EVE Frontier Free Trial From 1 April to 13 April 2026.

Last week I did a brief review of who might at least be interested in playing EVE Frontier. The price range I put on purchasing a package was $20. How about free? Free is under $20.

For the first 13 days of April CCP Games is holding a free fly event in Frontier. Cycle 5 began a couple of weeks ago. The thing about this free trial is everyone who participates can see how horribly wrong I was about the game a year ago. Back then I thought the game would turn out to be something like EVE Online. The developers are continuing to work, but when finished about the only thing the same may be the Carbon engine.

One terminology change I've noticed is CCP is now describing Frontier as a "civilization engine". I've always thought of the game as a civilization builder rather than a survival game. I figure some people will want to document the early days of the game if the game reaches commercial release. 

Right now I'm busy with the Gallente election event in EVE Online. But I have gotten out of the beginner system and Cycle 5 is really different from Cycle 3 which still had a lot of placeholders from Online. And, perhaps more to the point, I didn't have to create a crypto-wallet, at least for the time I've played so far. So anyone interested to take a peak around without doing so might want to take the opportunity now. I'm not sure how long not having a wallet will be a viable option.

Cloud Imperium Games' Cash Shop Revenue Down 3.8% YoY In March 2026

The powerful money-making machine known as Cloud Imperium Games hit a slight bump in the road in March. The company's online cash shop saw year-over-year sales fall 3.8% down to $9.7 million in the final month of the first quarter of 2026. Still, for the quarter sales were up 7.5% over the same period in 2025 with revenue of $27.4 million. The figure was a record amount for the company for Q1 of any year.

The $956.6 million displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of March was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1,081.0 million ($1.08 billion) in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).

1. Sales/Pledges: $956.6 million (through 28 February 2026)
2. Other cash shop revenue: $2.3 million (through 31 December 2023)
3. Subscriptions: $39.5 million (through 31 December 2023)
4. 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 $1.149.2 million ($1.15 billion), or $1.142.6 million ($1.14 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.

For those keeping track of new user account creation, year-over-year the number increased 97.1%, from 25,946 in March 2025 to 51,129 in March 2026. For the first quarter of 2026, the YoY amount increased by 118.5%. I don't know enough to know if the majority of the accounts were legitimately new people drawn to Star Citizen or if CIG held a sale with major benefits that would lead existing players to create new accounts.

What to watch for: We finished the first 3 months of 2026 without CIG publishing its financial report for 2024. That report would give some indication as to how well the company did in 2025. In 2023 CIG spent $162 million, which is more than the $155 million the cash shop recorded last year. Newer data on company expenditures would help put 2025's record cash shop sales in better perspective. Knowing the burn rate would also help put 2026's record Q1 cash shop sales into perspective as well.

Another item to look for is news about the release of CIG's upcoming single-player game Squadron 42. If the game is going to have a simultaneous global launch, the company needs to announce a publisher for the People's Republic of China in the next few months. We also need to hear news about the game "going gold". That is, the code is in its final state for release.

Finally, we need to watch the cash shop revenue. If sales in the upcoming quarter match those of Q2 2025, the world will see the counter on the cash shop hit $1 billion near the end of June.

Flying Solo In EVE: Gallente Elections Week 2

EVE Online is about halfway through holding elections for the Gallente Federation. With the end of the month upon us I can look at some of the weekly metrics before the quarterly statistics become available.

EVE-Offline ACU

The first, as is usually the case, is the weekly average concurrent user count. During much of the week the ACU line on EVE-Offline.net hovered at the 25,000 account mark. I'm not exactly sure what happened on 28 March except the possibility of Europe switching to Summer Time impacted the labeling. I'm interested to see what Jester's monthly concurrent user charts look like when the come out tomorrow.

Global PLEX Market Thru March 30

The average price of PLEX on the global PLEX market increased 1.5% last week up to 4,371,000 ISK. PLEX sold and the amount of ISK spent on PLEX fell 14.6% and 14.2% respectively. The current event does offer each character 75 PLEX on the rewards tree, but that amount couldn't make up for the lack of PLEX sales last week. CCP's sale involved a 15% savings on Omega time and a random selection of carrier SKINs depending on the amount spent. 

Selected weekly stats for 2026

For the current week of the Gallente Election event I discovered I need to lower my goals. I completed the first batch of security missions to get a Presidential Candidate Favor. But I can't just repeat security missions and repeat the cycle of tier rewards. Now I only get 40 event points for every 3 missions completed.

I should add one interesting point about the security missions. The mission system is very old and pre-dates the time when agents were designated security, distribution, and mining. The "security" missions that are actually distribution missions don't count towards security mission completion counts.

Tomorrow I move to the next phase of my alt-character development project. The character I've worked on in Q1 will finish training tomorrow and I begin building up my second alt-character. The second character is an alt on the account I'm using to run security missions for the election event. Political favors generated are sent to the account redemption queue. I'll get to see if favors generated on one character are eligible to be collected by another.

Crimson Desert Stock Price Recovering After Initial Mixed Reactions

Pearl Abyss' new game Crimson Desert got off to a rocky start a week ago, recording an average critic score of 78 on Metacritic with users giving the game an average score of 7.8. The critics score was below investor expectations, leading to a two-day decline of 36.6% of the company's stock price.

But then a funny thing happened on Tuesday. Pearl Abyss announced that sales of Crimson Desert reached 3 million units sold. The share price increased by 23.3% on Wednesday and was up slightly by the end of trading on Thursday. The price is still down 22.6% from last Wednesday's close but did claw its way back up to the price from one month ago. For the year Pearl Abyss' stock price is up 27.6%.

