The Space Walmart - EVE Online Price Changes in July 2025

Perhaps working nearly 30 years at market research companies has warped my perspective just a bit. But when I read the latest dev blog about the pricing in EVE Online's cash and premium currency stores, my first thought was, "Walmart?"

Omega time and PLEX prices - 30 June 2025

Walmart is known for its "Everyday Low Price" pricing strategy.

EDLP is a pricing strategy where retailers promise consistently low prices without requiring customers to wait for sales or discounts. This strategy simplifies the shopping experience, as consumers can trust that they are receiving a fair price at all times, eliminating the need for comparison shopping or waiting for promotional events. 

The significance of EDLP lies in its ability to foster customer loyalty and streamline operations, as retailers do not need to frequently adjust prices or run elaborate marketing campaigns for sales events.

The EDLP strategy also helps comply with the EU's Digital Fairness Act, an important consideration. The below chart summarizes some of the compliance benefits.

EDLP and the Digital Fairness Act

I will take the points out of order from the presentation in the dev blog and begin with multiple character training. Used to allow training on more than one character on an account, the prices have gone down between 33% to 56% depending on the quantity purchased.

The price drop for multiple character training

A benefit to CCP having removed MCT certificates from the market years ago is the company can offer volume discounts without having to worry much about complying with the DFA. The rounding of prices to the nearest whole dollar (or euro) helps with compliance.

PLEX prices in the cash shop

In contrast, the only change to PLEX prices was to round each package to the nearest dollar. In effect, that raised the price of each package by 1 cent ($0.01). A small change that makes the math easier as a player can buy 20 PLEX for $1. Those who dive deeper into the subject will still want to take the discounted price (in the form of free PLEX) into account, but a price of 5 cents per PLEX makes some of the math later on in this post easier to understand.

The one month subscription package

Next comes the subject of subscriptions, often referred to as Omega time. On approximately 13-14 June CCP added items to the one month subscription package. Players for the past six weeks have received the following items along with their one month of premium game time:

• 100,000 Skill Points 
• Advanced 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator 
• Basic Glamourex Booster 
• 2 Agency Support Drops 

For the price changes, the $19.99 price of the package was rounded up to $20. For the package I wanted to determine the exact amount of money I paid for game time versus the items. The Advanced 'Boost' Cerebral Accelerator sells for 45 PLEX in the New Eden Store, which is $2.25. While skill points are included in many packages (including for free every week in the NES), no set real world value exists. Finally, the boosters found in the agency support drops are not sold for cash. So for a cautious analysis, one month of game time costs $17.75.

Next up come the multi-month subscription packages. At first glance the pricing seemed absurd. Keeping the pricing for each package the same or slightly lower as well as adding PLEX? Before presenting my thoughts let's look at what CCP had to say in the dev blog.

At the end of June, we tested bundling longer Omega subscriptions with PLEX. The design is inspired by one of the frequently requested features. The experiment was targeted, but we observed solid conversion and got good feedback, so now we’re scaling it up. New bundles will be available globally for two weeks (not through resellers, though), allowing us to gather more data and reactions. 

This is how it compares to the existing Omega options:

Old versus new subscription packages - July 2025

Yes, you read that right — this is not a typo! The prices of new bundles are lower than the old packs, and they also contain PLEX.

This marks another step in moving away from discount-chasing and FOMO cycles. We want to reward longer-term commitment with genuine value, and at the same time, ease pressure on the in-game PLEX float and trading. This will make more of it available to players who play for free, or for things like war funding, ship replacements, and, again, fun. 

The new prices are a result of the continued rounding of  monthly prices to the nearest dollar.

Advanced subscription information

As was noted in the dev blog, the pricing for multi-month subscription packages is undergoing a two-week trial. What happens in two weeks time is anyone's guess. But I was left with one final question. Is making people purchase PLEX in order to enjoy the Omega benefits of a subscription really the solution to the developers issues with the PLEX economy? Players having PLEX is just one element of the equation. Another is actually caring enough to use it.