EVE Frontier Cycle 6 Launched 25 June 2026

"You are a baby turtle on a beach... except there is no sea and the gulls have guns. Run."

EVE Frontier Cycle 6 patch notes

I'm a bit behind due to a real life power outage, but EVE Frontier launched its Cycle 6: Sanctuary yesterday. The game is progressing past the point I'll play when the game finally launches. I'll have to see if the game swings back to a point where I think I can play further down the line. Indeed, the way the game is evolving has me hesitant to go beyond the new player experience because I just don't have the time to play.

I still follow development of the game because I think what the team over at Fenris is doing, while very niche, is fascinating. Over the next couple of weeks I want to jump into Frontier and run through the starter system once again. Every time is a new experience.

In keeping with Google DeepMind's investment in Fenris, I plan to keep up with the game by taking the patch notes and dev blog for each cycle and running them through Gemini. But first I want to make a couple of comments about things I like or don't like.

1. The change in the free trial - I think the Frontier team is getting a little more confident in the stability of the game world. The change now means new players can drop in at anytime instead of at designated times.

2. Modular ship building - The initial release of modular ship building is the feature that really has me interested in logging into Cycle 6. Plus, I always wanted a crafting ship in EVE Online.

3. No more logging off to safety - This is the feature that makes me hesitant to log into Cycle 6. My compromise, at least at first, will be to just stay in the starter system.

4. Testing crypto - The fuel-based economy feature is introducing a test version of Frontier's crypto currency. For those who are allergic to crypto.

5. Evolving ecology - One of the things I found intriguing about games like Everquest Next was the idea of NPCs running around doing things even if no players were around. I think we begin to see this implemented in Cycle 6.

6. A more robust starting area - Between the new starter systems in Frontier and the introduction of Exordium in Online I'm beginning to think some development theories are showing up in both games.

Now that I've had my say, here's what Gemini pulled from the patch notes and dev blog:

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1. Modular Ship Building (Initial Release)

Instead of flying predefined, static ships, the old fitting system has been completely reworked.

• The Concept: You now manage a single modular ship built from a "catalog of modules." Your ship's purpose (industry, combat, exploration, or logistics) depends entirely on which parts you piece together.

• On-Board Crafting: You can now install modules like mini-printers and material processors directly onto your vessel, essentially turning your ship into a mobile, flying manufacturing facility.

• Rebuilt Energy System: Fuel is now the definitive lifeblood of your ship. It flows linearly: Fuel → Generators → Power → Consumers. If you run out of fuel, you sit idle until you are destroyed, though modules now have battery capacities to give you a temporary buffer.

• Thrust-Based Physics: Top speed limits are gone. The game has transitioned to a thrust-and-torque-based model where acceleration and your ship’s structural ability to handle the forces of turning dictate how fast you can go without tearing the vessel apart.

2. A Brutal Survival Loop & "Space Fights Back"

Space is no longer a passive backdrop—it actively tries to kill you. Safety is no longer free.

• Stellar Heat: The system star radiates active environmental heat. The longer you stay in open space, the more your heat rises. You have to actively break line-of-sight by hiding behind wrecks, space rocks, and structures to cool down.

• Feralization: A new threat type called Feral Drones lurk in shadows. If they get close, they apply a "Feralization" status effect that can corrupt and sever the connection to your pilot shell without even needing to blow up your ship.

• No More Safe Log-offs: When you log off, your ship stays floating out in space. Furthermore, NPC station doors are closed—you can no longer dock there for infinite safety. To survive, players must build a Refuge (a dockable shelter) to protect themselves and their gear between sessions.

3. The Fuel-Driven Economy

Sanctuary brings the core economy loop online. Players can exchange LUX for a test version of $EVE to acquire Mining Lenses. You then use these lenses to extract Crude Matter from rifts and refine it into the vital Fuel required to run ships, bases, and infrastructure.

4. Reactive Feral Drones & Combat Rebalance

• Allotrope Clade Drones: New evolutionary feral drones (Mycena and Dermestid) have been introduced. The Mycena scavenges materials and builds a stationary, vulnerable Chrysalis. If left alone, it consumes resources and hatches into a highly dangerous, ranged combatant (the Dermestid). Players have to choose whether to destroy the chrysalis early or let it hatch for potentially rarer loot.

• Conservator Rebalance: Existing Conservator drones have had their total health/shields lowered but their damage significantly boosted, making combat encounters much faster and more lethal.