From following Pearl Abyss earnings calls for years now, I fully believe the company has lost the confidence of investment analysts in Asia. I think the situation came to a head in August 2025 on the Q2 2025 earnings call. After giving the attendees on the call the announcement of another delay for the launch of Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss' CEO received the following reaction.

The update led to only a single question asked by the investment analysts on the call. Heo Jin-young was asked about the possibility of Crimson Desert's release being delayed past the first quarter of 2026. The Pearl Abyss CEO was directly asked "how can we trust you and your company" about any release date after all of the delays over the past several years.

During that day's trading, Pearl Abyss stock price fell by 23%.

At that point the leadership at Pearl Abyss had to have felt the pressure to meet the Q1 2026 release date given on that call. They also had to have felt the pressure to respond to all the complaints expressed upon the launch of the game. For years investors were told the delays were due to the need to make the game as good as possible before launch. A Metacritic score of 78 apparently wasn't what investors, or at least the investment analysts who informed investors, expected.

Barring sales news, the next important date in the Crimson Desert saga will come in May when Pearl Abyss holds the earnings call for the first quarter of 2026. At that time Pearl Abyss will inform investors exactly how well the launch of the game did sales-wise. And perhaps their reactions on the progress of the next game in the development pipeline, DokeV.

Flying Solo In EVE: Gallente Elections 2026

The numbers were trending down in EVE Online over the last few weeks. With the end of the quarter CCP had to do something to keep the numbers up. Enter a new event: the periodic election for the leadership of the Gallente Federation.

From EVE-Offline

The event began on 19 March and the peak concurrent user number began reaching 30,000 again. After 4 weeks of decline the PCU for the week reached over 35,000 on both Saturday and Sunday, peaking at 35,791 on Sunday. I'm expecting the average line on Eve-Offline to increase at least 1000 to 25,000 by the end of this week.

Latest graph for the global PLEX market

One can also see the effects of the event on the global PLEX market. The average price of PLEX peaked at 4,396,000 ISK on 18 March. Then the event and the associated sales helped move the price down. Also did the presence of 75 PLEX as a reward on the event track.

The event window in The Agency

I didn't begin participating in the Gallente Elections event until Monday. Something about EVE Frontier beginning a new cycle that distracted me. But I'm doing fairly well. I moved to Jolia in the middle of the high sec Gallente COSMOS constellation. As of this morning I've moved a Jaguar, Claymore, Prowler, and Pioneer into the station. I started doing level 2 missions in my Jaguar, thinking the security missions will go faster. If I decide I want to make more ISK I'll switch over to the Claymore. 

Tier Rewards

I am running the event in my main combat pilot so I'm using a mining destroyer instead of a exhumer which is much better fitted to mining the Scordite required. The tiers for mining seem to increment by 15,000 m3, which is about the size of a Skiff's mining hold or half a Mackinaw. But I saw a lot of the aftermath of ganking while moving my ships into Gallente space so maybe a mining destroyer is safer. I should add I'm training to fly the Outrider, the new relatively new command mining destroyer. 

The Moreau's Capsuleer Outreach Center in Dodixie

The event does have a store from which to purchase items. In lore terms, three candidates are running for president, so three campaign facilities in space exist. I really do want the faction probe launcher which costs 4 Presidential Favors. But the new drones with sensor dampeners built in are also fairly intriguing.

I should add I might be a little addicted already. I actually woke up early to mine a tier's worth of Scordite because when I looked around last night all the Scordite in my vicinity had already been mined.

Finally, I'll conclude this post with the patch notes for the event.

Features & Changes:

Gallente Election:

The YC128 Gallente Election is underway! Capsuleers can participate until downtime on Thursday, April 16, 2026. Choose a presidential candidate and support them by completing event challenges.

Support your candidate:

Choose a candidate to support and complete challenges to influence the election outcome. The candidate whose supporters have earned the most combined seasonal points at the end of the event will be declared President of the Gallente Federation.

Your candidate selection choice will not limit the rewards you can receive. Throughout the event, regardless of your choice, you will receive Political Favor which can be exchanged at Capsuleer Outreach Centers in Dodixie for any of the rewards. Support the candidate you want to without worrying about the rewards.

* The campaign bus at the end of the Presidential race will be visually different for each of the 3 candidates, but the rest of the rewards are the same.

New Content:

Rampant Drone Fabricator:

Test both your fitting and combat prowess in this push-your-luck site!

• Players must defeat waves of increasingly difficult Rogue Drones.
• Each wave adds additional loot to the Fabricator structure in increasing quantities.
• After each wave, players can choose to destroy the Fabricator and claim their current rewards or press on to the next wave.
• Current rewards can be checked at any time using a Cargo Scanner.
  
  
• Be warned: if you are unable to complete a wave, you will lose everything you’ve earned so far!
• If the standard variant proves too easy, try bringing a battleship. The dangers are increased, but so are the rewards!
• The sites rewards also scale based on where it is located, in three distinct tiers:
• Low tier: C1-C3 wormhole systems.
• Medium tier: C4, Pochven, and low-sec systems.
• Highest tier: C5 and C6 wormhole systems.
  
  
• There are several hidden quirks and tricks for players to discover while they run the site.
• It is highly recommended to keep the Info Panel section visible!
  
  
• Only permitted ships can keep the site stable. Leaving proximity can quickly cause the site to become forfeit.
• Permitted ships include combat-capable ships from T1 Frigates all the way to Marauders.
  
