What Is Grace In EVE Frontier?

In all honesty I didn't pay any attention to EVE Frontier's Grace system. I looked at the description briefly, saw part of getting Grace involved linking my social media accounts to a third party app, and decided Grace wasn't for me. From there I ignored the feature until I read an article over at MassivelyOP. Here's the key part for me.

...But CCP would very much like you to share impressions of it, which is why it’s offering a free trial starting on June 27th and running through July 7th. You can log in and play for free, and any Grace you earn will convert to EVE Points… assuming you buy a Founder’s account before the end of Cycle 1.

So all of your progress will be retained if you buy in before the deadline, otherwise it’ll all be lost, which feels like it’s so on-brand that if someone wrote it in a script the editor would note that it was a bit heavy-handed...

After reading the piece I was left with the impression the Grace system would allow people to bypass the planned frequent server wipes. Except I knew that wasn't the case. So I fired up Copilot to explain Frontier's Grace system to me.

Grace is a temporary, development-phase progression currency in EVE Frontier, earned during limited-time Cycles. The system tracks players' activity across missions, social engagement, recruitment, and Tribe contributions. At the end of each Cycle, a player's Grace total is converted into EVE Points, which reflect the player's standing during that specific testing period.

However, keep in mind the following details:

• Cycles will end when the game fully launches.
• Grace will no longer be earned or used post-launch.
• EVE Points will not persist into the live game—they’re exclusive to the Founder Access phase.

Those last two points are my understanding as CCP is not touting Frontier as a seasonal type of game upon launch. Also, I should point out EVE Points are not some type of cryptocurrency. The cryptocurrency for Frontier is the EVE Token. If the company later on decides to make EVE Points convertible into EVE Tokens, that's a red flag that maybe the people in charge of Frontier aren't that trustworthy after all.

How does the Grace system work for players? Copilot listed out four general categories:

• Missions & Gameplay: Mining, building, exploring, combat—just playing the game earns Grace.
• Social Engagement: Joining a Tribe, sharing content, or engaging with the community.
• Recruitment: Inviting new players and helping them get started.
• Tribe Goals: Your Tribe’s performance boosts a player's personal Grace total.

The Grace system makes Frontier resemble a seasonal game. Grace is earned within a specific Cycle, which is a limited-time season during the game’s development. At the end of each Cycle, a player's Grace is converted into EVE Points, reflecting the player's standing during that Cycle. However, both Grace and EVE Points will be retired when the game fully launches.

The devs do get something out of the Grace system as well. For example, if they want to test out a particular game system they can skew the list of objectives towards that system. As an example, below is the mission list for Cycle 1.

In-game missions to acquire Grace

Another benefit is access to important pieces of information during a Cycle. For example, how many players logged into the game vs how many players managed to kill an NPC might provide some information about how sticky the alpha experience is for players. Or perhaps the statistic of jumping to systems containing every type of star leads to how much players wish to explore. I can't see how the devs do not have a quick way to reference this type of information to aid in planning what to test during the next Cycle.

I want to address one last concern I had about the Grace system. Players receive Grace for performing certain activities using their social media accounts. Even hooking up a social media account generates Grace. But how easy is it to change your mind?

I found the process, while annoying, fairly easy. I went to the Missions page and selected "Edit Profile". Under "Accounts & Wallets" I made sure that all my social media accounts were disconnected.

My profile page - no social media connected.

I had connected my Twitter and Discord accounts to the Grace system and clicked on the "Disconnect" button. I found that the 3rd party app CCP uses to monitor players' social accounts, Snag Loyalty, still had access to my accounts, so I followed the instructions for each platform to remove the access. Kind of a pain but more inconvenient than difficult. I did leave my email address in because I still want to receive emails about the game.

Looking back, I don't know why the writer over at MassivelyOP had the reaction he had. The Grace system seems like a harmless system designed to keep people playing and testing Frontier engaged. The offer to let people try the game and then allow them to keep their progress if they purchase Founder's access sounds like what CCP has done with login events if they upgrade from Alpha (free) to Omega (paid) status for years. Quite frankly, I haven't heard any complaints from games journalists about that practice. I guess I could just chalk up the criticism to a case of Frontier Derangement Syndrome.

Legion Got A Little Things Patch: S thru Z

Tuesday's Little Things patch for EVE Online was so long I cut off my look at the patch notes. Today's post covers the second half. Hopefully the handshake icon shows up for readers to know which changes were suggested by players. The icons show up for me, but I know hardware and browsers differ.

Science & Industry:

• 🤝 We now show you the number of blueprints that match a filter in the footer of the industry window. This would be very useful when manufacturing from BPCs (tech 2 for example) to track how many blueprints are remaining.

Ships:

• 🤝 Added the option to keybind a shortcut to open the “Infrastructure Hold” found on the Upwell Haulers and the Avalanche.

Sovereignty:

Null sec mechanics were the only subject with more notes than the Triglavians. Here is the description from the dev blog:

Multiple adjustments and additions have also been made based on input from the CSM and wider EVE community. Skyhooks that will enter a vulnerable state within the next two hours will now be highlighted on the new, optimized map, offering enhanced clarity for raiding and making it easier to plan and strike with precision. The raiding window has been extended, giving room for tactical aggression and coordinated assaults. 

PvP enthusiasts will discover more conflict opportunities around Metenox sites, with changes that close loopholes previously used to avoid engagements. Owners can no longer unanchor their structures to escape a fight, making each deployment a true commitment.

Nullsec aggression gets more strategic as capsuleers gain the ability to hack sovereignty hubs with Data and Relic Analyzer modules to gather intel. This enables skilled scouts to access important information about the sovereignty hub, including which upgrades are installed and which are online, allowing for more informed decisions when identifying opportune targets.

• Meta-Molecular Combiners and Isotropic Deposition Guides have been added as rare drops to the Data and Relic site escalations which come exclusively from the new exploration sovereignty upgrades.
• 🤝 Increased the duration of the mining escalation obtained from the Level 2 and Level 3 sovereignty upgrades from 6 hours to 24 hours.
• 🤝 The length of time the ‘Orbital Skyhook Management’ window can be opened and used, which is where players can choose to capture or destroy skyhooks after claiming sovereignty in the solar system, has been increased from 1 hour to 24 hours so executor corp directors don’t have to be immediately available in the solar system when sov is captured.
• 🤝 Added options to interact with Skyhooks, Sovereignty Hubs and Mercenary Dens to the selected items window.
• 🤝 It is now possible to search for system and region names in the alliance sovereignty hubs window.
• Sovereignty Hubs can now be hacked with Data and Relic Analyzer modules, if successful, then players are given a list of all upgrades currently installed in the Sov Hub, their priority and if they are online or offline.
• Increased the time that Skyhooks are raidable from 1 hour to 2 hours.
• Note: This will only take effect for existing Skyhooks after any existing vulnerability timers have already ended and the next one scheduled. It will therefore take until this upcoming Saturday downtime for every single Skyhook to have the 2 hour vulnerability window.
  
  
• Skyhooks which are about to become vulnerable will now show in the updated world map and the agency, up to 2 hours before they become vulnerable. In the ‘Raidable Skyhooks’ filter under Sovereignty
• Large red circle: Skyhook will become raidable in <10 minutes.
• Orange medium circles: Raidable in 10 minutes to 1 hour.
• Small yellow circles: Raidable in 1 to 2 hours.
  
