Flying Solo In EVE: Filling Time With MCT

I didn't get much playtime in EVE Online last week. I took the week off work and did grown-up things like getting my car fixed, reviewing my retirement finances, and taking my mom out for her birthday. When I did play video games, I dedicated most of my EVE time to EVE Frontier. I also did some sillyness in Final Fantasy XIV, but that was mostly just doing general crafting stuff, which is what I do a lot of in EVE. And of course I did a look back at Pearl Abyss and how our old overlords are doing financially.

I may need to start paying more attention to EVE as I've seen a slight increase in activity over the last two weeks. No, the summer slump is still ongoing but the average concurrent users on Tranquility has been 23,000 +/- 500 accounts for two weeks now and the PCU for the week exceeded 32,000 for the first time in a month. I haven't really seen a special reason like an event to come back so I'm assuming the summer slump has bottomed out. The U.S. still has one more big summer holiday so the potential for a double-dip remains.

If activity were only tracked through the global PLEX market I'd have to say activity is steady. The total volume of PLEX sold remained even with the average price of a PLEX increasing by approximately 50,000 each during the week. I didn't see any promotions or sales that would have enticed any major activity.

Since I've spent the last week or so just training my newest character, multiple character training is on my mind. I have run out of MCT on both accounts. I was hoping to get a better deal than the current one, but 3 months of multiple character training and one month of Omega time for $24 doesn't sound too bad. I was really hoping for a better deal but I have the feeling we'll see some big PLEX and subscription sales when Labor Day in the U.S. rolls around in three weeks. In the meantime I really do need to finish up the level 1 epic arc before then so I'm ready for what comes in September.

Down The Rabbit Hole: Pearl Abyss' Revised Guidance for 2026

Sometimes I write a post and immediately want to write a follow-up. The latest case involves Pearl Abyss' Q2 2026 earnings letter. I did a write-up on Wednesday but I glossed over the buried lede: the revised financial guidance for the second half of 2026. The big change in expectations that hit me was the downwards revision of revenue from Crimson Desert by approximately 30%. 

I am not an accountant although I sometimes play one on the Internet. To put the revision in perspective, the amount of the revision exceeded the amount Pearl Abyss acquired in managerial buyout in May of Fenris Creations (formerly CCP Games). So I turned to Gemini for help in figuring out what happened and the possible consequences of the reduced expected revenue. The AI did its best to keep me on track and filter out some of my wilder speculations.

Together, we spent the afternoon cross-referencing Pearl Abyss’s reported tables, untangling the mechanics of game distribution revenue recognition, and calculating the knock-on effects of the management buyout. What emerged from that deep dive wasn't just a simple quarterly miss, but a fascinating look at the financial realities of transitioning from a live-service MMO to a premium single-player package model—and the multi-year revenue gap Pearl Abyss now has to navigate.

(And for those who couldn't tell from the better quality of writing, Gemini is writing a large portion of this post with me acting as editor. I'm going to get the most out of my $16.67/month.)

The Raw Numbers: The Anatomy of the Cut

To see why this guidance revision caught my eye, you have to look at what Pearl Abyss initially promised for 2026 compared to what they are forecasting now:

Source: Pearl Abyss Q2 2026 Earnings Letter

(Note on currency conversions: All USD figures for 2H26 projections use the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Q2 2026 quarterly average exchange rate of 1,501.7 KRW to 1 USD.)

The Top-Line Reduction: Pearl Abyss shaved roughly ₩200.4 billion ($133.4 million USD) off its full-year total gaming revenue expectations at the midpoint, dropping expected full-year revenue by ~21.6% (from ₩879.0B–₩975.4B down to ₩709.8B–₩743.8B). Across the guidance bands, the overall top line was cut by 19.2% to 23.7%.

The Crimson Desert Driver: Almost the entire reduction stems from Crimson Desert. Management slashed its full-year projection from ₩644.1B–₩734.8B down to ₩468.9B–₩497.3B. At the midpoint, that represents a 29.9% downward revision—erasing ₩206.4 billion ($137.4 million USD) in expected sales.

The Black Desert Counterweight: In contrast to Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss actually nudged its full-year guidance for Black Desert up slightly by +₩4.05 billion (+1.7%), moving from ₩234.9B–₩240.6B ($156.4M–$160.2M USD) to ₩239.0B–₩244.6B ($159.2M–$162.9M USD). After booking ₩116.6 billion ($77.6M USD) in the first half of 2026, management is expecting a stronger second half (₩122.4B–₩128.0B / $81.5M–$85.2M USD) on the back of major content updates (more on this in Section 4).

The Fixed-Cost Operating Margin Squeeze: Video game development overhead does not shrink simply because revenue drops. Full-year operating expenses remain virtually unchanged at ₩394.3B–₩398.6B ($262.6M–$265.4M USD). Because costs stayed flat while the top line fell, the revenue drop flowed straight through to the bottom line, knocking projected operating profit down by ~37.7% (from ₩487.6B–₩572.6B to ₩315.5B–₩345.2B / $210.1M–$229.9M USD) and compressing operating profit margin from ~57% down to 44.4%–46.4%.