  
• The site is a cosmic signature, requiring it to be scanned down.
• The grid is not deadspaced; do with this information as you see fit.

Drone Iteration Depot:

Former industrial depots that have been converted into data stockpiles by Rogue Drones.

• Hacking site.
• Can be found in highsec, lowsec, and nullsec.
• Highsec version contains Iteration Databanks. Lowsec and nullsec versions contain the more valuable Iteration Vaults.
  
  

Notable Rewards:

The event features a wide range of great rewards, including exciting new additions.

New Combined Damage and EWAR Drones:

These combined drones primarily use the base stats of tech-1 combat drones. However, they also gain the EWAR capabilities of EWAR drones.

• All 6 types of EWAR are available in all 3 sizes.
• Some drones can be bought from Capsuleer Outreach Centers, while others are exclusive to the Rampant Drone Fabricator site.

New Officer Modules:

Each candidate offers a unique officer module, available for acquisition at their respective Capsuleer Outreach Center. These modules are:

• Tenzin’s Modified Guidance Disruptor
• Moreau’s Modified Expanded Scan Probe Launcher
• Roden’s Modified Nanofiber Internal Structure

New Faction Modules:

Candidates also offer faction modules at their Capsuleer Outreach Centers:

• Presidential Skirmish Command Burst
• Presidential Information Command Burst
• Presidential Mining Foreman Burst

New Character Backgrounds:

The event features new Gallente character backgrounds, available at each candidate’s Capsuleer Outreach Center.

Capsuleer Outreach Centers:

Each candidate operates a Capsuleer Outreach Center in Dodixie. Earn Political Favors and Presidential Candidate Favors, then exchange them for a range of items, including:

• Boosters
• SKINR Components
• Character Portrait Backgrounds
• Combined Damage and EWAR Drones
• Faction Modules
• Officer Modules

Agency Challenges and Rewards

• Support your candidate by completing a range of challenges:
• Complete Gallente security missions.
• Capture or defend Factional Warfare complexes for Gallente.
• Complete Homefront Operations in Gallente space.
• Mine Scordite or Gneiss in Gallente space.
• Hack Iteration Databanks and Vaults in Drone Iteration Depots found in highsec, lowsec, and nullsec.
• Kill Fabricator Rogue Drones in Rampant Drone Fabricator sites found in lowsec, wormholes, and Pochven.
• Make a trade at a candidate’s Capsuleer Outreach Center in Dodixie.
• Go on the Campaign Trail.

Tiered Challenge Rewards:

• Challenges feature five tiers, ranging from Supporter to Lobbyist.
• Completing each tier awards tokens that can be exchanged at Capsuleer Outreach Centers, with the fifth tier granting a Presidential Candidate Favor used to acquire powerful officer modules.

Complete challenges to earn points and unlock rewards in the seasonal track, including:

• 75 PLEX
• Skill Points
• Political Favors used to make a trade in Capsuleer Outreach Centers.
• Campaign Buses

Daily Login Rewards

Log in throughout the event for great rewards:

• Alpha and Omega pilots receive separate reward tracks
• Omegas claim both tracks daily, and upgrading to Omega unlocks all past Omega rewards retroactively
• Rewards include:
• Boosters
• SKINR Components
• EverMarks
• Generous Skill Points
• And more!

Is EVE Frontier Worth $20 For Alpha/Beta Access?

I've posted in the past that I thought paying $20 to access the under development Massively Multiplayer Moddable Online Role Playing Game (MMMORPG) EVE Frontier was worth the price. At the start of Cycle 5, CCP Games put out a limited time account type that provided just that, including at the price point. The time is up at the end of March 2026, but I didn't want to compose this post until I dipped into the new development cycle. I gave a price, but I haven't detailed who might find value in the expenditure until now.

Pre-launch access only

First, a few caveats about who shouldn't purchase this package. Anyone who objects to the presence of non-consensual PvP in a video game should not even try the game. The game is a bit more hardcore than EVE Online in that logging into the game is consenting to engage in PvP.

Another group is those who absolutely must have an avatar in which to wander about the game world. Frontier is built on the Carbon game engine. While able to handle massive fights of 1000 players without much trouble, the engine does not do avatars at all. In Cycle 5 the developers introduced shell industry which should mitigate the feeling of playing as a spaceship players have in EVE Online. But I haven't gotten that far in the new tutorial so I don't have first-hand experience on the system yet.

I also need to make a point about how long the account is good for. I expect the fastest timeline for release is the announcement of beta sometime in 2027 and an official release product in 2028. Given that the developers usually only hold a free-fly event once a Cycle, some might find the ability to jump in at any time over the next 2+ years worth $20.

So, who might find value in purchasing the limited time account type? Let's start with EVE Online players, both current and former. I think wormholers would love the game, especially if they find the current wormhole gameplay stale. The local chat rules follow the EVE Online wormhole standard and asset safety does not exist. Add in limited visibility to objects, ships, and NPCs in the system introduced in Cycle 5 and anyone who used to wormholes in EVE Online will find a challenge in Frontier.

Base building and hidden information in Cycle 5

Another group I could recommend trying Frontier to are explorer types. In particular I'm thinking of the space hippies I flew with in Signal Cartel. The development cycles have had 20,000+ systems which is an awful lot when compared to the some 7,000 total systems in EVE Online. An explorer might find a two-week free fly event too short to do any proper exploring.