5. New Player Experience & Rebuilt Opening

• The Creche: Everyone now spawns (and respawns upon death) in a starting zone called the Creche until they manage to build a Refuge home. It acts as a baseline area to learn to scavenge, salvage, and craft your first crude survival tool—the Skillshot Cutting Laser (a free-aiming, non-target-locked multi-tool used for mining, salvaging, and basic defense).

• Contextual Tutorials: The game has abandoned linear hand-holding. Tutorial pop-ups will now only contextually surface guide prompts the exact moment you discover a new mechanic or resource out in the sandbox.

6. Accessibility & Features

• Five-Day Free Trial: A new 5-day free trial system is live. Anyone can register, download the launcher, and play for 5 days from character creation before needing Founder Access.

• Visuals: 3D animated character models and Shell sheets are now fully rendered inside the game client.

• Tribes: Players can now form Tribes natively while out in space without needing to dock at a station first.

The Final Board Of Directors' View Of CCP Games From The 2025 Consolidated Financial Reports

Two weeks ago the 2025 financial reports for Pearl Abyss Iceland and CCP ehf came out on the website of the Icelandic national taxing authority. Croda over on marketsforISK did his annual analysis on the finances of Pearl Abyss Iceland. But something changed this year. On 6 May the three Pearl Abyss members of CCP ehf's five person board of directors resigned as a result of the management buyout and rebranding of the company to Fenris Creations.

I'm going to try to do something rather foolish and write a couple of posts looking forward based on the 2025 financials. But as the statement in CCP ehf's filings was dated 21 April 2026, what follows is probably the last statement from the old Pearl Abyss dominated board. Except for a couple of points of clarification, what follows below is the statement of the board before the management buyout occurred.

CCP ehf. designs, develops, markets, and operates immersive virtual worlds and games accessible over the internet. Our mission is to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life. Headquartered in Iceland, the Company operates subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, China, and the United States.

I just want to point out the Pearl Abyss Iceland is different from the now Fenris Creations. "Pearl Abyss Iceland ehf. is a holding company established in 2018. In October 2018 the Company bought all issued and outstanding shares in CCP ehf." As far as I can tell, Pearl Abyss still owns Pearl Abyss Iceland.

Operations during the year

In 2025, CCP generated revenues of USD 70.3 million, compared to USD 70.4 million in the previous year. Notably, game revenue increased by USD 4.8 million (8%) year-on-year, reflecting strong ongoing engagement across EVE Online. However, the Company reports a net loss of USD 14.0 million compared to a USD 2.9 million loss in 2024. This is a continuation of CCP's deliberate and increased fully funded investment in multiple active development projects — including EVE Frontier, EVE Vanguard, and the Carbon open-source platform — which are scheduled to enter key release phases from mid-2026 onwards. These investments, while impacting short-term profitability, are central to CCP’s strategy and position the Company for strategic and sustainable growth in the years ahead. As of year-end, shareholders’ equity stood at USD 13.2 million, with an equity ratio of 21.5%, and total assets of USD 61.2 million. The Company employed 165 people at year-end, compared to 173 people at the beginning of the year.

Here once again I have to stop to provide figures from Pearl Abyss Iceland. PAI showed revenue of USD 65.3 million, compared to USD 60.2 million in 2024. The Group also reported a net loss of USD 28.8 million, compared to a USD 19.5 million net loss in 2024. The numbers for PAI are much worse than for CCP, meaning outside factors played a role even before the management buyout. Yes, Angelice Prime Foundation is involved, but that subject requires its own blog post or two.

During the year, the Group continued to expand the EVE Universe through major updates to EVE Online while advancing development across multiple new titles and platforms, alongside ongoing live operations. In January 2025, the Group published the EVE Online development roadmap, outlining two major expansions supported by continuous narrative events and systemic improvements designed to strengthen the player-driven economy and large-scale conflict across New Eden. 

Community engagement remained strong throughout the year. In February 2025, the Group announced that tickets for EVE Fanfest 2025 had sold out in record time, demonstrating the continued strength and global reach of the EVE community. 

I should point out "community engagement" was a very big topic on Pearl Abyss quarterly earnings calls. I'm not sure if that is one of the subjects the overlords in Anyang learned from CCP/Fenris.

The first expansion of the year, EVE Online: Legion, launched in May 2025. 'Legion' introduced new systems aimed at broadening participation in both economic and military gameplay, including features designed to support more flexible and accessible collaboration across player organizations. The expansion formed part of the Group’s ongoing strategy to evolve EVE Online’s sandbox by enabling new forms of player agency and contribution. 'Legion' continued to be refined through updates and live iteration throughout the year. 