The 2H26 Cliff: Having already booked ₩402.6 billion ($268.1 million USD) from Crimson Desert during the first half of the year (₩266.5B in Q1 and ₩136.1B in Q2), Pearl Abyss is budgeting for the game to bring in just ₩66.3B to ₩94.7B ($44.1M to $63.1M USD) across the entire second half combined. That implies an average quarterly run rate of only ₩33.2B to ₩47.4B ($22.1M to $31.5M USD) for Q3 and Q4.

The Crimson Desert Factor: Launch Trajectory vs. Accounting Friction

The steep downward revision of Crimson Desert—erasing roughly ₩206.4 billion ($137.4M USD) at the midpoint—comes down to a collision between a front-loaded launch curve and the accounting mechanics of global retail distribution.

The Post-Launch Volume Cliff: Crimson Desert launched on 19 March 19 2026. In the final twelve days of Q1 alone, the title generated ~3.60 million units on the books (₩266.5 billion / $182.0M USD). By mid-April—just 26 days after launch—Pearl Abyss announced the game had crossed 5.0 million copies sold worldwide. However, the Q2 earnings letter revealed total Q2 sales reached 2.11 million copies. Subtracting the ~1.4 million units sold during the first two weeks of April reveals that Crimson Desert sold only around 700,000 units across the remaining two and a half months of the quarter (May and June). The game experienced the standard, sharp drop-off typical of premium single-player titles without recurring subscription or live-service revenue.

The ASP Erosion: Average Selling Price (ASP)—the average amount of net revenue a publisher actually books per copy sold (Total Revenue divided by Units Sold)—declined sharply quarter-over-quarter:

• 1Q26 Realized ASP: ~₩74,000 (~$50.54 USD)
• 2Q26 Realized ASP: ~₩63,000 (~$41.95 USD)
• The Drop: A decline of 14.86% in Korean won (and 17.00% in U.S. dollars due to currency depreciation).

Accounting Mechanics Over Discounting: When I first saw realized ASP drop by nearly 15% in a single quarter, my immediate instinct was to assume Pearl Abyss had hit the panic button and started slashing retail prices to dump unsold copies. Fortunately, bouncing the numbers off Gemini kept me from writing a breathless post about a pricing collapse. The drop was not caused by retail discounting or fire sales—Pearl Abyss confirmed standard retail prices were maintained and promotional discounts won't even begin until late 2026. Instead, the compression resulted entirely from structural distribution accounting:

• Channel Mix (Gross vs. Net Recognition): Higher sales volume through partner platforms (like Steam) where revenue is recognized net of platform fees and distributor commissions rather than direct gross proceeds.
  
  
• Regional Pricing: Broadening geographic sales into international markets with lower localized retail price points.
  
  
• Physical Package Deferrals: For physical console editions (18% of Q2 volume, or ~390k units), distributor settlements face wholesale-to-retail time lags, and Pearl Abyss had to hold back a 20% revenue deferral reserve for refund guarantees (which will only be recognized sequentially across the second half of the year).

The 2H26 Forecast Reset: Combining a ~700k unit monthly baseline with a lower realized ASP explains why management slashed its 2H26 forecast. After generating ₩402.6 billion ($268.1M USD) in 1H26, Pearl Abyss is projecting Crimson Desert to bring in just ₩66.3B to ₩94.7B ($44.1M to $63.1M USD) for all of Q3 and Q4 combined. That implies an expected second-half run rate of roughly 1.1 million to 1.5 million total units across six full months.

The Scale Comparison — Larger Than Selling CCP Games

To truly grasp the magnitude of erasing ~₩206 billion in expected game revenue in a single quarterly update, it helps to compare it directly against the biggest corporate transaction Pearl Abyss executed this year: the May 6 divestment of Fenris Creations (formerly CCP Games).

The MBO Math: Pearl Abyss offloaded CCP Games/Fenris Creations in a management buyout for a headline consideration of $120.0 million USD (~KRW 177.1 billion):

• $100.0 million USD in unencumbered cash (~KRW 147.5 billion)
• $20.0 million USD in token acquisition rights (~KRW 29.6 billion) tied to the studio's blockchain-based space survival title, EVE Frontier

That $20 million token allocation is a fascinating detail. While Pearl Abyss washed its hands of Fenris Creations' day-to-day studio overhead, its interest in the blockchain and crypto gaming space didn't completely evaporate with the divestment. By securing token acquisition rights rather than taking an all-cash exit, Pearl Abyss maintained a speculative, de-risked upside in EVE Frontier’s cryptographic economy—leaving Fenris with the operational burn while retaining an entry ticket if the project's tokens gain substantial traction.

The Scale Comparison: Putting the two numbers side by side puts the revision into perspective. The ~₩206.4 billion ($137.4M USD) top-line haircut on Crimson Desert exceeds the entire headline valuation of Fenris Creations (~₩177.1 billion) and completely eclipses the $100 million (~₩147.5B) in cash received. In other words, one single earnings forecast adjustment erased more expected revenue than Pearl Abyss received to let EVE Online and its entire studio walk out the door.

Funding the Shareholder Return Program

While Pearl Abyss’s official corporate line attributed its newly minted shareholder return policies to a "comprehensive review of our financial structure and future investment plans," tracking the cash timeline tells a much more direct story:

The Cash Inflow: On May 6, 2026, the divestiture of Fenris Creations closed, injecting $100 million in liquid cash (~₩147.5 billion to ₩150 billion) directly onto Pearl Abyss’s balance sheet.

