Crimson Desert Has Gone Gold

Yesterday Pearl Abyss issued a press release announcing Crimson Desert has "gone gold".

Amsterdam, The Netherlands — January 21, 2026 — Pearl Abyss announced today that its upcoming title Crimson Desert has officially gone gold, marking a major development milestone ahead of its global launch. 

In a message shared via the official Crimson Desert social media channels, Pearl Abyss thanked fans worldwide for their continued support. “We sincerely thank our fans around the world for being with us on this meaningful journey,” the developer said. “Thanks to your support, we have reached this important milestone. We look forward to welcoming you to the continent of Pywel on March 19”.

But what does "gone gold" mean? According to GameRant:

The term "gone gold" is shorthand for the gaming industry phrase "gold master". When a game enters this stage of development, it means that it has reached the point where it is finished and ready for release. Everything that the developers want to put into the game is in the most recent build. At this stage, the developers and publisher believe that the game is ready for the public. So when a game goes gold, this is good news for players that are looking forward to a particular release.

Crimson Desert is set to go on PlayStation 5 as well as Xbox Series X and S. Going gold also means that Sony and Microsoft have certified the game. Going back to the GameRant article:

In order for a game to go gold, it must also pass the certification process that companies like Microsoft and Sony set to ensure that anything released on their platforms is stable and won't have any major issues. This includes things like crashes that make the game completely unplayable or bugs that would result in a less-than-ideal experience for players. Once a game has gone through this whole process, it will be put onto physical discs (where applicable) and then shipped out to be sold at various retailers.

So, barring major production issues with printing the discs, next month's earnings call should be the last where analysts ask Pearl Abyss the years-long question, "Are we there yet?"

Flying Solo In EVE: Growing An Alt

I already had the last subject for this post planned before CCP's marketing department announced its apparently weekly sale. But before delving into the topic of alts let's go back and look at some weekly metrics.

Average concurrent users (ACU) from Jan 12-Jan 18

First, as expected, the average concurrent user count for the week on EVE-Offline.net dropped. I was hoping the drop would only go down to 27,000 but a two thousand account drop really was in line with history once the Winter Nexus ended. Still, the ACU numbers are running approximately 10% over the same time at the beginning of 2025.

The global PLEX market from conception to last Monday

The price of PLEX on the global PLEX market remained fairly stable last week, spiking with the news of a sale on multiple character training in the New Eden Store. But the effect on the market only lasted 24-36 hours before dropping with the introduction of a 20% off PLEX sale on Saturday down to an average of just above 4.5 million ISK.

Weekly stats for 2026

Despite the ACU dropping sales of PLEX increased by 16.1%, both in amount traded and ISK spent. Converting the number of PLEX to game time shows enough PLEX was traded to keep 16,961 people playing for another month. For the month to date players have exchanged 97.6 trillion ISK for 42,148 months of game time.

Speaking of multiple character training, I finally decided to use the 90 days of MCT I purchased during a sale several months back. I am upscaling a planetary industry alt to be a little more useful. By the end of March I hope to have the character able to fly mining barges, have near max scanning skills, and fly the Gallente assault frigates decently.

The track only requires 12 days to complete

I have found with a Pioneer I can finish level 2 mining missions fairly quickly. I also often doing three of the opportunities as a level 2 mining mission usually covers the requirement to advance in the track. Add in the always available jump through three gates opportunity and my alt makes 1.5 million ISK daily when not hauling PI products out of low sec.

The track only takes 12 days to complete, so if I really wanted to I could finish the track on all three characters on the account I'm using. Or I can just concentrate on the PI alt and pour in 525,000 skill points in addition to what I learn through MCT. But the benefit of advancing through the monthly track is receiving 15 PLEX. Add in the additional 8 million ISK for each character and that totals up to between 90-100 million ISK per month. And if two characters complete two opportunities each day the total ISK earned for the month increases to 150 million ISK. Not bad for just hanging around the edge of high security space.

Viewing Final Fantasy XIV's Warrior Of Light As A Samurai Daishō

Final Fantasy XIV is a story-driven game in which the player is The Chosen One. But as I spent time in Dawntrail taking care of and leveling my retainers, companion chocobo, squadron members and Trust NPCs, I thought more of taking care of a household more than saving the world. Then the thought hit me, "Am I acting like a knight?" Knights weren't just solo armored fighters. They each had their own men-at-arms and followers on campaign to take care of the non-military parts of life. More importantly to the analogy, the knight was responsible for keeping them properly trained and equipped. Or, in the case of a video game, properly leveled.