This was the point in the year EVE Frontier also came into its own with its universe hosting 24/7 access to the game. I would have to wonder how the new board that took its seats over the last week or so would have written the above paragraph.

In November 2025, the Group released the second major expansion, EVE Online: Catalyst, focused on evolving the industrial and resource systems that underpin the game’s economy. 'Catalyst' introduced new resource flows, alongside improvements to exploration, navigation, and strategic mobility, reinforcing the foundations of New Eden’s player-driven ecosystem. Subsequent updates in early 2026 further expanded on these systems, supporting continued engagement and long-term economic balance. EVE Online maintained strong player engagement throughout the year and delivered its strongest revenue performance in several years. 

The comments about content released in 2026 leave a clue that content in the document isn't just about the past.

Significant progress was made during the year on EVE Frontier, a new hardcore space survival MMO set within a persistent single-shard universe. Frontier expands the EVE Universe into a new genre while introducing programmable infrastructure systems that enable players to build, automate, and operate complex in-game structures. During 2025, the Group expanded access through its Founder Access program and introduced multiple gameplay cycles, allowing early participants to engage with evolving systems and provide feedback that informs development. 

This is why I wonder about how the write-up was done. I'm used to seeing events pretty much documented in chronological order. Nothing wrong with ordering the content by game, but I wonder if a subtle message is being portrayed in a document almost no one will read. Probably not, but given the history of the company, one can never tell.

In October 2025, the Group announced a strategic collaboration with Mysten Labs and the Sui network to support the technological platform underlying EVE Frontier. This partnership provides scalable infrastructure for programmable in game systems and digital assets, supporting the development of a broader ecosystem of tools and services around the EVE Frontier platform. 

The above paragraph shows how Fenris looks at blockchain technology. As a ready-made scalable infrastructure. I'm not sure the rest of the world would apply the tech to game systems and digital assets. Perhaps if Frontier succeeds.

Development also progressed on EVE Vanguard, the Group’s sandbox first-person shooter set within the EVE Universe. In September 2025, the Group launched Operation Nemesis, a large-scale public playtest introducing new mission structures and gameplay systems, while demonstrating early integration between planetary combat and events occurring in EVE Online. EVE Vanguard continues to be developed in close collaboration with its player community as the Group works toward future release milestones. 

Given the ordering of the year by game, is anyone surprised by the first person shooter showing up third in the priorities? 

The Group also continued live operations of EVE Galaxy Conquest, the mobile strategy title developed by the Group’s Shanghai studio. The game extends the EVE Universe to mobile platforms, enabling players to engage in large-scale strategic conflict through fleet command, territorial control, and alliance-based gameplay, supported by ongoing content updates and live operations.

And finally the mobile game. I really have to wonder if the mobile game was pressed upon Fenris by Pearl Abyss. Black Desert Mobile was such a hit in its first few years I can well imagine the folks in the home office in Anyang thinks a mobile game would produce big money in a short amount of time.

I have not seen the forms listing the members of the new board of directors. But that is a subject for the future. For now, we are closing down the Crowd Control Productions chapter of Fenris Creations history.

Highlights From The EVE Fanfest 2026 Keynote

At the end of day 2 of the 2026 EVE Fanfest convention Fenris Creations (the studio formerly known as CCP Games) held its keynote presentation. I watched the presentation live and am just going to go through some of the notes I took of the approximately hour and a half session.

First, Fenris does have two mobile games related to the EVE universe, the NetEase-run EVE Echoes and the internally built EVE Galaxy Conquest. A lot of people disregard the mobile games, but they do bring in a not insignificant amount of revenue. According to the group's recently released financial accounts for 2025 Echoes probably brought in $4 million in 2025. And while no figure was given for Galaxy Conquest, cost of sales of $1.3 million lead me to believe mobile game revenue for the company was over 10% if not 15% of total game revenue. Thus, a subject to pay attention to.

EVE Echoes next expansion is titled Titan Descent. Galaxy Conquest was recently updated with pirate invasions, new ships, and a new map. Upcoming additions to GC are achievements, Gurista invasions, and relic explorations. And, like in EVE Online, the mobile game has its own player council.

Next up were player run tournaments in EVE Online. After a review of the Tuskers victory in Alliance Tournament XXI, Fenris announced host of AT XXII would be Amarr. Other player-run tournaments like Anger Gamex VII are supported by Fenris-created tools. Those tools should improve for the upcoming year's tournament season.

