Attempting To Monetize The CSM 18 Election

Tell me your company is not doing well financially without telling me your company is not doing well financially. Trying to use the just ended Council of Stellar Management election to do so is an excellent example.

Balloting capsuleers, 

Elections for the 2023 Council of Stellar Management (CSM18) are underway, and to celebrate EVE’s next season of player representation a selection of three gifts will be made available to all capsuleers for free through the NES on 8, 9, and 10 September: 

• 8 September: Council Diplomatic Shuttle 
• 9 September: Council Diplomatic Shuttle Semiotique Sports SKIN 
• 10 September: Agency Support Drop 

Additionally, as a special reward for those who vote in the CSM elections, any account which votes will also receive a free Council Diplomatic Shuttle SARO ‘Black Troop’ SKIN! 

Vote for your preferred representatives and help guide EVE towards a brighter future. 

We’ll see you at the polls – and in space! 

Due to real life I missed this particular promotion for the New Eden Store until Sunday when I logged into EVE. If a player wanted all three items designed to promote the CSM election, they needed to log in all three days, as each item was only available for 24 hours. I guess if players visit the NES enough, they might see something they want to buy. Yes, players use PLEX in the New Eden Store, but with the average price of PLEX sold yesterday in The Forge at 4,780,000 ISK and some selling for over 5 million ISK today, players might want to spend real money on PLEX for the NES and save their ISK for important things like spaceships.

As for the first sentence of this post, the CSM promotion is just another reminder than Pearl Abyss is not doing so well financially. The South Korean game company has run a net loss in two of the last three fiscal quarters (₩102.2 billion in Q4 2022 and ₩4.4 billion in Q2 2023). Add in the failure to announce a launch date yet despite telling investors Crimson Desert would launch sometime in 2023 and Pearl Abyss really needs the money. The fact CCP is using the CSM, not exactly the most popular feature in EVE, to scrape up a few more dollars underscores the situation.