But the analogy didn't quite fit. So I did what I hope is a natural progression. I looked at Japanese history. Reading a lot of internet drama over the past few years, I think a lot of people don't realize that Square Enix is a Japanese company and that the people writing the story are Japanese. I found the comparison I was looking for not in Europe's medieval period but in Chūsei (or feudal) Japan.¹

The title, or I should more accurately say rank, is samurai daishō.² No, not the set of matching long and short swords worn by samurai. During the Chūsei period a samurai daishō served as a commander ranked between the commander-in-chief and a commander of troops. Think of the Warrior of Light's position of authority between the rulers of the city-states (Kan‑E‑Senna, Merlwyb, Raubahn/Nanamo) and the Grand Companies. By the time A Realm Reborn ends the player reaches that position.

Another similarity is the tendency of the Warrior of Light to serve many masters. In history the samurai daishō tended to serve many masters as the European model of "one master per land" didn't strictly exist in Chūsei Japan. So that feeling players can get of feeling passed around from the Grand Companies to the city-states to the Alliance to Hydaelyn has a historical precedent. Which makes the title of "adventurer" rather apt.

I really went down the rabbit hole on background so let me head back to the surface by discussing gameplay elements. The Warrior of Light's authority comes from reputation, not bureaucracy. That little fact is hammered home by the final efforts made to send the Warrior of Light and the Scions to Ultima Thule at the end of Endwalker. But another comparison emerges -- the Warrior of Light's household.

Called samurai‑shū (侍衆), these were the elite retainers who accompanied a samurai on campaigns, handled specialized tasks, and acted as trusted companions. In FFXIV, the samurai‑shū aid the WoL in getting through the MSQ. Here's how the the Scions and retainers wound up mapping to a samurai‑shū:

Except for Tataru I've leveled all the characters and retainers to max level. The developers haven't thought about requiring the Scions' secretary/quartermaster to level.

When I began this bit of research I was searching for a historic/fantasy framework in which to put what turned out to be a rather large number of NPCs I'm responsible for in FFXIV. Not only is the player's character "The Chosen One" in word but the developers give the player all the trappings of that fame as well. Throw in a language barrier and I'm left hoping I got everything correct. Hopefully I'm close enough that I can use this framework to take a deeper dive into exactly what benefits and responsibilities the Warrior of Light carries in Final Fantasy XIV.

End notes

1. “Chūsei Japan” (中世日本) is the term used in Japanese historiography for the country’s medieval or “feudal” period, spanning roughly the late 11th to the late 16th century and encompassing the rise of the samurai, the establishment of warrior governments, and the era of clan warfare. A clear academic overview appears in James L. McClain’s course description, “Medieval Japan — Creative Energies in the ‘Dark Ages’,” Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies, https://www.kcjs.jp/pdf/courses02/28/medievaljapan.pdf. (kcjs.jp in Bing)

2. “Samurai daishō” (侍大将) was a mid‑ranking samurai commander, positioned below a daimyo and responsible for leading troops under higher generals. The Japanese Wiki Corpus notes that a samurai daishō “commands an army under [the] Dai Shogun” and held a rank between the commander‑in‑chief and infantry captains during the Sengoku period. For an accessible overview, see “Samurai Daisho,” Japanese Wiki Corpus, https://www.japanesewiki.com/title/Samurai%20daisho.html. (japanesewiki.com in Bing)

Cloud Imperium Financial Report For 2024 Still Not Published

When the subject of who's more annoying comes up, Star Citizen white knights vs Star Citizen haters, the haters win, hands down. In fact, one of the wonderful things about using Copilot is I don't have to look at the Star Citizens Refunds sub-reddit anymore. The Star Citizens Refunds sub-reddit makes the EVE Online sub-reddit look like the official forums for Hello Kitty Online.

But the white knights often are pretty annoying, especially when the subject of Cloud Imperium's finances comes up. I can't really blame them too much, though. Cloud Imperium has a pretty deceptive way of releasing its financial information to make the company look healthier than is the case.

First, the figure most people know about is the counter for cash shop revenue. Updated multiple times an hour, CIG provides a total of money raised through the officially named Pledge Store. A lot of players, haters, and drive-by gaming journalists assume the counter represents 100% of CIG's revenue since 2012. That assumption is incorrect as CIG's 2023 financial report shows that cash shop sales only accounted for 84% of revenue through the company's first 12 years of existence. In fairness, CIG to my knowledge has never said the counter represents total revenue. People just make the assumption, which is why I used the word "deceptive" earlier.