The June 9 Board Actions: Barely a month later, on June 9, Pearl Abyss’s Board of Directors rolled out an aggressive capital return framework:

• A KRW 100.0 Billion Share Buyback: A trust agreement to repurchase up to ₩100 billion worth of treasury shares through Korea Investment & Securities between June and December 2026. (As of August 10, they had already executed ₩32.3 billion / 32.3% of the plan).
  
  
• Retirement of Treasury Shares: Canceling 1,403,945 treasury shares (50% of existing treasury holdings, valued at ~₩54 billion market value).
  
  
• Inaugural Dividend Policy: Pledging to pay out annual cash dividends starting with FY2026 performance, set at the greater of ₩10.0 billion ($6.7M USD) or 10% of net profit.

Adding the ₩100 billion buyback to the baseline ₩10.0 billion dividend commitment creates an immediate capital return liability of ₩110.0 billion (~$73.2M USD)—an obligation covered with roughly ₩40 billion to spare by the $100 million (~₩150B) cash proceeds from the Fenris Creations sale. While management will not openly advertise that they sold the studio behind EVE Online to bankroll shareholder returns, that liquid cash injection provided the exact balance sheet cushion needed to execute the repurchase and launch dividends without draining the operational capital required to develop future titles.

The 2026–2028 Bridge Problem

With Fenris Creations divested and Crimson Desert transitioning into its post-launch tail, Pearl Abyss faces an 8-to-10 quarter gap before its next major release: the launch of DokeV in the second half of 2028.

Black Desert Steps Back Up as the Anchor: While Crimson Desert absorbed the guidance cuts, Black Desert received a modest +₩4.05 billion (+1.7%) guidance lift to ₩239.0B–₩244.6B ($159.2M–$162.9M USD). Even though this still represents a 4% to 7% year-over-year decline from 2025 (~₩256 billion), Black Desert remains the reliable live-service cash engine carrying the studio's day-to-day operations. With the new Agent class, the HyperBoost progression server, and the upcoming Edania Part 2 expansion, Pearl Abyss is heavily incentivized to sustain player engagement and monetization over the next two years.

Squeezing Additional Revenue from Crimson Desert: To bridge the 2H26 revenue gap, Pearl Abyss is preparing several commercial levers:

• First Story DLC: Confirmed for release in late 2026, aiming to re-engage the 6+ million player base and capture additional high-margin digital software revenue.
  
  
• Promotional Discounts: Evaluating tactical price promotions during global autumn and holiday sales events to spur unit volume.
  
  
• Nintendo Switch 2 Launch: Slated for 1H 2027, targeting a fresh console audience to extend the title's lifecycle.

The Long Runway to DokeV: With the company confirming in its earnings FAQ that DokeV development resources are ramping back up following Crimson Desert’s launch, the creature-collecting open-world title is scheduled for 2H 2028 (with major marketing beats and playable demos slated for 2H 2027). That leaves an extended multi-year span where Pearl Abyss will not have a new tentpole release.

The Balance Sheet Runway: Pearl Abyss closed 2Q26 with ~₩700 billion ($466.1M USD) in liquid and short-term financial assets, reinforced by the Fenris divestment. Even with a hiring freeze restricted to "essential positions only" and the ₩100 billion share buyback underway, management has constructed a substantial financial fortress. That cash pile should comfortably bridge the gap to DokeV—assuming the 2H 2028 timeline holds. Given Pearl Abyss’s history—where Crimson Desert slipped from an original 2021 target all the way to 2026—any further delay beyond 2028 would stretch this financial cushion thin and put immense pressure back on Black Desert to carry the studio solo.

I really think the revised guidance for the second half of 2026 will go little noticed outside financial and investment circles. But after going down the rabbit hole I knew I had to spend a few hours and put everything together into a post. I have the feeling having a link to explain what's going on over at Pearl Abyss may come in handy.

EVE Frontier: Cycle 6 - Defeated By The Tutorial

On Friday I spent about 3 hours trying to play Cycle 6 of EVE Frontier. When I say "try" I did not experience any technical issues. I was defeated by a combination of the controls and the tutorial.

For anyone wondering about the controls, players do not move around by clicking on objects or points in space like in EVE Online. Instead the controls are a little more complicated. So much so that the first part of the tutorial doesn't let players continue if they have not performed certain tasks. Below are the nine key keys from the tutorial.

W - Pitch up
S - Pitch down
A - Yaw left
D - Yaw right
E - Increase throttle
Q - Decrease throttle
F - Open or scoop cargo
C - Toggle camera alignment
V - Toggle ship camera

I took a screenshot to make sure I would have a list of the commands. Of course, I didn't realize the letters were being replaced with check marks until I was half-way through the list.

I spawned into the game in an interior "room" called The Creche. Probably the safest area in the game and one players can't depart unless they learn to pilot their ship well enough to reach open space. The Creche even has materials in the location since that is also a player's default respawn point. All in all, I could have used some more lighting but the concept is sound.

Everything was taking a lot longer than in other cycles but that's because of the issues I had with the controls. My biggest problem was not being able to tell which direction my ship was pointed in. I would start going in the wrong direction so often. 