The third group who would find the $20 account valuable are third party developers. In Cycle 5 the developers finished the swap of the Ethereum blockchain for Sui. As part of the change CCP is holding a hackathon with $80,000 in prize money. I'm not a great programmer but I do get paid to write code for a living. Did I mention your code can affect the game world? I probably buried the lede but this package is ideal for anyone wanting to spend a month or two testing whether coding in Sui is for them.

The next group are the industrialists. The base building and industrial menus in Cycle 5 are way ahead of where the features were in Cycle 3. I'm not saying they should play the game at launch. But I've hung around with enough of them to know they like having knowledge of the game mechanics.

One group I almost didn't include are blockchain enthusiasts in general and cryptobros in particular. Any tech nerd will probably find $20 for a front-row seat to what is probably the most serious attempt to create an actual AAA-quality game and not an opportunity to make a killing on a pump-and-dump I've heard of. I heard some moaning occurred when the developers decided to abandon Ethereum for the less popular Sui blockchain to improve game performance, and not just from the coders who had to learn a new language. I'm sure either way they will figure out how to deduct the purchase as a business expense.

The final group is anyone who just wants to check out the progress of the game, to include YouTubers, streamers, bloggers, and game journalists. I spent $20 on an account about 9 months ago and I haven't regretted the decision based on the amount of articles I've posted about Frontier. Purchasing the package also gets one Discord access to the Founders area. If one chooses to rely on Reddit over the Frontier Discord ... well, bless your heart. Plus, the ability to get b-roll or screenshots for the next 2+ years whenever you want is probably worth the $20 bucks for those who are labeled "content creators".

Looking above I've probably discouraged an order of magnitude more people from buying the limited time package than encouraged sales. But that's okay. I'd rather do that than encourage people from spending $20 they will regret later.

Pearl Abyss Stock Down 36.6% Since Launch Of Crimson Desert

On Thursday, the long awaited RPG from Pearl Abyss, Crimson Desert, launched to the world. The opinions, from Metacritic's initial critics review score of 78 to Steam's user score of Mixed on almost 7200 reviews, didn't bode well for Pearl Abyss. 

As seen on 20 March 2026 @ 5pm UTC

The price of Pearl Abyss stock fell by 29.8% in Thursday's trading and another 9.8% today in heavy trading. Since the launch of Crimson Desert, the South Korean video game maker has lost ₩1.48 trillion in market cap value. That translates into $985 million according to the exchange rate on Google at the time I post this article.

I didn't bring up the game's reception just to downgrade the game. According to an article published by Seoul Economic Daily:

Metacritic scores aggregate multiple critic reviews, with 75 or above generally considered positive. However, the market had expected a score in the mid-to-high 80s, and the lower-than-anticipated result appears to have weighed on the stock.

We'll see if users on Metacritic find the game a lot more enjoyable than the critics or those on Steam. After all, Crimson Desert just may play a lot better on a console with a controller than on a PC with mouse and keyboard.

Update: I wonder if this will have an impact on the market come Monday.

We are incredibly humbled to share that #CrimsonDesert has sold through 2 million copies worldwide. Thank you so much to our fans, community, and everyone who has joined us in Pywel. We will listen closely to the wide range of feedback shared by the community and work to make… pic.twitter.com/AivMESKWpu

— Crimson Desert (@CrimsonDesert_) March 20, 2026

Final Fantasy XIV Adding Inventory In Patch 7.5

On Friday Final Fantasy XIV's Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida hosted his 91st Producer's Live Letter. While many were looking at the new content coming in patch 7.5, what struck me were the changes to inventory coming in the final major patch of Dawntrail. Three major systems, dyes, the armorie, and player housing are receiving changes that will allow packrats like myself to store more items.

First up are the changes to the dye system. The change will free up a maximum of 102 inventory slots as the devs will collapse 105 dyes down to 3. The largest chunk of dyes are the 85 dyes introduced in A Realm Reborn.  The next chunk are the dyes introduced in the Ishgardian Restoration and available for sale on your Island Sanctuary. Those dyes are:

• Ruby Red Dye
• Cherry Pink Dye
• Canary Yellow Dye
• Vanilla Yellow Dye
• Dragoon Blue Dye
• Turquoise Blue Dye
• Gunmetal Black Dye
• Pearl White Dye
• Metallic Brass Dye

The final group were added as part of Cosmic Exploration.

• Carmine Red
• Neon Pink
• Bright Orange
• Neon Yellow
• Neon Green
• Azure Blue
• Violet Purple
• Metallic Pink
• Metallic Ruby Red
• Metallic Cobalt Green
• Metallic Dark Blue

Of course, dye colors available from the cash shop and their in-game variants will still take up their own slots. But that's only 40 different dyes. I checked and personally I will save 73 inventory slots once patch 7.5 is released late next month.

Next up are the changes to the Armoire. The eventual home of all cash shop and event glamour items, in patch 7.5 the Armoire will also store all job specific (artifact) armor. If anyone is like me, that means freeing up slots in both my glamour dresser and amongst my retainers. The developers are going one step further and allowing the storage of gear from patch 7.x dungeons. I hope that means from the main Dawntrail dungeons also. 

A hopeful sign is the intention to go back and make the dungeon gear from earlier expansions placeable in the Armoire. As bad of a combat player as I am, I can do previous dungeon content solo. Plus, I'll have enough space for all the Nier cross-over event gear. I'm pretty sure I can run that now.