The second part is the financial report Cloud Imperium posts on its official corporate website. Those reports show all revenue plus all expenses for a year. But as those reports are posted no sooner than 50 weeks after the end of the year, the financial data is a little stale. Below is an example of how I reported on Cloud Imperium's revenue through the end of 2025.

The $929.1 million displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of December was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1.053 billion in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $929.1 million (through 31 December 2025)
• Other cash shop revenue: $2.3 million (through 31 December 2023)
• Subscriptions: $39.5 million (through 31 December 2023)
• All other sources: $82.6 million (through 31 December 2023)

Notice all the references to 2023? That's because, unlike the reports for 2018-2021, the reports for the last 3 years were published after the start of the new year. Well, assuming CIG publishes a financial report for 2024.

History of posted CIG financial reports

A look at the history of the publication dates and profit and loss numbers don't really explain why the last few years were published after December 31st. Blaming the $20.1 million loss experienced in 2023 for that year's report coming out 5 months late isn't consistent with both 2018 & 2019's reports coming out in December. Combined, CIG lost $17 million in those two years.

If the contents of the reports isn't causing the delays, the problem is structural in nature. I've come up with three reasons the 2024 financial report still is not published.

1. The absence of Ortwin Freyermuth. While Roberts' long-time business associate and CIG co-founder Ortwin Freyermuth resigned from the board in June 2024, I think the company still feels the effects of his departure. The pair went back to Roberts' ownership of Ascendant Pictures and the production of Lord of War in 2005. I always had the impression Freyermuth kept things as organized as he could. But after 19 years of dealing with Roberts, he deserved to retire.

2. Issues with the audit. While CIG actually submitted their 2024 financial report to UK Companies House on time for the first time in six years, the audit did find a major irregularity. The entire agreement concerning the put option for the Calders was once again flagged by PriceWaterhouseCooper. While most likely causing a significant delay publishing the 2022 account, I'm not sure about the effects on the 2023 report. We'll just have to read the report when posted on CIG's website.

3. The acquisition of Turbulent. Yes, in the year 2026 I am still writing about the acquisition of Turbulent. I'm really interested to see how the financial report handles the situation. Not only because the sale will show up in the CAPEX section. Turbulent was still working on non-CIG projects. Will the company count the funds and employees working on those outside projects in the total? Or will those expenses be excluded in the report. The issues Turbulent brought are the most complex I've seen CIG involved with. Yes, even more complex than the Calders' put option.

Having completed the post I know I'm going to hear from the white knights. I will definitely be labeled as a hater who just doesn't understand what Chris Roberts is trying to accomplish. But all I want to do is finish up on the year 2024 and put that year's story to bed. Preferably before CCP Games accounts for 2025 become available in May.

EVE Frontier Patch Notes: Founder Access 0.4.6

I need to get back to playing EVE Frontier. The game is really evolving away from the New Eden I'm used to in EVE Online. On Tuesday the developers released an new patch for Cycle 4 addressing some issues. I'm going to walk through the patch notes noting the different priorities I assigned to some of the features.

One dilemma I have with the beginning of every cycle is where to start. Hopefully this entry will, if not help, the leave me less confused.

Other

• Misleading starter region names updated to not imply significant differences in the choice. We envision unique experiences for each starter region, however, that is not reflected in the game… yet.
  
  
• Mining Ark, Research Ark and Hunting Ark renamed to Ark I, Ark II, and Ark III.

The next are changes involving industry and base building. The first is a temporary fix until automation of industry is introduced.

Temporary changes to industry capacity

On December 10th we introduced changes to the industry system. These changes were made partly in preparation for automation and were balance with that in mind. While we continue working on automation we want to alleviate some of the pain points players have been experiencing related to industry. Be aware that these changes will likely be reverted once we add automation to the Frontier.

Changes to input and output capacities for assemblies:

• Refinery M from 2500 m³ to 4000 m³
• Refinery L from 3500 m³ to 20000 m³
• Printer M from 1200 m³ to 4000 m³
• Printer L from 15000 m³ to 20000 m³

Similarly we have seen players struggling with storage as we work on integrating the SSUs with industry. While that work continues we again want to alleviate some pain points with a temporary increase in the capacity of the Portable Storage. As above, these changes too will likely be reverted once we properly integrate SSUs with industry.

Storage changes:

• Portable Storage capacity increase from 5000 m³ to 30000 m³

I haven't entered Cycle 4 yet, in Cycles 2 & 3 one of the issues I felt the need to work around was the initial storage structures players can build was too small.

The next gamplay change is likely permanent. Apparently some items needed to be slowed down.