The EVE Partner program was mentioned, but I'm not sure exactly how much actually changed. The winners of the new content creator awards will be announced during the closing ceremonies.

Other partners besides players

I'm going to rush past the 1 billion scientific classifications EVE players have submitted over the past 10 years to Kickstarter news. Andrew Groen, the author of the Empires of EVE books, has a new project, The Archive. Covering the history of many MMORPGs besides EVE, the book has received enough support to be published. I backed the Empires of EVE books and just backed The Archive as well.

Now for the news most readers want to know: the summer expansion. Fenris Creations not only changed its name, but also the name format for EVE Online expansions. The next expansion, launching on 9 June, is Cradle of War.  The trailer wasn't too bad.

Since I started playing EVE in 2009 I've heard players wanting to include high sec in factional warfare. With Cradle of War that long held wish is coming true in the form of military campaigns. Players no longer have to engage in PvP in order to participate in FW.

Expansion highlights

FW apparently will now have an in-game interface to track the progression of the war. Each empire will always have a military campaign running for players to which players can contribute. These campaigns are built on the freelance jobs system introduced to New Eden in the Legion expansion in May 2025. 

For those wondering, all the changes planned will not show up in the CoW. The changes will take the next three expansions to implement.

Something I bet some will hate is the introduction of titles and achievements. A staple of MMORPGs not made in Iceland, I hope the system will complement the new starter space also coming in CoW. The region is known as Exordium and the 53-system region will be the first ever safe space in EVE. 

Of course, every EVE expansion must have new ships. CoW will introduce another line of faction navy destroyers and four Tech 2 Command Carriers, one for each empire. More information about the ships was promised during Saturday's EVE Online keynote address.

The next major news came from EVE Vanguard. The Vanguard devs let the world know that the game would enter alpha on 7 July with the introduction of Operation Avalon. The alpha will also launch a new map for the extraction shooter set in the EVE universe. The alpha's first playtest period will run from July 7-20 and be available on Steam. Eventually the shooter will tie into EVE Online, with Operation Avalon introducing the first economic tie-ins between the two games.

The final game presented was the debut of EVE Frontier. For those wondering who gave the presentation, that was Frontier's Creative Director FC MaximumCats. The presentation was more of an introduction to the game than anything else, with MaximumCats perhaps going a little over the top in the roleplay department. For that I blame the influence of FC Burger.

I've watched MaximumCats presentation a couple of times now. The one time people in the audience seemed really interested was the possibility of using Frontier's hyper-modularity to create their own spaceships. I have the feeling I'll want to dig into the EVE Frontier keynote scheduled to stream on Twitch at 1400 UTC. 

I don't want to go too far into some of Hilmar's takes on AI. He seemed to imply that AI programs like Deep Blue defeating Gary Kasparov and AlphaGo defeating Lee Sedol helped make the games more approachable to the general public, and more popular. If he is counting on such a thing happening with Google DeepMind's research into EVE Online, well, I think he took a wrong turn down the rabbit hole. But I can imagine Google DeepMind learning a lot of things about artificial intelligence studying EVE and its massive database of player interactions.

I didn't quite cover everything but the Fanfest keynote presentation is a general overview. The real details show up on the various keynotes covering EVE Online, EVE Vanguard, and EVE Frontier on Saturday.

Flying Solo In EVE: Prelude To Fanfest 2026

Last week was a pretty momentous week in the history of Fenris Creations, the studio formerly known as CCP Games. In a week normally focused around celebrating the launch of EVE Online (including associated sales) the business side came to the fore. But before looking ahead to the start of Fanfest on Thursday, let's take a quick look back at last week.

ACU up a bit last week

Last week hit a peak that probably won't be matched until the launch of the expansion. The celebrations of the 23rd anniversary of the launch of EVE Online saw the weekly average number of concurrent users logged into the game reach 26,000 +/- 500, another rise from the previous week. With the peak concurrent users for the week only 36,252 though, I'd guess the numbers came in at the lower range of the spread.

I think the long slog to completing tier 5 of the Capsuleer Day event activities might have had something to do with the lower numbers. I don't really feel like reaching the end of the event track on a second character. I started but not enthusiastically.

The price of PLEX up slightly last week

With the celebrations on-going and the Capsuleer Day event handing out a lot of PLEX, the market volumes went down. The amount of PLEX traded on the global PLEX market fell by 3.8% last week, with players spending 5.1% less exchanging PLEX for in game currency. I am waiting for the Fanfest sales to kick in over the weekend to influence the PLEX market for good or for ill.