  
• Sovereignty combat sites spawned by the major and minor threat arrays and the Level 1 mining sites have been moved over to our new method of distributing sites. This will mean that they will no longer instantly spawn when turning their upgrade on/off at the sovereignty hub, and will now wait their 12 minute/1 hour respawn timers before they first appear.
• The sites spawned by these upgrades will now always respect the time when the last site was completed. This means that the combat sites will continue to instantly respawn as long as the previous site was around for 12 minutes, and the mining sites will still instantly respawn if the previous site was around for 1 hour.

Structures & Deployables:

• Metenox Moon Drills now require 3 days (72 hours) to unanchor instead of 45 minutes like other FLEX structures.
• Metenox Moon Drills now give a 20 second ‘warp disabled’ debuff when a player damages or activates a module on one, much like other upwell structures.
• 🤝 POS (Starbases) and Custom Offices now show their reinforcement timestamp in the select items window which you can then copy to the clipboard, just like with upwell structures and skyhooks.
• 🤝 In the structure browser, on the ‘My Skyhooks’ page, it’s now possible to copy information here to the clipboard.

User Interface:

• 🤝 You can now see labels that have been assigned to a character/corp/alliance in the show info window, an icon has been added to the portrait that you can hover the mouse cursor over to get the label name in the tooltip.
• 🤝 In the corporation window you can now copy member standings that are contributing to corp standings.
• 🤝 The ‘next destination’ color in the overview for stargates/stations etc. has been made brighter so it’s clearer and more noticeable.
• 🤝 It’s now possible to copy member entries (Characters/Corporations/Alliances etc) to the clipboard from Access Lists (ACLs).
• 🤝 We no longer show the ‘Unallocated Skill points available’ pointer when you log in to the game, and now only show it when you gain unallocated skillpoints (like after using a skill injector)
• 🤝 When right clicking a wormhole in space or from the overview - the “Enter Wormhole” option has now been placed near the top at the same location where “Jump” is for stargates, rather than the very bottom option.
• 🤝 Characters that have Omega status can now optionally remove the full interactable ‘skill details’ tooltip that appears when you mouse over some modules/ships that you don’t have the skills to use and just show a much smaller non-interactable tooltip with basic information instead. This can be done in the inventory menu settings menu found in the right corner.
• 🤝 Added a new text filter to the locations in current solar system pop-out window which can be optionally disabled, the locations in system window should also no longer ‘eat keyboard shortcuts’ while the window is focused now unless you are typing into the text filter.

Legion Got A Little Things Patch - A Thru P

I'm a little behind the news, but on Tuesday CCP Games releases a little things patch for EVE Online. What's a "little things" patch? In EVE a "Little Things" patch refers to a collection of quality-of-life improvements, small but impactful changes suggested by players that enhance everyday gameplay. These tweaks often stem from feedback gathered during events like Fanfest or through the official forums, and are aimed at smoothing out rough edges in the user experience. Looking at the patch notes, this little things patch wasn't so little. So not little that I had to divide the look into two parts, with the second part published on Friday.

I'm going to try to match up the dev blog with the patch notes to give a little context to what actually changed on Tranquility but that's not entirely possible.

Empire Wars:

And in the spirit of fairness in warfare, wardec loopholes have been sealed, leveling the playing field between aggressive corporations and those rising up against them. 

• It’s no longer possible to declare a structure which is already reinforced as a War HQ when declaring war on a corporation or alliance.
• Creating an alliance while you have active, offensive wars, will now cause all of the allies involved in those wars to correctly be copied over to the new war that is created when the alliance is formed.

Factional Warfare & Insurgencies:

I don't think the dev blog really did this area of the patch notes justice, but I'll let you judge. A little bit of insight as to what the devs consider really important.

When it comes to Pirate Insurgencies, capsuleers who wish to align with the Guristas or Angel Cartel can now sign on from Zarzakh, which lowers the barrier of entry, especially for newcomers looking to embrace a darker path. 

Now for the patch notes:

• 🤝 Several UI/UX improvements have been made to the Factional Warfare window. The Opacity for text and icons has been decreased, checkboxes have been added to the legend so you can turn off various icons if desired and the background opacity has been increased, which should make it much clearer.
• Increased the base LP Payout for capturing an FW Ihub from 40,000 LP to 200,000 LP when a system is flipped.
• 🤝 Added a new Scout ADV-1 plex as a rare roaming spawn to FW frontline systems which lets all tech 1, tech 2 and faction frigates inside for players who are looking for pirate frigate and assault frigate duels without destroyers being involved.
• LP Reward: 15,000 LP
• Victory Points Reward: 40

• 🤝 It’s now possible to enlist for the Angel Cartel and the Guristas Pirates from inside the Fulcrum in Zarzakh.

• Note: Since Zarzakh is a dangerous system and has special rules with travel, we do not update your autopilot to go to Zarzakh when you go through the normal enlistment flow even when it is the closest station available.

• Insurgencies now spread when a system reaches level 4 corruption, instead of at level 3 corruption.

• We are increasing the threshold at which corruption spreads to hopefully contain the insurgency to fewer systems initially, which should focus the fighting a bit more and give empire players more time to react to contain the insurgency if they wish.

• To partially address team killing aka 'awoxing' issues within the pirate militias, we are planning on raising the standing requirements to join them from -2.0 to 0.0, just like the empire militias. This will be done in the legion major update which will most likely be released sometime at the end of summer/early fall. We are communicating this now so that corps and players have time to fix standings if needed ahead of time.
• We are also investigating other small potential adjustments to prevent team killing/awoxing in the pirate militias.

• The lower requirement to join the pirate militias made sense when we released insurgencies in the Havoc expansion, due to most characters having bad guristas/angel standings through normal PVE gameplay and we expected the pirate militias to be the underdogs in the warzones, however, pirates have dominated the insurgencies and players have now had 18 months to fix their standings, and the vast vast majority of awoxing incidents that occur in FW are specifically from the pirate militias, so we feel comfortable making this change.

Filaments:

I guess not enough people were dying.

Traces will now take less time to scan down. This should make them more tempting targets for hunters without adding any additional time for players waiting at for the trace to open.

• Increased the signature radius of Filament traces to 45 (from 30).

Fleets:

Some times the changes just make sense.

• 🤝 It’s now possible to re-order members of the watch list by dragging and dropping characters from other chat windows. For example, from channel member lists like your logistics channel or from a linked character in the chat etc.
• 🤝 Added a suppressible warning message when giving a character in a fleet the boss.
• 🤝 Separated the ‘Kick Member From Fleet’ and the ‘Make Boss’ options, so it’s harder to accidently make someone the boss who you meant to kick, or kick someone you meant to make the boss of the fleet.

Market & Contracts:

Okay, I understand how awkward describing these things would be in a dev blog. Still, I think these will make life easier.

• 🤝 It is now possible to import prices directly into the multisell window from the clipboard to update the price on several types you are planning to sell at once.
• For example, If you wanted to sell veldspar at 10 ISK per unit, scordite at 20 ISK per unit and plagioclase at 30 ISK per unit. You could open a multisell with those asteroids in your hangar by selecting them all and then you could import the following from your clipboard to update all of their prices instead of adjusting each one manually.
• Syntax is (Name of the Type, i.e. Veldspar) followed by the price.
• This is a huge timesaver when planning to sell and seed multiple items!
  