Lastly, there were a few schemas with run times that were too fast resulting in jagged responsiveness and feedback. The minimum run time for all schemas is now 3 seconds. The following schemas have been affected:

• Printed Circuits (from 1s)
• Synthetic Mining Lens (from 1s)
• AC Gyrojet Ammo 1 (S) (from 2s)
• Salvaged Materials (from 2s)
• Feldspar Crystals (from 2s)
• Hydrated Sulfide Matrix (from 2s)
• Platinum-Palladium Matrix (from 2s)
• Mummified Clone (from 1s)
• EM Disintegrator Charge (M) (from 1s)
• EM Disintegrator Charge (S) (from 1s)
• Printed Circuits (from 1s)
• Radiantium Mining Lens (from 2s)
• Luminalis Mining Lens (from 2s)
• Mummified Clone (from 2s)

Notice the use of the term lastly? That's because I altered the order of the subjects as I consider gameplay changes more important than UI changes. At least as a general rule.

Industry UI/UX Iterations

Following the update we made to the industry interface in December (and some very aggressive passionate comments from our Founders), we are making some improvements based on the feedback we have received. This will, of course, be an ongoing process.

The following changes have been made to the Industry UI/UX:

• Schema cards now have a collapsed state.
• Schema cards now highlight materials if the amount required is found in nearby storages.
• You can now filter the Schema cards by “required materials available”.
• The option to deposit/withdraw the amount of 1 run when interacting with an input/output field has been added alongside the options of max amount and split stack.
• Changes have been made to the opacity/transparency of the background on fullscreen windows.

I added "as a general rule" because in a PvP game like EVE Frontier, a more readable UI leads to quicker actions and more time paying attention to my surroundings. Situational awareness is important, especially if off exploring to unknown space.

And finally come a list of defect fixes.

• Updated build mode assembly collision logic.
• Tweaked the jump drive effect to exclude errant negative values.
• Addressed error spam associated with some NPC actions (scanning, warping).
• Changed NPC behavior in uninhabited systems to optimize server CPU/memory usage.
• Deactivated persistent booster effects following a completed Approach command.
• Adjusted the tribe pack totem access in Build Mode.
• Fixed minor logspam in the Engine Tools menu.
• Shifted the Fitting Window ship display port.
• Corrected the method for updating the on-chain state of disassembled, unanchored, and destroyed assemblies, and the subsequent Network Node consumption values.
• Modified NPC behavior toward targets outside of their effective range after they are aggressed.
• Fixed issues preventing the deposit option from being presented for all items if the blueprint requires a list of materials
• Fixed incorrect capacity value being shown in the show info for Smart Storage Unit L
• Fixed an issue where assemblies could be constructed inside a Smart Storage Unit L
• Dungeons containing mineable Feldspar Crystals or outdated resources have been updated to align with the new resource paradigm.

Flying Solo In EVE: The End Of The Winter Nexus

I've decided to give my Tuesday column on EVE Online a name. Flying Solo In EVE seems appropriate since, apart from my time in Eve University and Signal Cartel I've pretty much flown under my own flag. The corp chat is quite, giving me a little piece compared to places like Discord which I always run for my free company in Final Fantasy XIV. 

As I plan on doing each week let's start with the average concurrent users on Tranquility last week.

As seen on 12 Jan 2026 @ 0300 UTC

As expected the average number of accounts logged in remained at 28,000 according to Chribba's EVE-Offline.net. In real terms that means between 27,500 and 28,500 accounts. Something about getting 100,000 skill points and 75 PLEX for finishing Winter Nexus' extended reward track is a pretty good incentive. I know I finished the track.

Personally I expect the numbers to drop a bit down to 27,000 next week. Is 26,000 possible? Maybe. But considering anything over 24,000 makes my prediction for overall average concurrency for the year come true, the prospect of a 2,000 user drop isn't the worst thing in the world.

The global PLEX market from creation to yesterday

Over the course of the last week the average price of PLEX only increased by 12,000 ISK. But with the end of all the holiday sales the amount of PLEX sold declined over 20% and the amount of ISK traded for PLEX declined 23%.

Weekly stats through the first two weeks

With the end of the Winter Nexus event I began to tally up how much ISK I made. The wallet of the character I ran the event with tells the tale.

Most ISK made from selling PLEX and data

I made over 600 million ISK from two sources. First, I sold 175 of the data widgets obtained from mining and data site to CONCORD for around 168 million ISK. But the big money came from selling the 100 PLEX from the rewards track, including the 75 PLEX that were the final reward. While the average PLEX sold last week was 4.6 million ISK, I sold mine for a little over 4.8 million ISK. After taxes and fees I came out with 459 million ISK.

