A Look At September 2024 Activity In EVE Online

September is usually a key month for EVE Online. An increase in activity usually indicates a lot of interest in the game and a good financial showing for the third quarter. If no growth occurs, don't expect a really good winter. For CCP Games, I think they should thank the stars EVE Galaxy Conquest launches at the end of the October.

 

Our first indicator, as always, is average concurrent users. Jester's tracking graph shows the number of players logged into the game stayed consistently around 21,000 accounts. Not a good sign historically except in 2023 when the ACU dipped from 19,000 down to 18,000 in the middle of the month. Has the return to the two-expansions a year model changed player behavior? We'll see in November.

Looking at general month-over-month numbers, activity dipped a bit in high sec killing of NPCs, dropping 5.1% at a time the number should increase. Player ship deaths remained flat with a little additional activity in factional warfare and insurrection sites. But perhaps surprisingly, players slowed down killing each other in null sec, with player ship deaths declining 8%. I guess the Imperium's takeover of the cluster's south and south-east so the organization can move out of Delve slowed down activity.

Year-over-year, though, activity is still up. The kill exchange incentives the developers installed still distort the high sec ship kill numbers although players killed NPCs at increased rates. The big numbers are in null sec, as three months into a null sec expansion we see year-over-year growth. The ratting activity is most telling as the number of NPCs killed in null rose 32.6% compared to the number killed in September 2023.

 

With CCP's change in focus to null sec I'll also look at the engine that keeps EVE Online afloat financially: null sec PvE. While numbers are not climbing, players are presumably adapting to the new Equinox sov system slower than I think the developers anticipated. At least, that's my opinion based on the latest patches and the way the dev blogs try to cajole the null sec alliances to adapt to the new system. Of course, the Imperium is probably adapting in a way unanticipated by the devs, with the number of dead NPCs not rising as expected. Yes, always blame the Goons.

Numbers should rise in October as the weather gets colder and Crimson Harvest occupies everyone's attention. I do have to wonder if the SKINR system brought in enough income to tear apart previous financial estimates or if players logging in and shooting things in internet space is a good barometer of how the EVE Online is doing in the eyes of our overlords in Anyang. I guess we'll see next month.