Stats through the end of week 19

Normally I was start reviewing the first 10 days or so of the Capsuleer Day event, but another celebration occurred. The 23rd anniversary of the launch of EVE Online now marks the rebranding of CCP Games to Fenris Creations. Was the opening of EVE Fanfest a week later taken into account with the rebranding move or simply a coincidence? I'll go with the former.

I almost wish I was at Fanfest with access to the press events this year. Although, to be honest, I'd probably get tired of all the "FC" jokes that will be told at the event as everyone at Fenris gets a name change. Hopefully, though, press will do interviews with everyone from the senior director of Google DeepMind to some of the venture capitalists making the studio's escape from Anyang possible.

Since this year's article about the streaming schedule is up I thought I'd highlight the sessions I'll have an immediate interest in (all times in GMT/UTC):

Friday

13:00 UTC - The Infinite Game: FC Hellmar and Adrian Boloton Senior director at DeepMind. Opening remarks by the President of Iceland Halla Tómasdóttir.

16:30 UTC - EVE Fanfest Keynote: Some say it’s the highlight of the year. Others say it’s the highlight of the decade. Join Fenris developers live for the latest updates from the EVE Universe. Get an exclusive look at this summer’s expansion for EVE Online, new developments for EVE Vanguard and EVE Frontier, fresh updates on the Capsuleer Edda, and more.

Saturday

10:00 UTC - EVE Vanguard Keynote: Get the latest updates on what’s coming in EVE Vanguard, including new features, evolving gameplay systems, and the vision shaping the future of EVE’s upcoming extraction-adventure.

14:00 UTC - EVE Frontier Keynote: Awake eternally for a cold and hostile look at the past, present, and future of the EVE Frontier universe.

15:00 UTC - [Redacted] Expansion Unlocked: Get a much closer look at the EVE Online expansion coming this summer.

I know, more of a business interest than anything, but now that Fenris is independent again its more important than ever to see how the rebranded company plans on making money and staying independent.

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.

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.

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.

Pearl Abyss Q4 2025 Earnings Call

On Thursday morning in Seoul Pearl Abyss held its latest earnings call discussing both Q4 2025 and full year financial results. For the final three months of 2025 the South Korean game maker recorded ₩95.5 billion ($65.9 million) in operating revenue, basically flat year-over-year revenue compared to the ₩95.7 billion ($69.8 million) recorded in the final quarter of 2024. For the year, Pearl Abyss recorded ₩365.6 billion ($257.5 million), a 6.8% increase over 2024's revenue of ₩342.4 billion ($251.0 million).

From the Q4 2025 Pearl Abyss Earnings Call

Not everything went well for Pearl Abyss in 2025. The fourth quarter resulted in the third quarterly operating loss and second net loss of the year. For 2025 Pearl Abyss racked up ₩14.8 billion ($10.4 million) in operating losses and a net loss of ₩7.6 billion ($4.9 million). Last year was the third consecutive year Pearl Abyss experienced an operating loss.

From the Q4 2025 Pearl Abyss Earnings Call

Before diving into the performance of the game IPs, looking at the performance of the Pearl Abyss' financial subsidiary is in order. For the fourth quarter non-game revenue accounted for 5.4% or ₩5.2 billion, of the company's total revenue. Unlike on previous calls with a large amount of non-game revenue, an explanation behind the income was not provided.

On the call the presenters made a point of mentioning the age of Pearl Abyss' two main games. For Black Desert Online, the game is in its 11th year of operation. The 10th anniversary was in Q3 and the revenue shows the extent of the celebrations. Quarter-over-quarter, Black Desert revenue dropped 20.8% back down to ₩63.0 billion ($43.5 million) for the quarter. The third quarter surge did result in Black Desert revenue increasing by 4.2% to ₩260.4 billion ($183.4 million) for the year. The South Korean won was weak against the U.S. dollar for most of the year, explaining why Black Desert revenue only rose by $200 thousand when the amount is converted to U.S. dollars.

The EVE IP, on the other hand, had a very successful year in terms of revenue in 2025. The final 3 months of the year resulted in revenue of ₩27.3 billion. On the call the presenters indicated the fourth quarter was EVE Online's highest revenue quarter since the pandemic lockdown years. And yes, while benefiting from foreign exchange effects, the $18.8 million recorded in Q4 was CCP Games' highest revenue quarter since the Icelandic studio was acquired by Pearl Abyss in October 2018.