My major expenses were the 200 million ISK I transferred to my corp and 100 million ISK I gave my PI alt. I think after creating new corp projects for automatically transferring ISK to characters who incur certain costs my office expenses are set for the year.

I will conclude with my opinion of the Winter Nexus event. The mining portion dragged, the probing and hacking portion was fun, and I didn't try the combat. At this point I need to get used to flying battlecruisers and command ships again. I like flying around in frigates and blockade runners, with the occasional cruiser and deep space transport. But if I need to start flying larger ships, perhaps I need to fly a Drake.

EVE Online's December 2025 Monthly Economic Report: A Look At PLEX And The Money Supply

Yesterday CCP Games published EVE Online's monthly economic report (MER) for December 2025. While some of the information in the graphics is incorrect, I tend to just utilize the file with the money supply information.

First, what did the developers consider economically important in December?

• A ~23% increase in Production value over December.
• Drop in High Sec Asteroid Mining value, and increase in High Sec Ice Value.
• Bounty Prizes ISK faucet has stabilized over December, while the Commodities ISK faucet has seen a ~20% growth.
• MPI continues to fall.

Next, we need to know how the population in New Eden fluctuated. For that I turn to Jester's average concurrent user charts.

The final graph for 2025

The general trend in December was a decrease to a bit below an average of 27,000 accounts logged in at any time last month. For the year the average increased around 3000 accounts logged in from January to December, something in the neighborhood of a 10% increase.

The ACU for each year from 2007 to 2025

Over the course of the year, the number of ships increased for the third year in a row. While only a year-over-year increase of 1%, the number has increased by 26.3% since 2022's low total of 18,187.

When referring to logged in accounts, the Active ISK Delta is usually useful, at least on a quarterly scale. And in an economy with a money supply of 2.5 quadrillion ISK, I find percentages work better for understanding the metrics.

Quarterly AID from 2018 to 2025

The Active ISK Delta is the net effect of ISK coming and going with player accounts, including all GM actions. Most of the time the number is negative as the game tends to bleed experienced players faster than new players can earn ISK. December is one of five quarters since the beginning of 2018 to experience a positive ISK amount entering the game. In fact, the last quarter, led by the Catalyst expansion, Crimson Harvest and Winter Nexus events, set a record with the money supply increasing by 2.5%. During the entire quarter the money supply increased by 7.3%.

For the entire year, the starting amount of the money supply declined by 12.3% due to player movement in and out of the game. Except for 2023, that amount has decreased by 24.2% per year since 2017. 

Okay, so the number of logged in accounts is up, although perhaps not as much as in the past two years. Also, the amount of ISK leaving the game is going down. The next question is, does a relationship exist between the new global PLEX market and the number of accounts logged in?

The global PLEX market in 2025

In December, the effect of the sales resulted in a huge amount of PLEX exchanged. For the months, the daily average price of PLEX increased from 4.7 million ISK to 4.8 million ISK. Christmas Eve also saw the greatest volume of PLEX sold in the short history of the PLEX market at 3.8 million sold.

Now, while the price of PLEX remained fairly steady in December, overall the price has declined. From the creation of the global PLEX market in July to the end of 2025 the average daily price of PLEX declined by 20%. Making PLEXing accounts that much easier is expected to increase the number of accounts involved in multi-boxing, at least somewhat.

The monthly economic reports contain a lot more data but I'm mostly interested in the money supply and PLEX. I have a few more ideas on what to extract out of the MER but I think I'll work on those for the new year.

EVE Online's December 2025 Monthly Economic Report: It's A Bug, Not A Disaster

Today CCP published the monthly economic report (MER) for December 2025. The money supply bug is back.

As seen on 8 Jan 2026 @ 14:30

No, the money supply didn't decrease by 232.4 trillion ISK in December. The script that creates the chart apparently is stuck on 30 August 2025, because the end of month ISK amount is from that date. The actual amount of ISK in the New Eden economy on the last day of 2025 was 2593.6 trillion ISK. Still a decrease, but one of only 49.7 trillion ISK, not 263.9 trillion ISK.

A record highest Active ISK Delta in the Alpha/Omega era

I plan to have a more complete post tomorrow, but the Active ISK Delta for the 4th quarter of 2025 was positive at 61.2 trillion ISK. The amount is the highest recorded for a quarter in the past 8 years and is good news, not a disaster. I just thought I'd make an early post so people don't panic.