  
• 🤝 It is now possible to delete multiple contracts at once.
• 🤝 Auction contracts will no longer ‘require attention’ that you win, after you’ve claimed your items/ISK, when the other party hasn’t collected their rewards, so you’ll no longer get a notification about it.
• 🤝 It is now possible to ‘Forget Contract’ for an auction contract which currently ‘Requires Attention’ so that it will no longer pop up if you wish to ignore it, this can happen if you bid on an auction but someone else wins the auction where either party hasn’t collected their rewards yet. This can be done by right clicking the contract under the ‘Requires Attention’ section and choosing the ‘Ignore Contract’ option.
• 🤝 When making a contract that is requesting items from a player, it’s now possible to import your clipboard for the requested items, similar to multibuy.

Modules:

Pilots of Triglavian ships getting some love.

• 🤝 Triglavian Entropic Disintegrator weapons now show their current progress towards maximum spool in the tooltip when you mouse over them in space while they’re active, and how long it will take in seconds for them to reach their maximum spool.
• 🤝 Triglavian Entropic Disintegrator weapons now show their DPS range from starting to max spool in the fitting simulation window when you mouse over the DPS, rather than only showing the starting DPS.

Mining:

Ever get the feeling the devs aren't in touch with how EVE players think? I've played long enough to know players were going to take advantage of passive moon mining. Some things just aren't worth the opportunity cost of doing something else.

The universe has been experiencing a lack of pyerite. This seems to mostly be a consequence of Metenox Moon Drills replacing manual mining from Athanors/Tataras for R4 Ores which provide pyerite as a secondary product. As a response to this issue, we will be increasing the refining yield of scordite to increase its pyerite amount. This aims to empower highsec miners to act on the pyerite shortage, hopefully increasing interest and value for miners in highsec. Mordunium has been increased slightly in order to keep up with scordite.

• Scordite Pyerite Reprocessing amount improved by approximately 10%.
• Scordite - Pyerite reprocessing amount increased from 90 to 99.
• Condensed Scordite - Pyerite reprocessing amount increased from 95 to 103.
• Massive Scordite - Pyerite reprocessing amount increased from 99 to 110.
• Glossy Scordite - Pyerite reprocessing amount increased from 104 to 114.
• Mordunium - Pyerite Reprocessing amount improved by approximately 5%.
• Mordunium - Pyerite reprocessing amount increased from 84 to 88.
• Plum Mordunium - Pyerite reprocessing amount increased from 88 to 92.
• Prize Mordunium - Pyerite reprocessing amount increased from 92 to 97.
• Plunder Mordunium - Pyerite reprocessing amount increased from 98 to 101.

The next point is something I've feared. A lot of meddling in resource creation instead of fiddling with material inputs. I guess it's easier to play God than updated hundreds of blueprints, especially when the devs have God-like powers at the tips of their fingers.

With the introduction of the Tier 3 mining upgrades and the improvements we made to Tier 2 mining upgrades in the Revenant major update, we ended up overcorrecting the amount of morphite supply available making it more plentiful than we would like, and so we are making adjustments to the respawn time and the availability of the mercoxit deposits tied to Level 2 and 3 sov mining upgrades.

• Level 2 mining upgrades:
• Average Mercoxit Deposit chance to spawn has been slightly decreased.
• Average Mercoxit Deposit respawn timer increased from 120 minutes to 155 minutes.
• Guaranteed Large Mercoxit Deposit respawn timer increased from 480 minutes to 670 minutes.
• Level 3 mining upgrades:
• Large Mercoxit Deposit chance to spawn has been slightly decreased.
• Large Mercoxit Deposit respawn timer increased from 120 minutes to 240 minutes.
• Guaranteed Enormous Mercoxit Deposit respawn timer increased from 720 minutes to 1150 minutes.

Planetary Interaction:

A good addition but the muscle memory is going to take awhile to change.

• 🤝 Added an “Access” (Custom Office) button next to the View/WarpTo buttons in the planetary Industry window.

Pochven:

One might be forgiven if Tuesday's patch is thought of as a Triglavian mini-expansion. From the dev blog...

Meanwhile, Pochven has seen various improvements, including a reworking of smaller-scale sites to adjust balance and add more rewards, with opportunities tailored for agile cruiser teams to make their mark. 

• Decreased the time between Dazh Liminality Locus decloaking pulses to 9 minutes.
  
  After seeing the impacts of both short and long decloaking pulses, we are happier with the results of the former. These quick pulses make Pochven CCTV (cloaked alts used to monitor player movements) much more involved and overall seems to be healthy for the region.
  
  
• Smaller-scale sites have been significantly reworked:
• Reworked sites include Incipient Drone Swarms, Convocation Watchposts, EDENCOM Scout Fleets, and Torpid Sleeper Hives.
• All reworked sites have had their payouts and distribution amounts adjusted.
• Players must now be within 100km of the site’s center on completion to be eligible for rewards.
• NPCs that were outliers in terms of time-to-kill (e.g. Overmind Broodlords) have been removed from these sites.
• Added objectives to the Info Panel that track a site’s progress.
• NPCs will now remember players who have been aggressive to their allies between waves.
• A new hackable container has been added to each site:
• These containers require a data analyzer to access.
• This container becomes hackable after the site has been completed.
• Loot includes commodities that can be sold to NPC buy orders.
• This is an optional addition and is not required to complete the site.
  
  
• EDENCOM Scout Fleets sites can now spawn with variants for each EDENCOM faction:
• These factions are weighted based on the owner of the system prior to Pochven’s formation.
  
  
• Celestial Beacons have been added to the sites to support salvaging.
• NPCs will now return to the site’s center if kited too far away.
• These sites are now deadspace grids, with their warp-in points moved closer to the NPC spawn location.

• These changes aim to make the small fleet sites within Pochven worth the time and effort. Players can start with the easy Incipient Drone Swarms and work up to the much more difficult (and rewarding) Torpid Sleeper Hives. With more groups running these sites, the region should be more alive and inviting to smaller gang playstyles.

• Vigilance Point sites have been updated:
• A key is now required to open the acceleration gate:
• Only 1 key will be required to open the gate for a time.
• This key can be found within Observatory Infiltration Drifter Collections, smaller-scale site hackable containers, and Deepflow Rift Glorified Deepflow Adaptive Canisters.
  
  
• Resonance items used within the site can now be found inside Deepflow Rift Glorified Deepflow Adaptive Canisters.
• Payouts for this site within Pochven are now from the Convocation of Triglav.

• Players have been able to “reroll” the location of these sites by forcing it to fail. The addition of a key adds a cost to do so. In addition, acquiring key gives an additional incentive for smaller fleets to run content within the region.

• Several aspects of Observatory Flashpoint sites have been adjusted:
• Entering the site will no longer require a key:
• The previous keys will no longer drop from CONCORD Stellar Observatories or be purchasable from NPC sell orders.
• The previous keys can be traded at Triglavian LP stores for the new Vigilance Point key at a 3:1 ratio.
  