CCP's success wasn't just confined to one quarter. With ₩92.8 billion ($65.2 million) in revenue for 2025, revenue in South Korean won increased year-over-year by 13% and 8.5% in U.S. currency. Both totals are records for CCP Games since the acquisition by Pearl Abyss.

A big event is coming up for Pearl Abyss: the launch of Crimson Desert. First announced in 2019, the launch is confirmed for 19 March 2026. Talk already has begun about Pearl Abyss' next game, DokeV. The presenters blamed part of the delay in releasing Crimson Desert on the need to develop the Black Space engine in parallel with the game. Investors were told that with the development of the engine complete new games will release faster. The company will release a date for the planned release of DokeV later in 2026.

Finally, anticipate progress reports on EVE Frontier to feature prominently on future earnings calls. While games utilizing blockchain technology may no longer be the flavor of the month anymore, I have the feeling investors are still interested in crypto. With crypto games dropping as fast as crowdfunded and AAA games have lately, CCP may not face much competition in the field for the next few years.

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.

Games I Plan To Play In 2026

Every year I try to line up which games I want to play for the upcoming year. I figure for 2026 I'll post ahead of time in order to attempt to stick to a schedule and play them all. I don't think anything will come as a surprise.

Final Fantasy XIV - My main game for the last few years, this one is easy to keep. In addition to keeping up with the MSQ I want to finish up Cosmic Exploration, get a couple of crafting & gathering specific mounts, and perhaps redo my cottage once the housing changes finally hit the servers. Oh, and take advantage of the new glamour rules, both in making glams and selling glamour-related items. In other words, standard stuff in FFXIV.

EVE Online - I originally thought I'd wind down playing EVE this year. But the new Odysseus battlecruiser brought back some interest in the game. I built a Nestor a few years back and making the Odysseus would once again make my Sisters of EVE ship collection complete. I should also build two CONCORD ships, the Enforcer and Pacifier. I've already built a Marshal but I'd probably actually fly the smaller CONCORD ships around. At the very least I need to finish out the Winter Nexus event. I reached the end of the track and have the Persistence blueprint. I want to see what else opens up in the final week.

Final Fantasy X/X-2. I am guessing that the next FFXIV expansion will contain references to these two games so why not? In 2025 the single player game I finished was Ball x Pit. Time to find out what Spira is all about. Plus, what is blitzball?

EVE Frontier - EVE Frontier is a game under development and I highly doubt will release this year. Despised by many due to the presence of a blockchain, I get a kick out of the game's development away from EVE Online. At the very least I need to play the beginning of each cycle to run through the tutorial and a few hours more to experience changes in industry. I also might write up a post or three on the differences between Online and its younger cousin. To paraphrase an old movie, "Toto, we're not in New Eden anymore."

Star's Reach - A Raph Koster designed game, I really want to play his new sci-fi game. Of course, I thought that months ago when I picked up a game package but never downloaded the software. Now that the testing schedule is running more than half the week I might step into the pre-alpha. Or perhaps I'll wait until the alpha. Either way, Star's Reach is a game I really need to play in 2026.

In total a bit of a spread. Two very different MMOPRGs, two single-player JRPGs from the mainline Final Fantasy series, and two sci-fi games under development. Hopefully I'm not trying to bite off more than I can chew.

My Predictions For 2026

Another year, another time to make a fool of myself by making predictions for the upcoming year. Personally I had a fairly good year but I don't place a lot of value on my fortune-telling skill. But I really do need to go back and review the predictions I made for 2025 and try to do a better job foretelling 2026.

Crowd Control Productions - Last year I predicted two things. First, that the company would meet Pearl Abyss' expectations of having at least ₩20 billion in revenue for each quarter of 2025. CCP has achieved that level of revenue for the last six quarters and with the launch of the Revenant expansion I don't see that changing.

The second prediction is more problematic. I predicted CCP would see a 10% growth in revenue, meaning either ₩90 billion or $64 million for the year. Through the first three quarters the totals were ₩65.5 billion/$46.4 million. Given the strength of the Catalyst expansion I still have an outside shot of getting this prediction correct but won't know until the next investors' call in February.

For 2026 I may go full fanboi on my predictions. CCP will continue to meet the ₩20 billion per quarter revenue guidance given to investors. I am also going to place a lot of faith in Vanguard and set my revenue prediction for the year at ₩99.0 billion/$70.0 million.