Don't Ask Google Leading Questions About Final Fantasy XIV

I'm old enough to remember when asking Google to search for a topic just provided a list of links to the possible answer users were looking for. Then everyone went wild over using large language models to improve productivity and make everyone's lives easier. Google joined the crowd, creating an AI called Gemini to provide answers and the most relevant links for users. Something like this...

When does patch 7.41 launch?

Now, I should have known better. Yesterday was just the day raiders could begin running the new savage content introduced in patch 7.4. In other words, not a patch day.

In fact, according to all available information, patch 7.41 should launch on Tuesday, 20 January. I arrive at that date because patch 7.4 launched on 16 December 2025. The point x1 patch comes out approximately one month after a patch. Also, the Heavenstrurn event runs until the morning of 15 January and Square Enix almost never overlaps the end of an event with the start of a patch.

Also, for weeks I had a plan leading up to patch 7.41. I would make the Courtly Lover's healing set, then run the MSQ until I hit the new trial in patch 7.4, Hell on Wheels. I would then work on leveling my class points in cosmic exploration until I reached 20% of the way to obtaining the High Mobility Vacuum Suit. By then, good guides would have emerged on YouTube to complete the trial and finishing the trial with a party would not be too painful. At least for me. After that, I could concentrate fully on leveling my cosmic tools until patch 7.5.

Even then, I didn't fully believe the answer I received from Google. My suspicions were raised when I saw the special site for Cosmic Expedition wasn't updated. So when I got off work, instead of logging into the game, I took a nap. After that I logged into EVE Online and earned another 110 points on the Winter Nexus track, putting me 55 points away from the final reward of 75 PLEX.

Finally, I logged into FFXIV. I didn't immediately rush to Bestways Burrow to travel to the new cosmic exploration planet. Instead I tended first to my retainer army and then to my island sanctuary. Once everything was taken care of I made my way to the home of the Loporrits and discovered that no, the new area wasn't open yet.

I then decided to ask Google about the launch date for patch 7.41 in a slightly different manner. And low and behold, I received the correct answer.

I asked the question in a different way

Once I saw how I asked the questions, I realized my mistake. Never ask an AI a leading question. If the AI doesn't know, the AI makes stuff up. I've found that AI's often want to make their human user happy and comfortable so they will err on the side of giving their human the answer they think the human wants.

So go ahead and use Google to find answers to questions about video games. I just need to remember to word my searches like I word my queries to Copilot.

Beginning 2026 In EVE Online With Metrics And A Winter Nexus Patch

In an effort to organize my posts on the blog I want to try something new for me. I want to write something about EVE Online every Tuesday. I want to keep track of two statistics I think players will find interesting: weekly average concurrent users and activity on the PLEX market. I then want to write about at least one additional subject depending on how much free time I have. For this post I'll add a section about the Winter Nexus patch CCP launched yesterday.

From EVE-Offline.net

First off I made a bold prediction. I predicted that, based on a chart Jester runs every month, that Tranquility will average over 24,000 logged in accounts over the course of 2026. So then I thought to myself, "Can I keep track using the numbers on Chribba's Eve-Offline.net?" Having used the site for years looking at the one month chart for average concurrent users is pushing the site to its limit. Just looking at the one week chart is much better.

Now for another tip for reading the graph. The number over the dotted line is accurate to withing +/- 500 users. So for the first week of the year the 28,000 users really represents a weekly ACU of between 27,500 and 28,500 accounts. Good enough for a weekly view until Jester runs the numbers at the end of every month.

I also predicted a PCU for the year over 42,000. For the week ending on 4 January the peak concurrent user mark was 38,168.

Average price and volume sold

The next metric involves the PLEX market. At the end of the year the price of PLEX was declining after the big New Eden Store sale reducing the amount of PLEX needed to subscribe for 12 months from 3600 down to 2700 and for 24 months from 6600 down to 5280. The price of PLEX dropped 3.6% when the sale ended on 2 January.

I haven't decided how to look at the numbers yet. Just listing the value of the PLEX sold last week is hard to comprehend. A total of 9.2 million PLEX exchanged hands on the PLEX market for 43.9 trillion ISK. I'm not sure how to visualize the ISK amount but I'm really tempted to report the amount of PLEX in terms of game time. Using a price of 500 PLEX, players purchased 18,408 months of game time last week. I haven't tried to change the price to account for the sale.

The Winter Nexus track was extended by 300 points

On Monday CCP not only added content to keep interest in the Winter Nexus until the final day but did a balance pass on the Succubus.

Features & Changes:

Miscellaneous:

Extension of the GalNet StreamCast Unit SKIN line, adding SKINs for the Gila, Malediction, Pioneer, Praxis and Vexor.