When I fought NPCs I wound up either sitting motionless in space or moving very slowly in a straight line. I started having more success when I could see where my cutting beam was landing. Before I thought the cross-hairs in the UI were what I was supposed to use to shoot the NPCs. Nope. Needed to pay attention to make sure the beam actually hit the opponents hull. The concept was kind of cool but I'm getting too old for that type of gameplay. Give me either the EVE Online style of combat or tab-targeting like in Final Fantasy XIV.

A big change I really liked was manufacturing and refining in ships. One of the biggest logistical items is making sure fuel is always available. Go to one of the locations furthest away from the sun in a system where comets reside. Mining the comet provides all the raw materials to make basic D1 fuel. Easy.

But where I lost was when I needed to find a type of asteroid called Slag. The rock is found in the inner sites in a system closer to the sun. I only had one problem. No inner sites. I probably could have spent a few more hours looking for the materials except for two things. First, moving my ship around was so awkward. The other? I had already spent nearly 3 hours with the game. Time was up.

Because ships remain in the universe even upon logging off, I did the logical thing. I biomassed my character. I wasn't able to make a refuge to put my ship in to protect against roving NPCs because I couldn't find any Slag. If I was going to have to restart anyway, I might as well start from the beginning and get a refresher course by following the tutorial again. So at the end of the day I didn't even have a character with which to log into the game.

Honestly I don't have a big urge to log back into the game. Cycle 7 is coming in September so I may wait until then to download the game again. I do have things to take care of in other games that feel more comfortable to play. If anything things the control scheme may keep me from playing Frontier, I'd say there is a good chance that's true.

Pearl Abyss Q2 2026 Earnings Letter

 

Pearl Abyss has continued the practice of issuing earnings letters instead of holding quarterly calls with investors and investment analysts. The latest earnings letter for the second quarter of 2026 came out yesterday. With the sell-off of CCP Games (now Fenris Creations) on 6 May 2026 revenue from the studios was removed from these documents. When news of the divestment of the company leaked Pearl Abyss share price dropped down to ₩36,400 on 24 June. But as usually happens the price slowly increased as the quarterly information release approached. The stock price closed the trading day on 11 August at ₩37,050.

From the Q2 2026 earnings letter

As expected, the quarter over quarter numbers dropped significantly after the launch of Crimson Desert. Operating revenue dropped 41.4% down to ₩192.6 billion ($128.3 million), which is still a 247.7% increase compared to the second quarter of 2025.

But the big item is profits. At least for this year Pearl Abyss has returned to profitability. QoQ profits declined 58.3% down to ₩70.9 billion ($47.2 million) but were a lot better than the ₩15.5 billion ($11.1 million) loss recorded in the Q2 2025.

From the Q2 2026 earnings letter

Since Pearl Abyss has switched to a written format I don't need to try to summarize from a call like I had the previous six years. First, the Black Desert IP. Year-over-year revenue was flat although when currency effects are taken into account, revenue was slightly down when looked at in U.S. dollars.

Black Desert revenue softened slightly QoQ, as its operations focused on content optimization rather than major expansions. On PC, updates centered on revamping the 'Red Battlefield’ matching system and ‘Node/Conquest Wars’, while mobile held celebratory events for its 3,000th day of service, showing positive user engagement trends.

Slightly softening was a 10.7% revenue decline down to ₩55 billion ($36.6 million). To put the amount into perspective, the Cloud Imperium Games/Star Citizen brought in $67.7 million during the second quarter.

Crimson Desert, as expected, experienced a large revenue decline after its March launch. Still ₩136.1 billion ($90.6 million) is nothing to sneeze at.

Crimson Desert sold approximately 2.11 million copies during 2Q26, with digital sales accounting for 1.72 million copies (82%) and physical sales accounting for 0.39 million copies (18%). In 2Q26, average selling price (ASP) decreased QoQ due to a higher proportion of sales from channels, where revenue is recognized as a percentage of gross payment. Furthermore, for physical packages, there was a time lag between sell-through and revenue recognition based on distributor settlement terms, and revenue came in below guidance as 20% of the settlement amount was deferred for refund guarantee purposes. The ASP in 2Q26 stood at approximately KRW 63 thousand (compared to KRW 74 thousand in 1Q26), declining QoQ due to factors including regional pricing strategies, sales split across distribution channels, and the proportion of digital vs. physical sales. 

The big news that probably influenced trading on the KOSDAQ today was the revised guidance due to disappointing sales of Crimson Desert. Pearl Abyss put its best spin on the situation.

From the Q2 2026 earnings letter

2Q26 performance came in below guidance due to factors including sales splits across distribution channels for Crimson Desert, regional pricing strategy differences, time lags between sell-through and revenue recognition for physical packages, and revenue deferrals for refund guarantees. Accordingly, we provide updated guidance reflecting actual first-half performance and revised estimates. 

2026 operating revenue for game is expected to come in at KRW 709.8~743.8 billion. 

• Operating revenue from Black Desert is projected to be KRW 239~244.6 billion, which is approximately a decrease of 4~7% YoY. 
• Operating revenue from Crimson Desert is projected to be KRW 468.9~497.3 billion. 