  
• 6 instances of the site can now be found within the region.
• A short respawn timer has been added to the site.
• ISK payouts and red loot found within the CONCORD Stellar Observatories have been reduced:
• A total of 2.25 billion ISK can be gained within the site.
  
  
• The frequency of EWAR using EDENCOM NPCs, excluding those with warp scrambles, has been reduced.
• The Caldari EDENCOM dreadnought has been replaced with a Karura.
• The addition of personal keys to the site was intended to disincentive groups from going beyond 15 players. This did not have the desired effect and so they are being removed.
  

• Payouts have been reduced to allow for more instances of the site within the region. Having the value spread across Pochven should make it more difficult for a single 50+ character fleet to maintain control. The Phoenix has been swapped with the Karura to help balance the site against the other empire variants.

• Observatory Infiltration sites have had minor improvements:
• Sites are now accessible with Pirate and Navy Cruisers.
• Payouts for the Pochven variant have been slightly increased.
• Lockdown NPCs will take significantly longer to respawn when destroyed.
  
  
• Triglavian and EDENCOM standings can now be gained by destroying NPCs within Vigilance Point, Observatory Infiltration, Deepflow Rift, and Drifter Crisis sites.
• Standings can now be gained with Triglavian corporations when completing specific sites:
• Sites include Incipient Drone Swarms, EDENCOM Scout Fleets, Torpid Sleeper Hives, Observatory Flashpoints, Observatory Infiltrations, and Vigilance Points.
• Standings are granted immediately on site completion and do not impact standings ticks.

• These standings will lower brokers' fees and reprocessing fees within Triglavian stations. This allows characters with high standings to operate within Pochven more efficiently, and reduces some of the friction within the region’s ecosystem.

• Many NPCs found throughout Pochven have been rebalanced:
• EDENCOM dreadnoughts and Rogue Drone carriers/supercarriers now give additional standings when destroyed.
• Some NPCs have had EWAR added or removed for consistency.
• Various other tweaks have been made to NPCs found throughout the region.

Six Weeks Until Dawntrail Patch 7.3

Last Friday Final Fantasy XIV's Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida announced patch 7.3 would drop early in August. Early means the first 10 days of the month, so players are looking at 5 August to receive new content. With six weeks to go I think it's time for another update on my experience in FFXIV.

I checked out the Cosmic Exploration status page and saw my server had completed the development of the base on the moon. The entire game is making good progress and only servers on the newer data centers of Dynamis in North America and Materia in Oceania were still on stage 18 of 20. On my home data center of Primal only Famfrit had not completed the construction of the moon base.

I went to visit the moon to see what the finished construction looked like. I'm not going to lie, I was impressed. The site had gone from a cleared area with a couple of tents surrounding an aetheryte to a sprawling base with a spaceship and ground transportation system. Upon returning to the moon I received a couple of missions. One for the completion of the site and another for having completed 100 cosmic exploration missions. The completionist in me wants to keep gaining standings but I have other things to do.

On Sunday I reached Bloodsworn status with the Mamool Ja, the second of Dawntrail's three allied societies. The Mamool Ja are all about gathering in the lower forest of the Yak T'el zone. Yak T'el is a very blue and glowing area, perfect for the Branchbearer mount I could purchase when I became Trusted with the tribe. I have to admit the framing kit and triple triad card made available in the store at the end was a bit anti-climatic as the big reward for me was the Branchbearer. However I do see the logic. Earning the mount early made the Branchbearer available to ride for a few weeks while running around doing the allied society quests. If I had received the mount at the end I probably would have rode the mount once and then stored it away with my other 100+ mounts.

With all the Cosmic tools acquired I went back to working on the Blue Mage job. I decided to level from 50 to the job's level cap of 80 using the "leech-and-Clionid" trick in The Tempest. Yes, the method is cheesy as all heck but works solo. The big benefit is I can get a lot of the spells for Blue Mage easier since I can walk through level 50 dungeons pretty much untouchable. Not exactly in the spirit of the game but I only have six weeks until I'm distracted with the new content in patch 7.3.

I'm currently about halfway through the level 50 entries in The Masked Carnivale. I've used the tomestones rewarded for finishing each stage on obtaining iLevel 530 gear. I only need to get a pair of rings and I'll be, if not best in slot, very close. I also have used all the allied seals earned to purchase aetheryte tickets. I started off Dawntrail with 240 tickets and was down to 190 at the end of the Cosmic tools grind. Thanks to The Masked Carnivale I'm up to 400 tickets. Considering how much I might zip around gathering that's a lot of gil saved. Better yet, if I do the weekly novice and moderate stages of the carnivale I can earn 50 tickets each week for about 15 minutes of work. A lot better than chasing around hunt targets like I had done up until now.

Perhaps not the most exciting experience but I'm having fun. A lot of things are coming together right before the patch. Now I just need to finish up the projects and begin preparing for the changes coming in the first week of August.

More On Pearl Abyss' Plans To Sell CCP Games In 2025

The small flurry of news surrounding MTN's disclosure of Pearl Abyss offering CCP Games for sale last week didn't get a reply from the Icelandic studio. But Insider Gaming did tease out a statement from Pearl Abyss itself.

While we regularly review various strategies to enhance our global competitiveness, no decisions have been made, and we have nothing to announce at this time.

A nice non-denial denial. Having covered Pearl Abyss quarterly earnings calls for 6 years the statement sounds legitimate. Insider Gaming did try to throw doubt on MTN's report by reminding readers the South Korean outlet previously claimed Pearl Abyss’ Crimson Desert was set to release around 2 November. A date which Pearl Abyss has denied.

On Thursday I speculated Pearl Abyss might want to divest itself of CCP Games to make the South Korean studio more attractive to Chinese game companies like Tencent and NetEase. I decided to dive a little deeper into the theory and asked Copilot for reasons the Chinese companies would like to acquire the South Korean studio.

I think Copilot now considers me a bit of a simpleton. The AI program let me know it’s "possible" (the word was actually italicized) -- but not particularly likely -- that Tencent or NetEase would want to acquire Pearl Abyss outright. Tencent or NetEase might be more interested in cherry-picking assets -- like CCP Games or publishing rights -- rather than buying Pearl Abyss whole.

Further questioning of the AI provided five reasons why Tencent or NetEase would prefer to just purchase CCP Games instead of the entirety of Pearl Abyss.

Focused Acquisition - Tencent and NetEase are known for targeted, strategic acquisitions. CCP Games offers a specific value proposition: EVE Online, its tech stack, and its Western market presence. Pearl Abyss, on the other hand, comes with additional baggage—including Black Desert, Crimson Desert, and other projects that may not align with Tencent or NetEase’s current goals. Buying just CCP allows them to avoid inheriting unrelated assets or liabilities.

I'll admit that the evaluation of Black Desert and Crimson Desert as undesirable baggage while EVE Online is seen as a valuable asset made me smile in real life. Conventional wisdom, or at least the websites I read, has the comparison reversed.

Cost Efficiency - Pearl Abyss reportedly paid $225 million for CCP Games in 2018. If CCP is now underperforming and up for sale, Tencent or NetEase could acquire it at a discount, without paying a premium for Pearl Abyss’s broader portfolio.