Balancing:

• Succubus
• New role bonus, 50% reduction in Small Energy Turret activation cost.
• Powergrid increased from 44 MW to 50 MW.
• Capacitor Capacity increased from 450 GJ to 525 GJ.
• Max Targeting Range increased from 32 km to 40 km.

Events:

• Winter Nexus:
• New rewards have been added to the Seasonal Reward Track.
• Yoiul LADs have a significantly higher chance of dropping Cryotech when destroyed.

The extension of the track is as follows:

• 1,090 points - Perseverance Expert System
• 1,150 points - 100,000 Skill Points
• 1,200 points - Perseverance Aurora Universalis SKIN
• 1,250 points - Frozen Obelisk - Unlimited
• 1,300 points - 75 PLEX

When combined with the 25 PLEX awarded for reaching 420 point, getting to the end of the track can bring in over 400 million ISK by selling the PLEX. I personally am trying to train and equip an alt to do more than service planetary interaction colonies. If I split the proceeds between the alt and my personal corporation not only will I have a well-equipped alt but I'll probably have enough money to pay the office fees for my corp for a year.

The three hundred points was rather daunting as I wasn't sure when I could find the time to play that much EVE. But today is the day patch 7.4 launches in Final Fantasy XIV, making last night the perfect time to do some Winter Nexus grinding. I ground out 135 of the 300 points needed to get the 75 PLEX prize. Something just wouldn't let me quit until I received the 100,000 skill point award.  So even if I just settle for ice mining the remaining 165 points I should only have to grind about 3 more hours.

Total stats for 2026 so far

Finally a table with the stats I'm interested in. I'm sure I'll find a use for the statistics somewhere down the line.

Last Grinding Sessions On Phaenna And DDoS Attacks

Over the weekend I had two main goals in Final Fantasy XIV. The first was grinding my class points in Cosmic Exploration to reach 20% of the way to obtaining the High Mobility Vacuum Suit. I need 500,000 points in each of the 11 crafting and gathering classes. The other was to try to avoid getting kicked off the servers while I did so.

What 20% looks like

I had to work on my weakest class, Fisher. I think the amount of RNG involved in Cosmic Exploration fishing missions really slows me down. But over the last week I started getting a lot better and found a handful of missions where the RNG didn't really affect me. The good news was that a couple of those missions have big payoffs. The bad news was that those missions relied on weather conditions. I never enjoyed rain so much, though cloudy skies were even better.

But one of the most frustrating things I encountered was getting knocked out of the game while reeling in a 3 exclamation point fish to complete a mission that would have given me 1100 class points. At that point I broke down and tried out ExitLag. I learned that routing through ExitLag's New York servers to go to servers located in California was up to 50ms faster than connecting through the company's Sacramento location? Did I mention the FFXIV North American data center is located in Sacramento?

I actually had a way to check if lag improved in the game. I was using a fishing macro that counted from 10 to 20 seconds I used to help determine which fish were biting. Before I could see the lag when the numbers didn't appear smoothly in my chat window. With the software turned on the macro functioned much better.

I know DDoS attacks occurred over the weekend because the Square Enix posted a status update on the Lodestone stating an attack took place lasting from Friday at 10:25am PST to Saturday at 10:10pm PST. I didn't get kicked out of the game on Saturday, The only time I was kicked occurred on Friday because I forgot to turn ExitLag on.

I have to admit I'm not entirely convinced ExitLag is causing that much of an improvement. I need to run a couple of dungeons and see if the lag is gone. I really hate when lag makes me appear worse than I am. If I feel comfortable I might even try to run through Hell on Rails next weekend.

Chris Roberts' Continuity Error In His Letter From The Chairman 2025

Chris Roberts, the co-founder and CEO of Cloud Imperium Games, really liked making movies. Before starting work on the Star Citizen project, Roberts produced movies such as The Lord of War, Lucky Number Slevin, and The Punisher. Since he's familiar with the concept, I think he should appoint a continuity supervisor for his Letters from the Chairman, because I think I found an error in this year's entry in the series.

Roberts really talked up some statistics from 2025.

We had record-setting engagement this year, with more than 64 million hours played in Star Citizen (up from 48 million in 2024). You set new records in peak concurrency and unique daily users, and we saw huge increases in every metric, including 40-60% increases in average daily users and average peak concurrency. We also saw huge improvements in server stability with 57% fewer player disconnections per 1 million player hours compared to 2024.