Finally comes the expansion of both item limits in both housing and housing storage. I know a lot of people disregard housing but all players have access to apartments. I was able to decorate an apartment fairly well with less than 100 items. Now the limit goes up to 150. But perhaps more importantly the number of housing items I can store goes up to 150 as well. Add in the outdoor housing item limits and I believe I can clear out most of the outdoor items I have on my retainers.

I don't know how many people looked at the Producers Live Letter and thought of all the additional things they could hoard. But I'm looking forwards to the addition to the inventory game coming in patch 7.5.

Flying Solo In EVE: Blitzing Advice And AI

 I'm trying to get back on my blogging schedule so I am posting two of these EVE posts in a row.

I wasn't the only one out of sorts last week. Something happened on Eve-Offline and a day or so of stats disappeared. Still, the average concurrent users from the week of March 9-15 was 24,000 +/- 500 accounts.

On the global PLEX market the average price of PLEX rose by 1.8% up to 4,306,000 ISK. I took advantage of the price rise and took the 10 PLEX I'd received so far from doing the AIR Daily Goals on two characters. Last week was the 4th week in a row in which the amount of PLEX traded declined. From February 9-15 to March 9-15 the amount of ISK spent on PLEX fell by 40.8% down to 26.5 trillion ISK last week. The volume of PLEX purchased declined by 40.2% down to 12,319 months (1,026 years) of game time.

Selected stats per week in 2026

Just a quick update about taking advice about blitzing missions, or at least the level 4 Sisters of EVE missions in the Ani constellation, from Copilot. Don't. I managed to get the correct advice in one of four missions. Running the missions in an Ishtar sounded doable but I learned I don't have the ability to use sentry drones well. Of course, since I was also depending on Copilot to give tactical advice and the AI didn't know the victory conditions for each mission, the lack of skill wasn't as important as Copilot's inability to tell me the correct steps to blitz the missions.

My industrial/market pilot can't fly battleships but has Mastery V on all Command Ship related skills. I have to say flying a brick-tanked Damnation is pretty relaxing. Slow but relaxing. But the important item is that last week I reached the 250,000 SoE loyalty points needed to buy an Odysseus blueprint. I'm going to sell a few more items on the market before making the BPC purchase. After all, an Odysseus blueprint also requires 250,000,000 ISK to acquire and I want to maintain a certain level of liquidity.

Flying Solo In EVE: Decisions About Alts

Real life and news about other games delayed composing my regular EVE Online post until the end of the week.

Last week's ACU from EVE-Offline.net

Last week the daily peaks of logged in accounts fell although the weekly average line stayed at 24,000, plus or minus 500 accounts. I'm beginning to wonder if the devs will release something new in the second half of the month. After all, the C-Suite at Pearl Abyss made promises to investors CCP Games needs to keep.

Latest global PLEX market chart

Looking at the global PLEX market one can see that a uptick in the price of PLEX began last week. The price started to trend slowly upwards until last Sunday when momentum picked up. Next week I'll be interested to see if the trend continues through the weekend.

Over the next couple of weeks I'll have a decision to make: continue levelling the current alt I'm working on or switch to an alt on my other account. I already have 3 months of multiple character training sitting on my other account, but I have three skills, Amarr Drone Specialization IV, Caldari Drone Specialization IV and Minmatar Drone Specialization IV, in my alt's queue that won't finish before the training time ends.

This is where the AIR Daily Rewards comes into play. Since I only need about 7 days of training to finish up, I can continue logging in a few minutes a day on that alt to finish up while starting a training program on another alt. After doing a little research I might either set up training a new alt in the Ani constellation with my main industrial/market alt or fly a few jumps over and start running Gallente missions. I just have to figure out how much I want to dive into the world of Sisters of EVE loyalty points.

I know I need to make a decision sometime soon. I have to admit having an alt that specializes in Sisters ships is intriguing. A few years ago I considered specializing in selling Sisters ships and items. Perhaps now is the time to do it.

Final Fantasy XIV Cosmic Exploration: Oizys Complete

Early Tuesday morning in my time zone my world, Hyperion, completed the last stage in the development of Oizys, the third zone in Final Fantasy XIV's Cosmic Exploration content. The last two worlds on my logical data center, Primal, should have Oizys finished early next week if not over the weekend.

Working on the roof of Terra Firma 

I only had the chance to work on finishing up one of the 17 stages on Oizys, but I made the chance count. I logged in late to do a little class point grinding on armorer and zoned into Oizys a few minutes before the event began.

For those still working on the content (and more than half the worlds still are) I've put down the full list of facilities on Oizys below.

Oizys development complete

While the world development project was complete I still needed to complete a couple of quests to finish the story for the third stage of cosmic exploration. Two quests, including the now traditional Namingway tour, popped up immediately. Two more missions involving Mumukko and her crew were available once I had completed 50 cosmic missions and the tour of Oizys with Namingway. 

The last addition to Oizys

I have to say I am enjoying the cosmic exploration story so far. So much so I'm glad I was able to complete the Oizys story before Letter from the Producer LIVE XCI is broadcast on Friday, a few hours after this post is published. Now I just need to crank out the class points in an effort to get the big Cosmic Exploration mount before the next expansion hits the live servers.

EVE Frontier Cycle 5 Starts Today

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in New Eden anymore"

- Dorothy if she were an EVE Online player logging into EVE Frontier

I didn't play in EVE Frontier's development cycle 4 due to real life and other video games. I heard that if I didn't play in Cycle 4 then Cycle 5, which launches today, was a must to see how the game had changed since Cycle 3. From the videos and patch notes I think I can safely say that Frontier may use the same engine but is really different from Online now. 