Just on a personal note, I got a kick out of Copilot's sourcing for the price of Pearl Abyss' acquisition of CCP: MassivelyOP and The Ancient Gaming Noob. I, of course, linked back to my own post on the subject.

Regulatory Simplicity - Acquiring a Korean-listed company like Pearl Abyss would trigger complex regulatory reviews in South Korea and China. A direct purchase of CCP Games -- an Icelandic studio -- would be simpler and faster, especially given China’s tight scrutiny of outbound investments.

Something Copilot didn't bring up was the geo-political aspects of a major Chinese company getting into Iceland. The more influence the other CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has in Iceland, the better for its ambitions in the Arctic.

Western Market Access - CCP’s studios in Reykjavík, London, and Shanghai offer Tencent or NetEase a ready-made Western development and publishing footprint. That’s a strategic asset as both companies seek to expand globally amid domestic regulatory constraints.

I'm pretty sure this point was directed more toward NetEase as Tencent already has a very sizeable presence in North America and Europe. Still, Copilot made a note that Tencent’s expansion strategy is clear: invest in or acquire studios with strong IP, technical talent, and global reach, especially in regions with fewer regulatory hurdles than China.

Web3 Experimentation (Outside China) - CCP is investing in blockchain gaming with titles like EVE Frontier. While crypto is restricted in China, Tencent and NetEase might see CCP as a sandbox for Web3 experimentation—without exposing their core operations to regulatory risk.

According to Copilot, Chinese companies can engage in crypto activities outside China as long as they obey the following conditions:

• Avoid offering crypto services to Chinese residents, even if operating abroad.
• Comply with foreign regulations, including anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) rules.
• Be mindful of geopolitical scrutiny, especially in countries like the U.S., where Chinese tech firms face heightened national security concerns.

Going through the above information, I decided to ask one more question. Which game would intrigue potential buyers of CCP Games more, EVE Online or EVE Frontier? By a wide margin the answer was EVE Online.

Copilot described the original game in the franchise as proven, profitable, and iconic with the following strengths:

• Revenue Anchor: EVE Online generated around $60 million in 2024 (I would say more like $54 million), making it CCP’s primary source of income.
• Loyal Community: It boasts a fiercely dedicated player base and a unique, player-driven economy that few MMOs can match.
• Longevity: With over 20 years of continuous operation, it’s a rare example of a live-service game that’s still thriving.
• Strategic Value: For buyers like Tencent, NetEase, or EA, EVE Online offers a ready-made MMO ecosystem with global reach and monetization potential.

EVE Frontier, on the other hand, is described as high risk with high uncertainty:

• Blockchain Focus: Frontier is CCP’s Web3 experiment, built around blockchain and crypto mechanics. That’s a red flag for many traditional publishers due to regulatory and reputational risks.
• Unproven Market: It hasn’t launched yet and faces skepticism from both gamers and regulators.
• Creative Gamble: While it’s ambitious—described as a “massively moddable multiplayer online spaceship survival horror RPG”—it’s still speculative.

Copilot concluded with the observation that EVE Online is the asset buyers trust, while EVE Frontier is the bet they’d have to believe in. Most acquirers would likely view Frontier as optional—interesting if it works, but not a dealmaker.

A lot of the above conflicts with my hot takes from last Thursday. But since I write for myself I have the opportunity to go back and review if my initial assumptions are correct. While I still don't rule out the possibility of Pearl Abyss selling itself off, the way the process works may wind up vastly different.

Pearl Abyss Plans To Sell Off CCP Games

In a not entirely unexpected move South Korean-based Pearl Abyss is looking to sell off its Icelandic subsidiary CCP Games. The South Korean financial & economic news Money Today Network broke the story based on an interview.

Pearl Abyss is putting its subsidiary CCP, which developed 'EVE Online', up for sale on the market. The reason is interpreted as CCP acquiring it for 250 billion won in anticipation of the fan base it secured through 'EVE Online' and expansion of its mobile platform, but it fell short of initial expectations.

According to an interview with Money Today Broadcasting MTN on the 19th, Pearl Abyss and CCP have selected an underwriter for the sale of CCP and are sounding out multiple game companies for their interest in acquiring it.

Pearl Abyss launched an IPO in September 2017 bringing in $165 million. The company used the proceeds primarily to fuel global expansion and invest in new game development. A significant portion went into scaling up operations, including establishing overseas subsidiaries and enhancing marketing efforts for Black Desert Online in international markets. They also channeled funds into developing new titles like Crimson Desert and DokeV, aiming to diversify their portfolio and reduce reliance on a single franchise.

The biggest acquisition occurred in September 2018 with the purchase of CCP Games. The initially announced purchase price of $425 million was reduced down to $225 million as the studio failed to meet certain financial conditions. For example, CCP and its new Chinese partner NetEase were unable to reestablish EVE Online service in China until the first half of 2020. 

The biggest disappointment for Pearl Abyss probably was the failure of CCP to immediately launch a FPS game set in the EVE universe. Despite presenting a playable demo of a game known as Project Nova at EVE Vegas in October 2018, the project was shut down in February 2020. CCP continued to work on an FPS game, with EVE Vanguard currently listed but unavailable on Steam.

As often happens with financial drama involving CCP, a loan is involved.

In October 2023, the Group financed USD 50,000,000 from Pearl Abyss Corp. to repay the existing borrowings from banks and other financial institutions in a single loan agreement arranged by The Korea Development Bank. The interest period is 12 months and the interest rate is fixed at 4.6%. Interests are paid every anniversary but the loan principal is due in October 2026.

Any party purchasing CCP Games will also need to pay back the $50 million loan to Pearl Abyss. Something tells me the South Korean company can't afford to refinance the loan to its subsidiary as I honestly don't think CCP will have the ability to repay the loan on time.

Game revenue since the IPO funded spending spree

But while CCP's financial performance may not have met expectations, those of Pearl Abyss' cash cow in comparison utterly collapsed. One example was the cancellation of Tencent's contract to run Black Desert Mobile in China early. Instead of running through April 2025, service ended on 27 January. Since 2019, Black Desert revenue declined over 55% when converted to U.S. dollars. In comparison, CCP's game revenue increased by almost 25%. 

The same holds true concerning game development. While producing two mobile games with two other games under development six years later is probably not what Pearl Abyss expected, CCP outperformed the South Korean studio. Crimson Desert was supposed to launch in the second half of 2021 and is now expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2025. Pearl Abyss also had to cancel development of DokeV and Plan 8 until Crimson Desert is complete. In fact, Pearl Abyss' ability to support CCP's development efforts is limited, as was shown by the Icelandic studio's reaching out to outside venture capitalists for funding to develop EVE Frontier.

Now for my hot takes. Who do I think will purchase CCP Games? Cross off the list any Chinese company like Tencent or NetEase. The hottest reason for acquiring CCP is EVE Frontier. The Chinese Communist Party is not a big fan of cryptocurrencies, having banned them in September 2021.

The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, said Friday that cryptocurrency transactions are illegal, saying such currencies “do not have legal tender status” and therefore “cannot be circulated as currency in the market.”

In a statement, the bank said that bitcoin and other virtual currency transactions have disrupted economic and financial order, contributing to a rise in “money laundering, illegal fund-raising, fraud, pyramid schemes, and other illegal and criminal activities.”

