focus on the future of the EVE universe.

A couple of more pieces of information to look into.

I just have to conclude that the 23rd anniversary of the launching of EVE Online was memorable. But I have one more data point to track: the price of Pearl Abyss stock. The Korean NASDAQ has only had 4 business days since word of Pearl Abyss selling off CCP Games hit the news. But over the last 5 days, the price of the company's stock has fallen nearly 13%. Something to think about as we discuss the transaction.

EVE Online Turns 23 Today

Today is the 23rd anniversary of the launch of EVE Online. The fact a game that began development in the 20th century is still alive and kicking either says something positive about the game or negative about the video game industry. Or perhaps reality is messier and the answer is a combination of the two.

EVE is a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORGP) designed at a time when the concept of virtual worlds did not require virtual reality headsets. I went down a rabbit hole and found a description on Wikipedia of a gaming genre into which the venerable space game falls.

The general formula for the space trading and combat game, which has changed little since its genesis, is for the player to begin in a relatively small, outdated ship with little money or status and for the player to gain in status and power through trading, exploration, combat or a mix of different methods. The ship the player controls is generally larger than that in pure space combat simulator. Notable examples of the genre include Elite, the X series, Wing Commander: Privateer, Freelancer, and No Man's Sky.

I know, EVE doesn't seem to fit in with those games. But the majority of those games were developed around the time CCP began developing its next game after Hættuspil, aka Danger Game. Wikipedia continued with the definition of the genre.

All space trading and combat games feature the core gameplay elements of directly controlling the flight of some sort of space vessel, generally armed, and of navigating from one area to another for a variety of reasons. As technology has improved it has been possible to implement a number of extensions to gameplay, such as dynamic economies and cooperative online play. Overall, however, the core gameplay mechanics of the genre have changed little over the years.

The technology has improved part is where CCP Games and EVE Online steps into the picture.

Some more recent games, such as 2003's EVE Online, have expanded the scope of the experience by including thousands of simultaneous online players in what is sometimes referred to as a "living universe" – a dream some have held since the genre's early beginnings. Also with massive battles, Star Citizen, a title in development by Cloud Imperium Games (headed by Chris Roberts, who was involved in Freelancer and Wing Commander), aims to bridge the gap between the EVE-like living universe game and the fast action of other games in the genre. [emphasis mine]

I did get a couple of chuckles out of that last paragraph from Wikipedia. First, thinking of the 20+ year old EVE as a more recent game. The other that the editors of the article decided to lump in Star Citizen with EVE. I'm not exactly sure how the fan bases of both games will take the comparison.

In the past I've used the words of CCP's board of directors to describe the game's past. Expecting a financial report to show up by 6 May every year is a bit much to expect as the Icelandic government doesn't post accounts to the public upon receipt of the paperwork. But the big news that hit a week before EVE's anniversary when word leaked out that CCP's management group was buying CCP Games from Pearl Abyss for $120 million. Did anyone else's thoughts flash back to the early days of EVE when CCP had to buy back the publishing rights to EVE from Simon & Schuster for $150,000?

The main thing I'm thinking about on this anniversary is the recovery the game has made over the past few years.

Through April 2026

In 2022 the daily average of accounts logged onto Tranquility was down to 18,187, the lowest total in over 15 years. Between busted up plans to introduce NFTs and other crypto-game elements to EVE and the following 33% price hike for a month of playtime, the game didn't seem like it would survive another 5 years, much less grow. But the re-introduction of the two expansion a year release cadence while still providing monthly updates has seen that average rise by over one-third over the last four years. If the developers don't commit a horrible mistake or 10 during the next two expansions, EVE is on pace to surpass both the transitions to the Alpha and Omega accounts in 2016-2017 and the lockdown year of 2020. We are potentially looking at the year with the most accounts logged onto Tranquility since 2014. And a few years ago I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to type that last sentence.

But EVE isn't EVE unless CCP Games and its CEO Hilmar are making interesting business decisions. But I have enough confidence in the game's short term outlook I plan on partaking of the current sale to ensure I'm subbed until the 25th anniversary. I'm almost subbed that long now, but I do want to ensure I'm around for that major milestone.

Flying Solo In EVE: Capsuleer Day Event

Tomorrow is the 23rd anniversary of the launch of EVE Online on 6 May 2003. I'm running through the latest 5 week event designed to celebrate the occasion (as well as bring in more money). While today is a little early to expect to see CCP's 2025 tax filings to appear on the Icelandic taxing authority's website, we do have news that Pearl Abyss is selling off CCP Games. So while we wait for Pearl Abyss to schedule the next earnings call here's my weekly look at EVE Online.