Going through the dev blog for Cycle 5 really highlights the differences. Players won't create implants but grow Frontier's version of clones.

Allowing players to manufacture the clone bodies they inhabit, taking direct control over their production, storage, and enhancement. With the introduction of the Nursery manufacturing facility and the Nest storage facility, players can create new Shells and manage their equipped skills through Crowns - specialized memory constructs - to shape their capabilities and progression. If a Shell is destroyed, the skills and memory imprinted on that body are lost with it, demanding preparation and adaptability to survive the Frontier’s unforgiving nature. 

EO players who hate the more intelligent and active NPC actions will find a lot to hate in Frontier.

Orbital Zones now replace dungeons, introducing distinct, persistent ecosystems across solar systems and distributing resources, NPCs and loot naturalistically. Feral AI now patrol and move dynamically between points of interest, reacting to their surroundings, analyzing and defending key locations. Two new types of rifts and crude matter are available across almost every star system, allowing players earlier and more frequent access to crude industry. 

The Upwell Consortium never existed in Frontier, although I don't know if the developers will ban the name if an enterprising player wants to specialize in infrastructure development. I imagine old school EO players who loved making dickstars will get flashbacks. Automating the flow of industrial processes is a really nice touch.

Construction Sites at owned Network Nodes allow players to collaboratively deliver materials before structures come online. At L-Points, multiple players can now establish a base, increasing opportunities for cooperation and conflict. Defensive infrastructure has also been overhauled with the introduction of three specialized turrets: the Autocannon Turret, built to shred smaller ships; the Plasma Turret, designed to counter mid-sized threats; and the heavy Railgun Turret, engineered to engage larger combat vessels.

The next section gave me a chuckle thinking about all the complaining I hear from Star Citizen about their ships' flight model. Watching the video on the Cycle 5 patch notes reminds me combat is really different in Frontier.

Combat has been rebalanced to clearly distinguish between light and heavy ships. Lighter hulls now accelerate faster and carve tighter flight paths, with slot layouts that emphasize active defenses. Heavier ships trade angular agility for greater mass, higher top speeds, and passive durability. A powerful new Exclave frigate can also be manufactured, offering a focused, high-mobility option for pilots who favor precision. Traversal systems have also been updated. Fuel now carries new properties that impact active consumption and interstellar travel, while passive scanning allows players to detect signatures in space and monitor their surrounding environment before committing movement or engagement.

Of course, I do have to mention the blockchain. Cycle 5 introduces the replacement for Ethereum, Sui. I'm interested to see if the change really does lead to increased performance.

With Shroud of Fear, EVE Frontier migrates from Ethereum to the Sui blockchain. Launching the same day, the 2026 Frontier Hackathon features an $80,000 prize pool, inviting builders to develop mods that extend the Frontier both inside and outside the game world.

EVE Online's Monthly Economic Report For February 2026

On Friday CCP Games released the February 2026 monthly economics report for EVE Online. As usual the developers told us up front the details they thought were either important or notable.

Economic Trends:

• Destruction Value increased, while Mining and Production Value declined.
• Velocity of ISK continues to decrease.
• The Mineral Price Index continues to decline, down ~52% over the past year.
• The Ship Price Index continues to decline, down ~21% over the past year.
• The Module Price Index continues to decline, down ~13% over the past year.

I think the takaways are that mining activity has increased, leading to cheaper ships and modules. Of course, cheaper goods results in less need for money, meaning the velocity of ISK continues to decline.

Given the way I've been told by CSM member The Oz the money supply calculations work a decreasing velocity of ISK isn't a surprise. While the changes in average daily concurrent users is seen immediately, ISK isn't officially removed from the New Eden money supply until an account has been inactive for 90 days. The ACU continued to decline in February from the highs of the Winter Nexus event which ended in the first week of January.

Looking at Jester's yearly average concurrent user chart, the ACU for the first two months of 2026 was still at 25,400. Doing a little math leads to the discovery that the ACU for the month was 24,518, a drop of 6.4% from January's ACU. 

Looking at the amount of ISK spent on items accounted for in the MER plus that exchanged for PLEX on the global PLEX market, the amount of ISK spent by players declined by 7.6% from January to February's total of 777.3 trillion ISK. If one considers ISK to PLEX transactions as a form of currency exchange the decline of 6.7% in the value of the goods traded comes out very close to the 6.4% decline in the ACU for the month. So the decline in the value of goods traded in the New Eden economy was due to the number of players dropping, right?

Not so fast. February has 3 fewer days than January, making last month 9.7% shorter than the first month of the year. Converting the monthly totals to daily totals of ISK spent by players, the breakdown is as follows:

• Amount of ISK converted to PLEX: down 1.4%
• Amount of ISK spent on Accessories: up 4.3%
• Amount of ISK spent on non-PLEX related items: up 3.2%

Overall, the amount of ISK spent in the New Eden economy each day actually increased by 2.3%.

By taking time into account I feel pretty safe making the following observation. The drop in average active users through the first two months of 2026 was due to the game losing more casual players at the end of the Winter Nexus event. The part of the player base that remained was a bit more dedicated to playing the game as the increased daily spending in February showed.

Could I have made the observation without using the MER? Sure. The theory sounds plausible on its face. But having some data to back up a theory always helps.

The Nosy Gamer And AI

I have a bad habit of missing notable dates. One of those dates was the 17th anniversary of the launching of The Nosy Gamer which occurred on 16 February. I'm going to take the belated opportunity to feature not the content over the past year, but how AI has shaped the content over the last year or two.