Impressive numbers unless one is suspicious. Or nosy. Seeing the statistics I wondered if Roberts always included statistics like these, I started reading some of the older letters. Needless to say, I found a continuity error in the 2024 Letter from the Chairman.

Over one million of you have played 32 million hours in the game this year, and our ranks have swelled by almost half a million Citizens. 

Now I was totally distracted from the narrative Roberts was trying to sell; that of a rapidly growing game. But if the number of hours played actually doubled, no wonder so many content creators were proclaiming that so many new players had taken up Star Citizen. 

I found I had accidently stepped into a rabbit hole and started trying to track down the way out. The 2023 letter didn't have hours played but did state the year had the highest ever. The 2022 letter, however, had a solid number, 46 million hours played.

The above is why I say Roberts needs a continuity supervisor. A drop from 46 million hours in 2022 down to 32 million hours makes sense since the number of new accounts created per year dropped by 44.3% from 2022 to 2024. Then the huge increase from 2024 to 2025 also makes sense considering the rapid rise in new accounts created (46.2%). In fact, using 32 million hours fits perfectly with the message of lots of renewed interest plus better server performance leading to a doubling of hours played.

So where did the 48 million hours played come from in the 2025 letter? Did Roberts just make a number out of thin air? In my eyes that seems the case. A careless and sloppy mistake. Another reason why those who support the development of Star Citizen tend to want Roberts to be heard rarely, if at all.

Cloud Imperium Games Records $155.1 Million In Cash Shop Sales For 2025

According to the player-run CCU Game funding dashboard, Cloud Imperium Games has earned $929.1 million in sales through its cash shop at Roberts Space Industries from October 2012 through the end of last year. For 2025, the company recorded $155.1 million, a 33% increase from 2024's total of $116.7 million.

The $929.1 million displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of December was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1.053 billion in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $929.1 million (through 31 December 2025)
• Other cash shop revenue: $2.3 million (through 31 December 2023)
• Subscriptions: $39.5 million (through 31 December 2023)
• All other sources: $82.6 million (through 31 December 2023)

In addition, the company has received a total of $68.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2023 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020 and another $1.9 million in 2023. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $1.122 billion, or $1.115 billion when excluding the returned funds. An additional $12.6 million in loans issued in March 2025 and due for repayment on 31 December 2027 are not included in the total.

The streak is over - December marked the first time in 12 months cash shop sales did not experience increased year-over year (YoY) sales. CIG "only" brought in $14.7 million in sales in December, the second-highest total in the company's history. The highest was the $18.7 million in sales in December 2024, resulting in a YoY decline of 21.2%. The longest streak of YoY sales increases occurred for 13 months, from September 2021 through September 2022.

A major reason for the decrease was the calendar shifting one day of the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo (IAE), Star Citizen's biggest cash shop event, from December to November. The other reason is that a ship sale that occurred in the middle of December 2024 was not repeated in 2025. Instead, less popular (and less expensive) items were sold instead.

Record 4th quarter sales - Despite the lower YoY December sales, the 4th quarter of 2025 set a record with the largest turnover in the company's history. The $58.6 million in cash shop sales was $7.1 million greater than the previous record of $51.5 million set in Q4 2023.

Record sales events - A major driver of revenue in the fourth quarter was the IAE. In 2025 the event brought in $34.8 million over 14 days, an increase of $10.6 million over sales in 2024 and $10.3 million over 2023. May's Invictus event, traditionally CIG's second largest sales event, brought in $24.2 million in 2025, a $4.9 million increase over 2024. The year-over-year increase in sales during those two events accounted for slightly over 40% of the increased cash shop sales in 2025.

New account creation bounces back - After two years of declines, new user account creation increased by 46.6% in 2025, up to almost 710,000. 

December was typical of new user creation since the institution of a new recruitment program 6 months ago. The 84,288 new accounts created in December represented a 83.5% increase over the number created in December 2024.

A lot of players (and content creators) are looking at the increase in new account creation as a major surge in interest in Star Citizen. The total number in the fourth quarter fuels the argument. The 265,264

accounts created in the last three months of 2025 was a 91.9% increase over the same period in 2024.

What to watch for - CIG's 2025 growth in cash shop sales promises to put the company back into profitability after 2023's loss of $20 million and assumed losses in 2024. Hopefully the 2024 financial report appears on the Cloud Imperium website in the next week or two so we can see other important information such as subscription revenue, other types of revenue as well as overall spending. Cloud Imperium has a history of spending more that the company brings. We won't know all the information about 2025 until CIG releases its annual financial report in December 2026 or January 2027. The 2024 report is the first bit of information the public will receive on how the company truly performed financially in 2025.