A bumpy week on the global PLEX market

The global PLEX market experienced a weekend spike of about 250,000 ISK as the Capsuleer Day event kicked off on Thursday but fell back down to normal by Sunday. We can perhaps attribute the spike to the news of PLEX for Good becoming a permanent fixture in New Eden. I can see the purpose of the move. Instead of PLEX remaining on the books as departing players buy up the secondary currency in case they come back to EVE in a year or three, they are encouraged to just wipe out their accounts. I guess that's one way to ensure the bitter vets don't return.

Last week's ACU and PCU

And of course I look back at player activity using Chribba's EVE-Offline.net. The late surge in accounts logged in to participate in the Capsuleer Day event raised the average concurrent users logged in for the week up to 25,000 +/- 500 accounts. I should also note the peak for the week returned to approximately 1900 UTC on Sunday, indicating the big null sec war involving The Imperium, Init., and WinterCo is probably over. Or at the minimum, the major structure bashing is over.

Selected stats through 3 May

Now for the main event. The Capsuleer Day celebration began on the final day of April and is very much like the previous Gallente election event. To receive Society of Conscious Thought ships this year one must participate in the event, with the Praxis battleship serving as the big prize at the end of the rewards track.

My progress through Monday

I don't have a big desire to get another Praxis but finishing all 5 tiers of an activity results in receiving 500 event points and 10 PLEX. I'm thinking I'll just do the mining and the security missions. Players do get points for trading Warpath Operational Intel for rewards, but I don't know about if PLEX is a reward for completing all 5 tiers of trades.

On the mining. I can say from experience that is a lot of Plagioclase. On the plus side I was still able to mine as late as 1900 UTC on Sunday. I just need about 10 more runs with a Skiff to finish the final tier. I think that's less than 3 hours. Perhaps I'll dual box and put mining boosts on a command ship.

I do have to say I was feeling a little burned out after this weekend. I think the Gallente election and Capsuleer Day events were a little too similar to run back-to-back like this. Also, I'm not a big fan of the time-limited boosters. I'll wind up buying the boosters to get through the rest of the event, but I'm not quite sure I want to do the activities on a second pilot. The rewards just don't feel like they justify the grind. But receiving 95 PLEX for the event and another 5 PLEX for the AIR Daily Rewards on each character might prod me into running through the event twice. I'll have to see how I feel after I get my first 1000 points.

Cloud Imperium Games Cash Shop Revenue Up 42.4% In April 2026

The powerhouse marketing team at Cloud Imperium Games started off the second quarter of 2026 strong, setting a new record for cash shop sales in the month of April. Revenue increased by 42.4% compared to April 2025, reaching nearly $11.3 million last month. For the year so far, cash shop sales for the first four months of 2026 reached $38.7 million, a year-over-year increase of 15.8%

The $967.8 million displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of March was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1,092.2 million ($1.09 billion) in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $967.8 million (through 30 April 2026)
• Other cash shop revenue: $2.3 million (through 31 December 2023)
• Subscriptions: $39.5 million (through 31 December 2023)
• All other sources: $82.6 million (through 31 December 2023)

In addition, the company has received a total of $68.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2023 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020 and another $1.9 million in 2023. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $1.160.5 million ($1.16 billion), or $1.153.8 million ($1.15 billion) when excluding the returned funds. An additional $12.6 million in loans issued in March 2025 and due for repayment on 31 December 2027 are not included in the total.

With marketing activity advertising Squadron 42 picking up I'd wager a lot of people want to see the amount of accounts created each month grow. In April, the amount grew by 62.9% year-over-year up to 90,115. The big YoY increases should end in a couple of months but until then new account creation will run wild. Through the first four months of 2026 new account creation is up 96.7%

What to watch for in May: The cash shop will probably experience a new monthly sales record next month. The traditional May sale, Invictus, is being replaced by one sponsored by Drake. If the sale brings in over 10% in increased sales the record of $31,938,644 set in November 2025 will fall.

Also, will CIG announce a publishing partner for China? Without one, Squadron 42 cannot launch in the People's Republic.

Finally, will CIG publish its 2024 global financial report? The 2023 report was released on 2 May 2025. As of the time I finish this post CIG still has not published anything.