2026 operating profit is expected to record KRW 315.5~345.2 billion.  

• Operating profit is expected to increase by approximately 1,259~1,387% YoY, thanks to solid Black Desert performance and Crimson Desert launch, and operating profit margin is anticipated to reach 44.4~46.4%.

In blunt terms, Pearl Abyss revised its guidance for CD sales down 30% from the initial expectations given to investors. The result of the disappointing sales results in a 22% decrease in expected revenue for 2026 and an approximately 38% decrease in profits.

The downwards revision does affect the dividend plan Pearl Abyss announced earlier this year:

To enhance shareholder value, we announced a shareholder return policy after comprehensively considering our financial structure, business environment, and future investment plans. We plan to initiate our first dividend payout based on FY2026 performance, with the annual dividend scale set at the higher of KRW 10.0 billion or 10% of net profit. 

Total dividend payouts will still exceed the minimum of ₩10 billion but fall 38% less than originally thought.

The bad news of the revised guidance probably overshadowed the news of DokeV having an expected release window of the second quarter of 2028. At the end of the trading day, the price of Pearl Abyss stock had tumbled 14.5% down to ₩31,550. Since word of the divestment of CCP Games (now Fenris Creations) back on 29 April the stock price has fallen 47.9%.

From Google as seen on 12 August 2026

Flying Solo In EVE: A Decade-Long RMT Rule Is Broken

After slowing down my blogging last week I return to give my weekly column on EVE Online. Despite publishing the monthly economic report last week, I'm returning to an old subject I first became known for: real money trading. To make the situation worse, the offender has a history of working with Fenris, from hosting Fanfest streams to receiving an award. Of course, once reaching the pinnacle of EVE content creation, he fell down to earth. I'll briefly cover exactly what happened.

First, though, a little news related to July's data. Last week the average concurrent user line on EVE-Offline.net rose from the previous week's 22,000 to 23,000, plus or minus 500 accounts. Hopefully we have reached the bottom of the summer slump. If so a yearly ACU of 24,000 is well within reach.

Jester's five year graph still shows the 30-day rolling average of logged in accounts up by 2000 over both 2024 and 2025. Perhaps more impressive is the 30-day rolling average is still up over 6000 over its low point in October 2022.

In the global PLEX market volumes are down and the price is slowly inching up. Last week the average price of a PLEX went up 10,000 ISK. The current sale -- 20% off Omega time in the cash shop -- isn't having a visible impact on the market.

Now for the news on real money trading. I don't think even the most obtuse observer can now say a content creator did not do so after FC Swift made a couple of posts on Reddit. The case involves a streamer/creator called Loru, who won Video Creator of the Year at this year's Fanfest. 

For those who want to defend him, the violation of the rules about RMT were just too great. As FC Swift posted on Reddit.

Hey hey!

Thanks for the flag - this is an issue that we were made aware of last week. This type of giveaway falls outside of our policy and isn't supported.

Players are allowed to raffle off in-game items or hold giveaways, but entry into the giveaway cannot be gated behind a paywall (even if it's a donation-wall), and there needs to be parity between subscribing and free viewers.

The content creator policy, which applies to everyone, is here: https://support.eveonline.com/hc/en-us/articles/8563917741084-EVE-Online-Content-Creation-Terms-of-Use

These went into effect after the big kerfluffle back in 2015. I'm seeing the same white knighting for Loru as I did for people's favorite content creators 11 years ago. And at least the content creators back then tried to stay within the posted rules as were commonly understood. Loru just ran right over them. The fact Loru is reportedly only received a 7 day ban. Here is another post from FC Swift.

Hey all,

We don't usually comment on infractions involving other players, but I also don't want to hide behind policy either. So let me be upfront and explain the situation and how we got here.

Last week during Loru's stream there were a few giveaways that violated our policy. I talked about it in a different thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/Eve/comments/1vjobxu/did_this_streamer_just_commit_rmt/p2ofm6o/)

This was reported to us on the day of, and we immediately began our investigation. This involved looking at where the ships and items originated, looking at the context of the giveaways, looking at where the ships ended up, watching the stream as a whole (all 12 hours of it), reviewing recent streams, and just turning over every leaf as possible. Because we want to make informed decisions, this is a multi-team effort.

During the investigation it became clear to us that Loru is not an RMT broker selling ships as a side hustle. He absolutely violated our giveaway policy, though, and he absolutely exchanged spaceships for money. It feels like we're splitting hairs here, but intentions play a role. The GM teams also look to Community to add additional context to situations when they involve areas we are very involved in like content creation.

So while it's true that Loru's giveaways weren't an organized attempt to create a black market for trading ISK, it's also our opinion that this wasn't a minor transgression, either. Further, and something we are very conscious of in all of our decisions, it'd be a disservice to every other content creator who stays within the guidelines to not take this seriously.

And this is where I fucked up.

I didn't communicate to the teams handling the situation that additional level of context from our team to make an informed ruling. So they sent out a punishment that only dealt with the items, and not the full situation. To that end, we'll be issuing a temporary ban on Loru's account to go along with the punishment already levied.

I understand that it looks like we're reacting to pressure and outrage after fumbling a situation, and I can see how you'd come to that conclusion. It does look that way. But we value the open and earnest relationship we have built with the players too much to let a bad decision stand because of optics or worrying about how we look. Simply put: nothing should stand in the way of making the right decision.