EVE Online - Don't worry, some of my predictions that involve both EVE and a sequel game in the IP will be listed with the other game. I'm going to give myself a half-a-point for calling the summer expansions a hodge-podge of ideas although I think Legion was heavily aimed at null sec. I was dead wrong about the winter expansion concentrating on The Deathless Circle. Instead players got a mining/industrial themed expansion. Players got armed industrial ships, not tech 2 Deathless Circle pirate ships.

In 2026 I am expecting the summer expansion to consist of a hodge-podge of ideas that won't fit nicely into the theme of the winter expansion. The summer expansion will launch in June with the introduction of a new pirate epic arc coming in July. I'm guessing something involving The Deathless Circle but Upwell counts as a pirate faction, right?

For the winter expansion, I think wormholers will receive a major update. CCP hasn't expanded the lore of the Sleepers in a long time. Considering the Drifters killed Empress Jamyl I back in 2015, wormholes and the lore is probably overdue for an update.

Now for a couple of predictions based on Jester's charts. First, the ending average concurrent users in 2026. Jester's graph is showing a 7-day moving average at the beginning of December of over 28,000 accounts logged in at one time. The 30-day moving average is moving upward and almost at 26,000 accounts. I am going to predict that at some point in 2026 the 7-day moving average of concurrent users will exceed 30,000 accounts and the 30-day moving average will end the year over 28,000 concurrent users.

Jester also has another chart displaying the average number of concurrent users logged in per year. Through November the number for 2025 was 22,635, or about 100 accounts less than 2024's average. I'm going to make the wild prediction that Jester's chart shows over 24,000 in 2026. I call the prediction wild as the amount would be the highest average amount of accounts logged in during a year since 2014's 27,490.

One last prediction. In 2025 the peak concurrent user mark for the year reached 41,322. In 2026 I predict the number will reach 42,500. I know, not much of an increase. But the increase would give 2026 the highest yearly PCU since the move to Alpha clones in January 2017.

EVE Vanguard - CCP Games does not have the greatest record with first person shooters. Last year I predicted a successful test of Vanguard in November or December. I'll take the cross-over Operation Nemesis event in September and October as being close enough to count. But I'll also take my prediction of the developers as shying away from null sec as a miss.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that Vanguard will indeed launch on Steam sometime in the third quarter of 2026. The delays for CCP's FPS games dating back to EVE Vegas 2018 are over.

EVE Frontier - I didn't really make a lot of predictions for Frontier in 2025. I did predict another round of venture capital funding but as far as I know that didn't happen. I'll have to count the next prediction as partially correct. CCP did announce how the developers have upgraded the Carbon engine to use Python 3.12 but EVE Online has not switched to the new version of the engine yet.

I will predict for Fanfest 2026 that CCP will present a video showing all the client differences between Online and Frontier. However, the video may not make it to the main stage of Harpa. I will also predict the crypto currency for Frontier will not appear for sale in 2026. If I'm wrong that means Pearl Abyss is in financial trouble and Crimson Desert flopped.

The mobile games - I am going to predict neither EVE Echoes or EVE Galaxy Conquest will shut down in 2026. That's about as far as I feel comfortable predicting.

Pearl Abyss - I managed to only make a prediction about the company returning to profitability in 2025. Once again, we'll need to wait until the February investors' call as the company only had made a net profit of ₩6.8 billion through the first 9 months of 2025. Given recent history the numbers could dip back into the red.

I will make one additional prediction about the South Korean game maker. Expect total revenue in 2026 to fall between ₩550 billion and ₩600 billion.

Black Desert Online - Looks like I was wrong about the revenue Black Desert would bring into Pearl Abyss' coffers in 2025. I predicted a 10% decline down to ₩215.0 billion. The IP, however, bounced back with ₩197.4 billion in revenue through the first three quarters of the year. The Black Desert IP may even see an increase in revenue if Pearl Abyss announces Q4 revenue exceeding ₩52.4 billion. Once again, we'll need to wait on the investors' call in February.

Crimson Desert - I finally got a prediction involving Pearl Abyss' upcoming single-player RPG mostly correct. I posted that I expected Pearl Abyss to announce in November the game would release in the first half of 2026. Pearl Abyss made the announcement in September.

My only prediction for the game is that between 2.5 million and 3 million copies of the game will sell in 2026.

Cloud Imperium Games - What a difference the leadership shakeup at Cloud Imperium had in 2025. Last year I made 4 predictions about CIG and got two totally wrong. First, I predicted a slight decline in year-over-year cash shop revenue down to $113 million. CIG is on pace for $155 million in revenue, an increase of over 30%. I was also wrong about sales during Invictus and IAE only totalling $46.8 million, with actual sales for the two biggest events on the calendar bringing in $59 million. The 15% reduction in new account creation I predicted for 2025 turned into a 45% increase instead. 