Crypto transactions are now considered criminal financial activity in China, the bank said, and the country will “resolutely curb the hype of virtual currency transactions, severely crack down on illegal financial activities and illegal criminal activities related to virtual currencies, protect the safety of the people’s property in accordance with the law, and make every effort to maintain economic and financial order and social stability.”

Any door the Chinese government leaves open for people to move wealth out of the country tends to lead to a stampede.

According to the Chainalysis Blockchain data platform, more than $50 billion worth of cryptocurrency left East Asian accounts to areas outside the region between 2019 and 2020. As China has an outsized presence in East Asian cryptocurrency exchanges, Chainalysis staff believe that much of this net outflow of cryptocurrency was actually capital flight from China. Although Chainalysis does not have a definitive figure for how much capital fled China between 2019 and 2020, they estimate that it could be as high as $50 billion.

If not one of the giants out of China, then who? My guess is a venture capital firm heavily interested in cryptocurrencies. Andreessen Horowitz led a $40 million round of funding just to be involved in the project. Would another group want to own the whole thing?

I do want to conclude with a final question I haven't seen asked. Is Pearl Abyss preparing itself for sale? In hindsight the sale of CCP's Newcastle office at the end of 2017 was a prelude to selling itself to Pearl Abyss. Selling its VR studio to Sumo Digital cleared away some business Pearl Abyss didn't want to deal with. Would selling off a studio developing a blockchain game clear the way for Tencent to purchase Pearl Abyss?

Impressions Of EVE Frontier From The Tutorial

I spent the last couple of nights logged into CCP Game's Massively Multiplayer Moddable Online Role Playing Game EVE Frontier. I think I've finished the tutorial and just need to gather up enough fuel to survive outside the starter area. I wanted to post my thoughts so far in this cycle in the hopes players, especially old EVE Online vets, will not skip the tutorial.

I've always had the impression the developers wanted to correct some of the flaws in Online but couldn't because players would revolt. A general theme is that the game provides too much information to players. A big feature is the overview. In Online a big grid exists displaying information about the game world, such as the presence of star gates, asteroid belts, and nearby NPCs. The overview is the major reason Online is known as "spreadsheets in space." 

No one will ever call Frontier "spreadsheets in space part 2." The user interface has no grids, at least in the tutorial. Instead, movement between celestials (planets, moons, asteroid belts, etc) is handled through the map. By the end of the tutorial I became comfortable using the map. In contrast, despite maintaining at least one paid subscription since 2009 I have no idea how to really use the EVE Online in-game map.

Another difference is acquiring targets around the ship. In Online, to mine players just look at the overview, lock a rock, and move within range of the mining laser to begin mining. In Frontier the target is acquired visually, meaning players need to move their cameras around to view their surroundings. The tutorial does not have combat so I don't know how that will play out in the current build.

Recording the location of my structures

A major difference is the lack of bookmarks in Frontier. In Online players can bookmark locations to mark places to return to. But players are limited to a set number of bookmarks: 15,000 personal locations and 1,500 shared locations. A lot of locations but too many bookmarks in a system do put some strain on the servers. In Frontier players save their locations in the in-game Notepad and then reference the locations from there. In the tutorial I only managed to save my structures in Notepad. No creating bookmarks halfway between celestials.

Example of Lagrange points (NASA)

Science comes through to help explain the lack of bookmarks in Frontier. Bookmarks are able to work in Online because the game treats the entire universe as static. Not so in Frontier. Gameplay from what I saw was confined to something called Lagrange points.

Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system like the Sun and Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion. These can be used by spacecraft as "parking spots" in space to remain in a fixed position with minimal fuel consumption.

There are five special points where a small mass can orbit in a constant pattern with two larger masses. The Lagrange Points are positions where the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them. This mathematical problem, known as the "General Three-Body Problem" was considered by Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange in his prize-winning paper (Essai sur le Problème des Trois Corps, 1772).

I had to stop at this point because Frontier itself is based on a three-body problem. The galaxy the game exists in is home to three black holes and the developers went into detail about how they generated the galaxy in a dev blog. 

The law of universal gravitation lies at the heart of EVE Frontier‘s galaxy: to create it, we have been working on simulating the motion of countless particles under the influence of gravity via the n-body simulation. These particles can then be used as points of reference for the matter within Frontier (currently solar systems and clusters of solar systems). As said, we want EVE Frontier to feel as natural as possible by grounding its galaxy to the laws of physics and the Digital Physics which underpin its existence. 

You may have heard of the three-body problem, which aims to predict the trajectories of three-point masses. Although the two-body problem was solved hundreds of years ago, additional bodies make the system too chaotic and unpredictable. We are working on a simulation that solves this problem as closely as possible. 

But enough of the side journeys. The Lagrange points are shown on the in-game map. Here's the explanation for where the points show up.

Of the five Lagrange points, three are unstable and two are stable. The unstable Lagrange points – labeled L1, L2, and L3 – lie along the line connecting the two large masses. The stable Lagrange points – labeled L4 and L5 – form the apex of two equilateral triangles that have the large masses at their vertices. L4 leads the orbit of earth and L5 follows.

With a limited number of Lagrange points in a system I believe the locations will serve as focal points for both commerce and conflict in the game. I'm reminded of the old POS-based sovereignty mechanics in the beginning of Online's history.

Pulling all the way out of the rabbit hole, another interesting development are the starter systems themselves. A criticism of Online is that veteran players can return to the starter systems anytime they want, sometimes causing grief for new players. Frontier solves the problem by making the goal of the tutorial escaping the starter area without the ability to return. While the systems can hold more than one new player, arming the new players with only mining lasers helps reduce violence to new players even further.

Building structures in an asteroid belt

Something I really like the idea of is performing industry functions in asteroid belts. In Online the only small structure a player can use is the mobile depot. All other structures like the Athanor and Tatara are group-based objects. In Frontier players have the ability to build structures like portable refineries and storage units in belts. When I left the starter system I took with me 100 common ore in order to create a portable refinery and portable storage unit wherever I land. If I find a source of water ice to make fuel I want to be ready.

Available destinations from my starting system

Another difference involving the game is the lack of jump gates. In Online players are funneled into a limited amount of paths from starting systems to regular play areas. In Frontier the choice of next system is determined by the distance a ship can jump. Unlike in Online ships can jump to a system without a destination cynosural field to jump to. So I had a choice of 16 systems to explore. Kind of a scary proposition. Chose wrong and I may become trapped in a system without fuel. Finding a system attached to a jump gate network would do much to ease my mind.

Up until now I have not mentioned the blockchain. In my six hours playing and fiddling around in the tutorial I found I didn't need to attach myself to the game's blockchain software. A good choice in my opinion. By not requiring blockchain access potential players can just play the tutorial to see if the game is something they would like to spend more time with. Just like Online. 

One last observation. I purchased my pre-launch access for $19.99 during an introductory deal. The current access packages are a little more expensive.

Prices as of 15 June 2025

Would I spend $40 on the game right now? Maybe if I wanted to write about the game. I figure the game still has at least 18-24 months of development ahead of it. I probably would recommend waiting on a free access weekend before spending money. Unlike a game like Star Citizen the game will receive a complete wipe before launching live. And if the game doesn't receive a complete wipe, especially concerning cryptocurrencies, that's a red flag I'll call out loudly.