My AI of choice turned out to be Copilot. I think I was trying to cut against the grain and at the time ChatGPT was all the rage. When I first tried AI programs I tried them out by looking up facts in the video games I play. The results were, to put it mildly, disappointing. Apparently MMORPGs are enough of a niche genre of game that the models really don't receive a lot of information. At this point Copilot isn't horrible, although still at times is a couple of years out of date.

But I've been assured, especially at work, that AI is the future. So, as I've posted in the past, I'm using my blogging to gain some experience with AI programs at the same time. The one I've mentioned in the past is using Copilot to help with the scripts I use to produce the global PLEX market graphs every week. I use Python, with which I need to practice for work as well.

I also use the AI to come up with ideas and research on topics as well. One topic I hope to expand on in the next month or two is the Samurai Daishō post I wrote back in January. The comparison of Final Fantasy XIV's Warrior of Light to a samurai daishō was spot on, but I really needed the links to know I wasn't dealing with an AI hallucination. With the links, any hallucination was mine, which as the author is the way the blame should fall.

Using AI to do research has led to an insight I'm not sure a lot of people in the business world will pick up on. Following the links leads to an expanded look at a topic. Combining the machine perspective with that of a source's author can lead to something that either makes me look really smart or really stupid. Hopefully the former happens a lot more than the latter. From what I've seen, a lot of people don't worry about looking dumb if they can shave a few hours of time off of a task.

One thing I've found is that Copilot can pretty accurately review a web page or a YouTube video if given the transcript. I've used AI for that purpose a couple of times in the past, although I made sure to add my own comments into the review. I may start doing that again for EVE Frontier. I want to keep track of development of the game but don't have time to play this development cycle. Letting Copilot give me updates would help. And if I have Copilot give me summaries of articles and videos turning those into blog posts doesn't take that much more effort.

One thing I'm wondering about is how much "smarter" Copilot has gotten about video games over the last few years. I'm planning on writing a few posts where Copilot tells me how to fit ships and fly them in EVE. The only caveat on the plan is I have to actually fly the ships in missions before publishing a post on the subject. At this point I'm having fun flying two different Ishkur fits with pilots with vastly different skills. I'm also playing with an Ishtar fit to blitz level 4 missions using sentry drones. That one I'm having some problems with so I have Copilot trying to teach me how to use sentries.

I also need to try applying Copilot's knowledge (or lack thereof) to Final Fantasy XIV. I'm not quite sure how to do that yet. But I do want to show how well, or poorly, AI knows video games. Honestly, except for losing millions of ISK in dead sentry drones, I don't really have a big interest in which direction to answer falls. I just want some entertaining content.

So yes, if anyone asks, I am using AI to create blog posts. But the plan is to make the use of Copilot obvious and hopefully get some chuckles, or at least smiles, from using the software in unusual ways.

Flying Solo In EVE: Relocating To The Ani Constellation

I'm now into my fourth month playing EVE daily or almost daily again. I don't PLEX my accounts but I have a suspicion the continued fall of the price of PLEX has something to do with player concurrency on Tranquility.

Once again last week the average concurrent users logged onto Tranquility was 24,000 +/- 500 accounts. I did a little math using Jester's average concurrent users chart per year and in February the monthly average was 24,518 accounts logged in at any one time. For the first two months of 2026, an average of 25,400 accounts were logged in at any one time.

For the week, the average price of PLEX on the global PLEX market was stable, only increasing by 10,000 ISK during the week. For the week, only 31.9 trillion ISK was spent to purchase the equivalent of 15,244 months of game time, both lows for the year so far. Week-over-week the amount of PLEX purchased fell 9.6% and the amount of ISK spent on PLEX by 9.9%

Now for my in-game activities. I'm moving back to the Ani Constellation in Metropolis. My first deployment to the area was back in 2011 when I ran the high sec COSMOS missions on my way to getting 9.9 standings with the Minmatar Republic. My goal this year is to gradually gain the loyalty points for an Odysseus, the new Sisters of EVE exploration battlecruiser. Back in 2016-2017 I ground out the LP and mining to build a Nestor.

This year I decided to do something a little different. I went to Copilot and let the AI select fits for the two ships I plan on using for security missions in the constellation: the Ishtar and the Ishkur. Copilot selected the Gallente heavy assault cruiser to blitz the Sisters missions out of Lanngisi. When I just need to kill NPCs to meet the AIR Daily Goals I can use the Gallente assault frigate. Copilot insists an armor-tanked Ishkur can handle the level 1 and level 2 missions given out by the Krusual Tribe even with the natural explosive armor hole. Well, I did want to test out whether Copilot knows EVE. I just wish the AI would remember that the new slot layout for the Ishkur is 4 high/4 mid/3 lows.

Since getting the PLEX and skill points from the AIR Daily Goals is part of my plan, my Pioneer will come in handy for mining and Prowler for the distribution missions. I didn't ask Copilot for fits, especially for the Prowler. I might let the AI try fitting my mining ships next, but not now.

Doing the missions in Ani has another advantage. The pilot I am using is my industrial/market/hauling pilot. With Hek the first system outside the constellation, keeping my market orders up to date will be easier than before. 

For now though, I'll just putter around seeing if Copilot is as smart about EVE as it thinks it is.