So apologies for fucking up, and I hope the above explanation adds the clarity and context that you all were looking for.

I have to admit this was not a very good post. Selling ISK or in-game assets for money is usually a permanent ban for a first offense. Or, at least at one time it was. I even remember stories of players from Ukraine who sold assets during the first Russian invasion back in 2014 in order to live who were banned. Now, I have heard of players getting their accounts back after some time, but receiving a 7-day ban at the get-go? Either a change in policy or some major favoritism is going on. If I had to guess, I'd go with the latter choice.

Looks like I need to do some research, because everything I know says Loru should have won EVE, with Fenris making sure he didn't start losing again.

Fenris Creations Hires A Senior Director Of AI Partnerships

Back when the managerial buyout of Fenris Creations from Pearl Abyss finalized in early May the presence of Google DeepMind in the situation somewhat surprised me. At the time I think people thought the hire-ups at Google were interested in EVE Online. A view that the PR machine in Fenris HQ did nothing to dispel. But now that the time to staff up the relationship is here, the fact that Fenris is reaching once again into the public sector for talent.

REYKJAVÍK, Iceland – August 7, 2026 – Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Iceland’s former Minister of Justice and former Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, has joined Fenris Creations, formerly CCP Games, as Senior Director, AI Partnerships. In the role, she will lead the company's work with AI laboratories, universities, policymakers and strategic partners on a new research initiative involving EVE Frontier.

The Iceland Monitor summed up her political career:

Sigurbjörnsdóttir was first elected to Parliament for the Independence Party in Reykjavík North in 2016 and has represented Reykjavík South since 2021.

At the age of 28, she became Minister of Justice, serving from 2019 to 2021. She later served as Minister of Science, Industry and Innovation from 2021 to 2022 and as Minister of Higher Education, Industry and Innovation from 2022 to 2024.

Now 35 years old and trained as a lawyer, she took a leave of absence from Parliament last year to attend Columbia University in New York, where she pursued a Master of Public Administration degree focused on international leadership and public administration. She graduated less than two weeks ago.

She accepted the opportunity to study at Columbia after narrowly losing the Independence Party leadership election at the party’s national convention in March 2025, when Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir emerged victorious.

Her resignation from Parliament occurred on 3 June 2026, two months before the announcement of her hiring by Fenris.

I'm going to chop up the press release because I'm interested in how Áslaug views the position.

“Having seen firsthand how policy is developed and implemented, I am excited to bring my political experience to this new role. There is no greater opportunity to help shape the future of AI innovation than being part of a testing ground that empowers our partners to make meaningful inroads with regulators, helping ensure safe, practical and reliable AI standards. I look forward to helping Fenris take this work forward responsibly.” - Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Senior Director, AI Partnerships

Áslaug may have the resume to go with the position. Among the international relations highlights of her career she participated in the following:

• Member of the Icelandic delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly 2017 (Chair 2017)
• Member of the Icelandic delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) 2017–2019 (Chair 2017–2019)
• Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee 2017–2019 (Chair 2017–2019)
• Member of the Icelandic delegation to the Nordic Council 2025

Add in her ministerial service and she probably has the background needed to deal with some of the issues that will arise working for a company with players located across the world.

Now that the organizational part of my brain is satisfied, how is Áslaug related to EVE Frontier? Going back to the press release:

Fenris Creations has spent the last several months developing the initiative to test a bold hypothesis: that persistent virtual worlds like EVE Frontier, underpinned by real social and economic systems, can offer a live proving ground for advanced AI before it becomes a greater part of our everyday lives.

Rather than relying solely on short-lived simulations that end and reset, the aim is to create a place where autonomous agents can be observed in a real, open and evolving economy, alongside real people, with real consequences, within the kind of dynamic system the company's games are uniquely able to provide.

The EVE Universe is particularly well-suited to this work. For more than two decades, it has developed as a living virtual economy, encompassing trade, production chains, currencies, commodity markets, alliances, conflict, cooperation, betrayal and loss, shaped by hundreds of thousands of real participants and all the unpredictable behavior that comes with them. Unlike chess or Go, the world has no end state: mistakes stay made, debts stay owed, relationships persist, and reputation follows you. That makes it one of the very few places where the behavior of autonomous systems can be studied under conditions that resemble a real society and a real economy, with all the irrational, emotional and unpredictable reactions that real people bring.

In EVE Frontier, the new chapter of the EVE universe, autonomous AI systems will be studied within EVE Frontier’s live, open-ended world as they set goals, respond to change, and make coherent sequences of decisions over extended periods. This enables researchers to better assess model behavior in genuinely complex environments and inform the responsible development of future AI systems. The initiative is intended to support Fenris Creations as it continues to explore ways to make EVE Frontier a more engaging and immersive world for its inhabitants, from richer NPC behavior and better onboarding to faster testing and iteration, with more detailed outcomes to be shared with players in due course.

If the initiative succeeds, it opens an entirely new role for Fenris Creations and EVE Frontier, potentially making important contributions to research on intelligent agents, complex systems, and AI alignment, while also creating compelling new possibilities for the experience EVE Frontier can offer its playerbase.