PanFam Didn't Want That Region Anyway - June 2025 Edition

I saw a new Scope video pop up in my feed this morning. CCP is taking note of the first major null sec war in the Legion expansion.

The studio obviously has ideas of using the war for marketing purposes but I don't know how long the campaign will last. I checked Dotlan and The Imperium has captured all but 8 systems in the region of Insmother. Not bad considering they had no i-hubs deployed in the region on 2 June.

I know people like to read the news scroll at the bottom of every Scope video. The news today was:

• Analysts report rapid sellouts of war-critical hulls and modules in Jita. Demand linked to escalations in the north.
• The destruction of the first Sarathiel and Babaroga class ships in active combat confirmed.
• Factional Warfare propaganda efforts intensify as Dirt 'n' Glitter release a capsuleer-focused campaign video.
• Strategic deployments of dreadnoughts seen shifting from Fountain toward conflict zones; - alliances remain silent on destination.
• Pirate-aligned capsuleers reportedly forming independent cells across contested systems; coordination with Deathless elements suspected.

The only question I have now is whether The Imperium will stop and consolidate their gains in Insmother or immediately push into the Dronelands. I have the feeling Asher will not want to overextend his forces and settle for reinforcing his current gains.

Cosmic Tools Completed

Last night I finally completed the cosmic tools grind in Final Fantasy XIV's patch 7.2. With the acquisition of the Cosmic Fishing Pole I have almost completed all the tasks I wanted to accomplish on the moon in the first phase of Cosmic Exploration.

The Cosmic Fishing Pole

I'm not going to lie. By the end of the grind I was ready to do something else. The grind through the crafting tools wasn't too bad. By the end I was mostly pushing buttons to execute macros, although a couple of instances would crop up where I manually crafted items. The worst was the final tool, the Cosmic Fishing Pole. I saved fishing for last due to the activity's heavy reliance on the random number generator. Between Red Alerts and finding a tutorial on how to do some of the Class A missions I managed to muddle through.

The mech is huge

I managed to get the Vacuum Suit from the roulette with twenty Big Bang tickets left to play. For the regular prizes I only have to get the Visage emote, the Micro Rover minion, and a orchestrion roll. I'm not really sure I want to do the grind for the High Mobility Vacuum Suit as I need to score 500,000 in all 11 crafting and gathering classes. I know three more phases are planned before the end of the expansion, but I'm not close to those totals.

My class progress so far. Not even close.

With the grind complete I can go back to trying to do content involving combat. I still need to complete the Recollection trial to complete the MSQ. I might even try to get my white mage phantom weapon although leveling up my Blue Mage job to level 50 probably is a higher priority. But except for the latest allied tribe quests I'm free to do other things for another 6 or 7 weeks.

A Rash Of Web3 Game Project Closures

Last weekend was an inauspicious time for CCP Games to announce EVE Frontier's exit from its closed alpha. Recently five Web3/blockchain gaming projects announced they were closing. I call them projects because as far as I can tell they never reached a commercial launch ready state. The games were:

Ember Sword - The game was advertised as ...

... a classless, free to play MMORPG set in the fantasy world of Thanabus. With four regions and a combat system based on equipped weapons rather than fixed classes, it offered a mix of PvE and PvP gameplay. The game was supposed to feature a player-driven economy and NFT-based land ownership, built on the Ethereum network.

Players could trade cosmetic items, own land plots, and take part in shaping the game world. At its peak, Ember Sword boasted a large, engaged community and received major backing from high-profile investors, including Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin and YouTuber Dr Disrespect.

In development since 2018, the game conducted a massive land sale in 2021, raising $203 million from 35 thousand applicants. The game did reach an early access launch in December 2024, with critics describing the gameplay as underdeveloped and unengaging. The game announced its closure on 21 May.

Tatsumeeko: Lumina Fates - The game, developed by the Singapore-based Tatsu Works, was described as...

a fantasy MMORPG-lite that combined exploration, farming, combat, and player-driven narratives within the vibrant world of Ielia. It was designed to function natively on Discord, iOS, Android, and web browsers, expanding on the team's experience from their gamified Discord platform, Tatsu.GG. 

The game raised $7.5 million in 2022 with plans to use Ethereum and Solana for in-game economies and NFTs. Tatsu announced the closure of the project on 19 May. The company plans to return to its roots as a developer of "lightweight, community-based experiences."

Nyan Heroes - The game had an admittedly unique theme, cats piloting giant mechs. But despite four playtests attracting over 1 million testers, the developers had to close down the project as the most recent build "failed to drive the player numbers" they needed to continue and no buyer could be found to continue development.

Those investing in the project's cryptocurrency and NFT's were hit hard when the news of the closure dropped on 16 May.

After the news broke, the game's $NYAN token lost over 40% of its value. It is now down nearly 99% from its all-time high. The Genesis Cat NFTs were hit just as hard, dropping over 70% in price. The floor value now sits around 0.024 SOL on Magic Eden.

Blast Royale - Blast Royale was a mobile game whose developer announced it was shutting down but making the game open source. The game was described as "a fun, frenetic adrenaline fuelled short session game that is about packing as much fun onto the blockchain as possible."

According to an official Discord announcement by Blast Royale’s core team member Renny, the studio tried exploring “every path and possibility,” and after doing so ended up deciding to ultimately discontinue development of their top-down battle royale.

Essentially, the company ran out of funds and wasn't able to find any investor or avenue through which they could raise more money to extend their runway. They don’t have the financing needed to continue paying their team for their hard work, and as a result need to stop development and ultimately close down entirely. In an earlier Discord announcement on April 25th, Renny did share that they are facing “some serious financial challenges” as the TGE didn’t help out as much as they hoped, and the existing in-game economy isn’t generating enough revenue to cover development costs.

Rumble Kong League - A 3v3 basketball game endorsed by Steph Curry, the game was massively underfunded.

Once known for its flashy marketing and NBA star endorsement (Steph Curry), the project fizzled out. Their $FAME token launched with just 12 ETH of liquidity, according to web3 content creator StarPlatinum. Unsurprisingly, the price tanked. Community mods stopped getting paid, the team announced they were "starting from zero," and the project was reportedly sold to a company in Brazil. 

And while five projects closing in seven days is bad, the total for 2025 is up to 17, as two of the closures occurred after the below tweet went out.

Web3 Game Closures | 2025
(so far...)

•Battlebound/Anterris
•Blade of God
•Blast Royale
•Champions Ascension
•Derby Race
•Goombles
•Junglexyz
•Krptomon
•Loot Legends
•Metalcore
•Mystery Society
•Nyan Heroes
•RoboKiden
•Rumble Kong League
•Valeria Studios

Who's… pic.twitter.com/iB0rydhXyX

— Tr3vor (@tr3vorx) May 17, 2025

I realize that only two of the five games were MMOs, the timing only two weeks after the latest spate of closures was not exactly good optics for CCP Games. I also think the closures justifies the studio's emphasis on gameplay rather than real world wealth in marketing EVE Frontier. Because the money aspect just isn't sustainable in the long run. Enjoyable gameplay, as people have witnessed over the years, can make a game last for decades.

