PLEX Reaches 2 Billion ISK For One Month's Game Time

Time flies when playing EVE Online. Nearly 5 years ago, I sat in a little soup restaurant across from CenterHotel Klopp eating lunch with Diana Dial, the proprietor of EveTimeCodes.com. Among the topics of conversation was the rising price of PLEX. Back in those days, 1 PLEX was the equivalent of 500 modern PLEX. She told me that business was a lot better when the prices of PLEX was 400-500 million ISK rather than the then current price of 700 million ISK.

Over the years, much has changed. Last year, the soup restaurant was closed and being renovated. I hear the place had changed ownership. CCP is now owned by a Korean game company instead of Icelandic investors. And between the rising price of PLEX and the introduction of big players like Amazon into the PLEX market, Diana closed EveTimeCodes.com. But one thing hasn't changed. People are still discussing the rising price of PLEX.

Yesterday, the price of 500 PLEX (one month's Omega game time) reached 2 billion ISK for the first time. Of course, threads went up on the EVE Online sub-Reddit and the official EVE Online forums marking the event. I think some people are looking at how quickly the price rose since 9 March and ask themselves, "What happened to make the market jumped so quickly?" Markets have a psychology all their own and I don't know what happened to make the PLEX market in The Forge jump 3.7% in 8 days.

A month ago, I wrote why I saw the prices increasing. Some people on r/eve and the forums even pointed out the main reason. From December 2017 to the summer of 2018, CCP held so many sales in order to make their books look good for potential buyers that they artificially depressed the price of PLEX.

Just a reminder for people not familiar the price of PLEX, From December 2017 to August 2018, the average price of 500 PLEX dropped 17.2%. The sale of CCP to Pearl Abyss was announced on 6 September. With the sale secured, CCP stopped holding frequent sales. Except for November, when the annual Black Friday sale occurred, the average price of PLEX has risen each month since.Through last month, the amount had risen from August's 1.379 billion ISK to February's average price of 1.879 billion ISK. That 36.3% rise in price over the past 6 months represents an additional 500 million ISK a month in order to PLEX an account. In the context of an average increase of 1.4% each week in the price of PLEX, the 3.7% increase over the past 8 days doesn't seem like such an unusual jump.

The big difference between now is that CCP is planning to slow income generation in an effort to head off inflation and a few other effects that can harm the economy. I've taken a peak at the market and expect to see the numbers continue to climb as the 4 million ISK/PLEX barrier shatters. I don't pretend to know how high the ceiling is. I just watch the markets and hope the inflation remains confined to RMT items like PLEX, skill extractors, and Multiple Pilot Character Training Certificates.