What makes the work possible is the scale and longevity of what already exists. Fenris brings its experience in creating and operating a persistent virtual world, together with the engineering, design, and community expertise required to explore how autonomous AI behaves in a live, player-driven setting. Few virtual environments offer the same combination of persistence, complexity and sustained human participation.

I have to say, using Frontier as a testbed for AI isn't the dumbest idea. The same people who the move will upset already hate the new game for implementing blockchain technology. At a certain point, people can't get any more angry, can they?

I'll conclude with the word that Fenris and their Google DeepMind partners hit the ground running, considering the MBO only occurred three months ago.

Earlier this year, Fenris Creations announced a research partnership with Google DeepMind focused on exploring intelligence in complex, dynamic systems. That collaboration is already active, with teams from both organizations completing a two-day workshop this week to exchange ideas and identify practical areas for further work. The sessions reflected a strong alignment in approach and a shared interest in how persistent virtual worlds can support meaningful research and new forms of interactive experience. Áslaug’s appointment will broaden this work by helping Fenris Creations build relationships across the wider AI research, academic, policy and strategic landscape, bringing new institutions, perspectives and opportunities into the initiative as it develops internationally.

The Added Stepping Stones To Leveling Alt Jobs In FFXIV

 

Sometimes I get a little weird. Final Fantasy XIV's patch 7.55 dropped last Tuesday, providing a lot of content. A few days prior to that Square Enix held its European Fanfest for 2026 in Berlin. And what has me excited? Leveling my bard job. I blame Yoshi-P for that. Between the introduction of the new Bastion tanking job and the upcoming Evolved Mode reducing the button bloat that accumulated over the past 10+ years, I was inspired to start leveling a new job. Or, I should say, a job I abandoned leveling a few years ago.

My bard was level 51, which back in the day meant laboring to reach level 53 to reach Sohm Al. But with patch 7.5 that launched in April, I now had access to The Dusk Vigil, a level 51 dungeon, in Duty Support. So I ran The Dusk Vigil up to level 53 to where the MSQ provided dungeons every 2 levels until I reached level 60. As of the writing of this post, I've completed the bard questline and just need to get to level 61 to begin grinding The Sirensong Sea.

In the past leveling a job between levels 61 and 65 was a pain. That's where the second dungeon added to Duty Support in patch 7.5, Shisui of the Violet Tides, comes in. A level 63 dungeon, running a dungeon four or five times helps gear up a job for the next dungeon.

The gearing while leveling is still a big deal. But with new dungeons I really only need to go out and get new gear when I start running dungeons for the next expansion. So far I'm only spending 150,000 - 250,000 gil per expansion for gear. But between my Island Sanctuary and Cosmic Exploration, just selling advanced dyes easily pays for new leveling gear. 

Not a big deal, but something I didn't realize Square Enix did until I began leveling my bard job. Evercold promises to change things up and make life easier. I'm glad I found something introduced to the game a couple of months ago that does the same thing.

Cloud Imperium Cash Shop Records $8.1 Million In Sales In July 2026

Cloud Imperium Games received good financial news from its online cash shop to begin the second half of 2026. According to the CCU Game dashboard, revenue from the cash shop grew year-over-year by 25.3% up to $8.1 million in July. Last month beat the previous highest cash shop revenue total in July of  $6.5 million recorded in 2025. Through the first 7 months of 2026 Cloud Imperium sold virtual goods and services, along with some physical goods, worth $103.2 million dollars. Just for comparison, Pearl Abyss sold off CCP Games (now Fenris Creations) for $120 million in cash and assets in May.

The $1032.3 million ($1.03 billion) displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of May was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1,187.4 million ($1.19 billion) in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2024 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $1032.3 million ($1.03 billion) (through 31 July 2026)
• Other cash shop revenue: $2.7 million (through 31 December 2024)
• Subscriptions: $46.8 million (through 31 December 2024)
• All other sources: $105.6 million (through 31 December 2024)

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 $3.1 million in 2023-2024. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $1,255.6 million ($1.26 billion), or $1.247.8 million ($1.25 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.

In the latest example that revenue and new account creation are unrelated, the number of accounts created in July 2026 was down 26.1% compared to July 2025. I think the main reason is simple. In July 2025 CIG debuted a new referral system and saw a big jump in account creation. I think last month was a return to the norm.

What to watch for: With the big Squadron 42 event 10 weeks away I don't expect any big news in August. Instead, look to see if sales exceed $10 million. If so, then July will be the last month with sub-$10 million sales for quite some time. The only negative I can see is if CIG begins a big money push. Then something definitely is going wrong.

Cosmic Exploration: An Anti-Bot Measure Or Bad Luck?

When I started playing Final Fantasy XIV I was told Square Enix included some "features" designed to discourage players from doing one thing in the game for extended periods of time. Gathering itself wasn't affected but farming mobs for drops? I noticed that after 10 or 15 minutes the drop rate really diminished. Perhaps a good thing for other players who might need to kill a particular type of critter but not if the recipe required a lot of leather.

Last night I may have encountered another measure. I was on Auxesia trying to craft my way to 500,000 tool mastery points and another title as a Carpenter. I was having the worst luck with the tool mastery missions. Almost every time for 15 minutes I couldn't buy a good condition to get max progress on a craft. About halfway through the period I had an item reach 100% spirit bond. I took a quick look and every piece of crafting gear I was wearing was at 100% spirit bond.