EVE Frontier - Founder's Access: New Era Coming 11 June 2025

Over the weekend CCP Games went into a major marketing push for its Massively Multiplayer Moddable Role Playing Game EVE Frontier. Beginning on Wednesday the game leaves closed alpha and all non-disclosure agreements drop. But what does that mean besides the possibility of new Rooks and Kings videos? Let's look at the press release published on Saturday.

REYKJAVÍK, Iceland – June 7, 2025 - Today, CCP Games announced Founder Access: New Era for EVE Frontier, the in-development space survival MMO for PC and Mac, launching Wednesday, 11 June. A major update introducing new gameplay, content and Cycles,it also marks the first public step in creating a visionary sci-fi survivalexperience.

EVE Frontier is set in an enigmatic and hostile galaxy shaped by player-driven activity. Players inhabit Riders, awakened clones flung into the Frontier without purpose or memory of the world around them. As they venture into the dark, they must build shelters, forge Tribes and harvest resources to grow in power and survive the constant threat of annihilation.

Founder Access: New Era opens EVE Frontier to the public, as it emerges from its closed alpha phase. For the first time, players are free to share gameplay footage, impressions, and experiences without any restrictions, ushering in a new, fully public phase of development. To celebrate the announcement, CCP Games unveiled a new trailer, “The Ancient Dark”. Set in the shadow of forgotten ruins and the scars of eons-old wars, it chronicles the cycle of death and rebirth that binds all Riders - each caught in an endless struggle for survival within a cruel and boundless galaxy.

Founder Access: New Era also kicks off a brand-new seasonal progression system for EVE Frontier called Cycles. The first Cycle, Promised Lands, starts on 11 June. Players will gain Grace for completing in-game missions and activities, rising to the top of each Cycle Leaderboard alongside their Tribe. As Founder Access: New Era continues, Cycles will continue to introduce new missions, objectives and content.

More videos and information will be revealed in the run-up to Founder Access: New Era, including a sneak peek at gameplay during the PC Gaming Show and a deep-dive gameplay stream on Twitch, Sunday 8 June (21:00 UTC / 2:00 PM PDT / 5:00 PM EDT / 10:00 PM BST / 11:00 PM CEST).

To learn more or to purchase Founder Access, visit www.evefrontier.com/founderaccess. For more information about EVE Frontier, visit www.evefrontier.com. A FAQ can be found at www.evefrontier.com/faq. Assets for EVE Frontier can be found in the press kit.

But the studio went well beyond just issuing a press release. As part of Frontier's emergence from closed beta were the appearances on the Future Games Show, an appearance by CCP's CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson on IGN Live, and the PC Gaming Show. These appearances were designed for those unfamiliar with EVE Online and the EVE universe.

First up, the trailer shown on Saturday on the Future Games Show. The trailer was narrated by Hilmar and emphasized the moddable aspect of Frontier. For those looking for a game to do something revolutionary, the ability to mod server-side in a multi-player game is the selling point.

Later on Saturday came a 15 minute segment on the IGN Live 2025 stream with the host interviewing Hilmar. The interviewer was a bit cringe but I liked Hilmar's performance. He did not go into technological visionary mode as I've often watch him do to on the main stage at Fanfest.

Yes, he did bring up the idea of the game's 100,000+ systems providing content for decades. But the words "EVE Forever" was not uttered once.

For those who just want to watch the game trailer I've included it below. 

On Sunday CCP dropped a third trailer that appeared on the PC Gaming Show. While the shortest, I would use this final trailer to introduce players to the game. And no, CCP Jötunn's narration is not the reason.

I did watch the beginning of the final event for the weekend, a gameplay stream featuring CCP Jötunn, CCP Overload and Dark Shines from The Initiative. on Sunday. 

I did learn a couple of things before logging off. One, while over one hundred thousand systems are planned, the in-game map cannot handle that amount yet. Another is the game will have Lagrange points. The way the game works Lagrange points will limit the amount of structure spam in space. Also, mining lasers can damage ships as well mine ore from asteroids. The final difference between Online and Frontier mentioned that I saw was heat is a bigger factor. For example, overheating can limit or even remove a ship's ability to use its jump drive. Needless to say, fighting at the sun in Frontier probably is not a wise decision.

One thing I have to point out is CCP did not mention the use of blockchain technology in its mainstream gaming appearances and the beginning of the gameplay stream. A good marketing decision in my opinion. Most Web3/blockchain games I've seen are crap designed to attract cryptobros looking to make a quick buck. CCP instead is looking to make a good game to attract gamers that will last as long as EVE Online, a game currently in its third decade of operation. And while I think CCP's tagline of "EVE Forever" is a bit pie-in-the-sky, the marketing for the game definitely is not trying to attract cryptobros looking for a quick pump-and-dump opportunity. At least not last weekend.

A Look At The Active ISK Delta For May 2025

On Wednesday CCP Games published the May monthly economic report (MER) for EVE Online's Tranquility shard. Before taking a look at the Active ISK Delta for last month I'd like to point out the events and trends developers considered most noteworthy in the economy.

Economic Summary

• 9% Increase in Production, April vs May 2025. Mining and Destruction are stable.
• MPI continues to fall, but at a much slower rate than April 2025.

It's likely we are going to remove the Import, Export, and Trade Balance plots from the MER, due to the data-source being deprecated. We are working with the EVE Development Team to get a new data source that will give us more verbose data, enabling us to better calculate Imports, Exports and Trade balance.

With the general MER housekeeping notes out of the way we can proceed to looking at player counts and the money supply. I've written over the last couple of months about the possibility of an unprecedented event: positive values for the Active ISK Delta in consecutive months. When Jester's average concurrent user graph came out over the weekend the possibility became more realistic.

Jester's average concurrent user graph

With the late surge at the launch of Legion plus the Imperium going to war, May's peak ACU exceeded April's. The publication of the May MER showed another positive Active ISK Delta.

Active ISK Delta values since January 2022

Why is the Active ISK Delta important? The Active ISK Delta is the net effect on the money supply of players leaving and returning to the game, including all GM actions. With the elimination of the intellectual property revenue from Pearl Abyss' quarterly earnings calls in the fourth quarter of 2024 determining the financial health of CCP will require diving into the in-game statistics of the studio's games. While sites like EVE-Offline.net do a fine job of providing counts, the Active ISK Delta provides a unique insight into whether players are returning to the game.

Historic changes in the money supply in May due to the Active ISK Delta

Since the beginning of 2018 the month with the most positive Active ISK Delta values is May. Of the 13 times in that time the Active ISK Delta exceeded 0, 4 have occurred in May. Last month's growth of the money supply of 0.2% was below the average of 1.1% from the years 2018 to 2024.

The year's peak concurrent user count occurred in June

Can the Active ISK Delta remain positive for 3 consecutive months? I doubt it but the possibility exists. On Sunday 1 June Tranquility experienced its highest peak concurrent users mark since the 40,165 recorded on 19 November 2023. A more realistic question is whether the Active ISK Delta is positive for the second quarter. Since the beginning of 2018 only three fiscal quarters have seen positive Active ISK Deltas. The last time was Q4 2023 with the launch of the Havoc expansion. I really wish Pearl Abyss still reported game revenue by IP just to see if the player retention and return of veteran players made a big financial impact.