Cloud Imperium Games Sales Surge 21.8% In February 2026

For those wondering if the shutdown of Intrepid Studios and Ashes of Creation would negatively affect Cloud Imperium Games, never fear. The developer of the upcoming games Squadron 42 and Star Citizen recorded record cash shop revenue for the month of February of nearly $9.4 million. The monthly total is a year-over-year increase of 21.8% compared to last year's record total of $7.7 million. For the year, the Cloud Imperium cash shop has raked in $17.8 million, an increase of 14.9% over the first two months of 2025. The lifetime revenue for the CIG online cash shop since November 2012 to the end of February 2026 was $946.9 million.

The $946.9 million displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of January was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1,071.3 million ($1.07 billion) in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $946.9 million (through 28 February 2026)
• 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 $1.139.6 million ($1.14 billion), or $1.132.8 million ($1.13 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.

  

New user accounts: While the number of new accounts generated does not have a relationship to money spent in the cash shop, many existing Star Citizen players find comfort in the statistic. Those players have a lot to celebrate as year-over-year new account creation in February rose 200.7% to 78,364. For the year, players have created 136,787 accounts, a 127.7% increase over the 60,062 created in the first two months of 2025.

What to watch for: We head into the month of March with CIG not publishing its financial report for 2024. That report would give some indication as to how well the company did in 2025. In 2023 CIG spent $162 million, which is more than the $155 million the cash shop recorded last year. Newer data on company expenditures would help put 2025's record cash shop sales in better perspective.

The other piece of news to look for is a release date for Squadron 42. I figure CIG will give 6 months advance notice on the release of the game. If a date is not published in March then assume the earliest the game will come out is in November or December.

Final Fantasy XIV Patch 7.45 Coming On March 3rd

I finally managed to finish the grid to acquire the Cosmic Armored Weapon late last night. A good thing because literally two hours later Square Enix announced on the Lodestone that patch 7.45 would launch next Tuesday. 

Patch 7.45 will bring two major pieces of content to FFXIV next week. The first is the new variant dungeon, the Merchant's Tale. As a reminder, Dawntrail's version of the variant dungeon was divided into three flavors:

Variant Dungeons

Explore branching paths to uncover the dungeon's mysteries. Starting from level 90, you may enter solo or with up to three other players, and the difficulty scales with party size. You will also be rewarded with experience points.

Variant Dungeons (Advanced)

Fight even more powerful versions of a variant dungeon's three bosses. They can be fought in any order, and each boss will offer its own rewards. Defeat all three bosses for even greater spoils. Two to four players may enter, and difficulty scales with party size.

Criterion Dungeons

Face the dungeon bosses at their most formidable. Will you best them all, or be buried by their wrath? Parties must consist of four players.

The other is the next installment of Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures. We get to continue to track down the latest bad guy, an old enemy of Detective Hardiboiled. I might be able to wait for a couple of weeks to finish up a few other things, but I definitely need to finish up the Hildibrand story before patch 7.5. Then again, I also need to finish the MSQ and run Hell on Rails as well.

While we wait for the patch the next holiday, Little Ladies Day arrives in the game. The event may take a bit more time as players can obtain four t-shirts, six emotes, an orchestrion roll, three wall-mounted posters, and a cherry tree. From what I've seen, if the cherry tree is tall enough I may plant some in the yard of my cottage.

Just a quick post today because work is keeping me from logging into video games at my usual time at night. But I do have some things I need to do that will keep my busy in FFXIV for a couple of months longer. 

Flying Solo In EVE: The Lunar New Year

Heading into the last week of February I don't think EVE Online has done that poorly. In today's posts the graphs are on a downward trajectory, which can mean both good and bad things. Let's take a look.

Average concurrent users from 16-22 February

First for the bad. The average number of accounts logged onto Tranquility fell again, to 24,000 +/- 500 accounts. Yes, the shard experienced two hiccups during the week but the average line descended before the server instability. I hoped that the holiday last Monday in the U.S. would keep the ACU for the week at 25,000 but that didn't happen.

Prices on the global PLEX market continue to decline

Now for the good. The average price of PLEX on the global market fell another 2.3% last week, down to 4.16 million ISK. I have the feeling that volumes on the market go down the third full week of a month as the amount of PLEX sold last week would only fund 16,859 months of Omega game time. Over 1400 years of game time sounds like a lot, but represents a week-over-week decline of 18.1%. Add in the price decline and the amount of ISK spent on global PLEX market fell 21% last week. Below are the weekly stats so far in 2026.

Selected weekly stats so far for 2026

Today's EVE topic is Lunar New Year. Except for Japan, most of East and South-East Asia celebrates the Lunar New Year instead of the Gregorian New Year. Needless to say, once Pearl Abyss acquired CCP Games the game started featuring a celebration of the holiday in order to reach out to new or underserved markets in Asia.

The free gifts from the New Eden Store

Needless to say, the devs lead players to the New Eden Store in the hopes of getting players to engage in some impromptu shopping. But the 8 PLEX is nice. Of course, the devs aren't stupid and in order to prevent thousands of alt accounts from spinning up, only accounts who played from 29 January 2025 – 16 February 2026 and had over 8 hours of playtime throughout the year are eligible for the gift.

For $88 a little too rich for me

Of course the cash shop is offering a special called The Noble Steed pack. But at $88 the price isn't for me, especially since I don't fly any of the ships mentioned in the offer.

I do wish CCP would come up with something in-game like Final Fantasy XIV does for holidays. Something I could engage with that doesn't require opening up my wallet, either in-game or in real life. Who knows, maybe next year if things go well financially for CCP and Pearl Abyss in 2026.