Yikes! Then I remembered that the last time I had played I ended the night with most of my gear at 100% spirit bond and I just planned to extract the materia the next time I logged in. Which was last night. Oops!

Once I extracted all the materia and resumed crafting something unusual happened. The RNG gods looked favorably on me once again and I started recording max scores on each item I crafted. Then I considered an explanation. If someone were running a bot or some other automation, they'd probably not bother extracting their materia. Which means their points output would be subpar compared to pressing each macro manually and watching the character's gear to make sure it doesn't break or, in this case, fill up with spirit bond.

I know the sample size of 10 items created in those 15 minutes was small, but I think large enough to make a judgement. Then again, making sure to keep your equipment repaired and with spirit bond less than 100% isn't hard to do. But I am going to keep track of things like that from now on, especially if the consequences for doing so is losing more than a few crafting materia.

Flying Solo In EVE: Don't Be Afraid To Spend ISK On Ammo

 

I didn't play much -- or write much -- over the past week or so. In EVE I was in a holding pattern. I had two characters reach the end of the Daily AIR track and get the bundles of skill points. I'm not actively training one of them so the points came in handy. I did manage to build a Talwar Fleet Issue for my new character to run the level 1 epic arc "Blood Stained Stars." My new character will have the skills to fly the ship up to Mastery level 2 by the weekend. 

The week of July 20-26

I wasn't the only one not rushing to spend a lot of time in New Eden. Last week was the lowest average user concurrency in 2026, finally dipping down to 23,000 accounts, plus or minus 500. The PCU for the week was only 31,567, which is the low for a week in 2026 as well. The next five weeks until Labor Day in the U.S. will probably be the low point for activity on Tranquility for the year.

A steady market

Apparently the marketing department is also taking a break. The volumes and prices stayed steady for another week with no new sales launching. Not surprising to the old timers who know Fenris usually takes a big chunk of August off. I have the feeling activity will be light until everyone returns to Iceland.

Now for my shopping list for my upcoming adventure running around empire high sec. The Blood-stained Stars is a 50 mission set that traditionally is the last scripted content players engage in before going out and exploring the universe. The only thing I really have to worry about is the ammo. The Talwar Fleet Issue is a missile boat and the fitting Gemini is recommending involves light missiles. Back for the first few years of playing EVE I would always use basic ammunition in order to save money. I've moved onto faction or tech 2 ammo recently to get missions done faster. But what about for a brand new player with only 6 million ISK in the wallet? Here's what Gemini told me.

Yes, running faction missiles for the whole arc is easily within her budget.

Caldari Navy Light Missiles usually hover around 800 to 1,000 ISK per shot in trade hubs like Jita. While that sounds like a lot when starting with 6 million ISK, the overall math works out well in her favor.

1. The Numbers Breakdown

Ammo Type	Avg. Price / Unit	5,000 Rounds (Full Arc Supply)
Standard T1 Missiles	~70–100 ISK	~400,000 ISK
Caldari Navy Missiles	~800–1,000 ISK	~4.0 to 4.5 Million ISK

5,000 rounds of faction ammo is typically enough to clear all 50 missions in the Blood-Stained Stars. If she starts with 6M ISK, buying a full stock of Caldari Navy missiles will leave her with ~1.5M to 2M ISK for initial insurance or fitting adjustments—and bumping her wallet to 10M ISK by the weekend gives her plenty of breathing room.

2. The Arc Pays for Itself as She Goes

She won't just be spending ISK; The Blood-Stained Stars is designed to hand out significant liquid ISK rewards as a new player progresses:

• Mission Rewards & Bonuses: Running the arc generates roughly 10 to 15 million ISK in direct mission payouts and completion bonuses.
• Bounties: Target pirate frigates and cruisers will yield a few million ISK in bounties along the way.
• The Final Reward: Completing the 50th mission awards a massive standing boost and a bonus reward worth roughly 5+ million ISK.
• By Chapter 2 or 3, the mission rewards will easily cover the cost of her ammo replenishment.

3. Recommended Strategy

To stretch her starting ISK as efficiently as possible:

• Use Standard T1 Ammo for Trash Mobs: Standard T1 light missiles (Scourge, Inferno, Nova, Mjolnir) cost a fraction of faction ammo (~80 ISK). She can use standard T1 for fast-clearing easy frigate waves in the early chapters.
• Save Faction Ammo for Cruisers & Bosses: Switch to Caldari Navy when facing tougher cruiser targets, mission commanders, or heavy structures to melt them down quickly.
• Load Full Faction for Dagan: For the final boss fight against Dagan in Chapter 7, load pure Caldari Navy Inferno or Scourge to ensure maximum DPS.

Now, I have to say I'm glad the AI provided the recommended strategy to make the ISK stretch out until the epic arc provided enough money. One of the first things players learn is to not fly what you can't afford to lose. The extra damage from the special ammo makes survival a lot easier, but when just entering the game for the first time the advice does sound a little hollow. After all, players have so much to spend on when first starting out. Skimping on the ammunition seems like a good choice. My advice is, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. Don't hold onto the ISK too tightly.