One I got partially correct was the prediction involving additional outside funding. I predicted Tencent would receive a 5-10% share of CIG in exchange for becoming the company's publisher in China. Instead, Keith Calder paid $5 million to increase his holding in CIG up to 22.4%.

Finally, I did get the closing of the Los Angeles area studio correct. Not much of a prediction, honestly, but CIG did try to hide the complete shutdown of the office so it counts.

Looking into the future I will make a prediction that will affect the rest of my predictions about CIG: Squadron 42 will launch in the fourth quarter of 2026. Given that, cash shop sales will increase 10% in 2026 up to $170 million. The figure will reach much higher if Squadron 42 sales are included in the cash shop counter.

As for new account creation, I am going to fudge the prediction and just say CIG will set a new company record, exceeding 2022's amount of over 871,000 accounts. One million new accounts would not surprise me.

I am going to predict a minor story will emerge in 2026: publication costs. Between the new server meshing technology introduced in 2025 and a surge in interest in Star Citizen, I think the publication line item will hit $90-$100 million in 2026. I also think we will see the number fall within $50-$60 million in the 2024 financial report which CIG has not published as I compose this post.

Star Citizen - I only made one correct prediction for 2025 out of three attempts. I was correct when stating dynamic server meshing would not appear last year. But I was incorrect in my prediction that the alpha 3.24 branch of the game would stay on the production servers until Q2. Also, my prediction that Nyx would not appear in the game in 2025 was incorrect. Admittedly CIG rushed the system into the game without all its planets, but officially the system was launched in 2025.

For 2026 I predict more of the same. Dynamic server meshing will not appear. Nyx, the system I thought CIG would introduce in 2026, will cause some consternation among players. The system will not be considered finished by the end of the year. Perhaps most importantly the capacity of single shards will not exceed 1000 players. That prediction is not necessarily a negative prediction as currently shards are set to handle up to 600 players.

Squadron 42 - I only made one prediction about SQ42 for 2025: Chris Roberts would announce Tencent as the publisher for the game at CitizenCon. Of course I was wrong. For 2026 I will make two predictions. First, the game will launch globally in Q4 2026. Secondly, globally does not mean in the Peoples Republic of China. SQ42 will not launch on the mainland in 2026. Look for Tencent to act as the publisher sometime in 2027.

I should predict the number of units sold in 2026. I believe CIG will announce between 2.5 and 3 million units sold. An impressive figure until one realized that half the figure will have been presales from before 2023 when Squadron 42 sales were disabled on the RSI website.

And finally, Final Fantasy XIV.

As much as I play Final Fantasy XIV I don't really dig into the game as much as I ever did EVE Online. Last year I predicted we would find out at Fanfest in November that Yoshi-P would announce players would return to the Eastern lands to visit the frigid waters of The Blindfrost. Well, none of that happened, with the next Fanfest set for Anaheim in April.

Now for my predictions. The next expansion will take place in the South Sea islands, the original home of the Lalafell. Which means Krile will either serve as the expansion's star or be the ongoing thread holding the multi-expansion story arc together, much as Alphinaud did in the Hydaelyn–Zodiark Saga.

I asked last week which mainline Final Fantasy game I should play. If my prediction is correct, the 8.0 expansion will heavily reference Final Fantasy X, specifically Spira. I guess I know which Final Fantasy game I'm playing next.

I am also going to go out on a limb and say Final Fantasy XIV will not launch its next expansion in 2026. Looking at the historical timings I just can't see a launch happening in December. Expansion launches have always occurred at least 3 months after the Japanese Fanfest, and the next one is on Halloween and All Saints Day. That would lead to a launch of the next expansion no sooner than January or February 2027.

And so concludes another round of predictions. One of these days I'll get more than half the predictions right.

EVE Frontier Cycle 4 - We're Not In New Eden Anymore

Cycle 4 for EVE Frontier is now live, which means patch notes. I'm going to take a higher level look than I usually do because I think Frontier is noticeably beyond what players find in EVE Online. Looking back to the beginning of the year Frontier has really changed and I think the patch notes will help demonstrate the differences. 

First off is the introduction of manual piloting using the WASD keys.

Design Intent

With this release our intent is to introduce an elegant and accessible foundation for Frontier’s evolving piloting fantasy. We want something accessible enough for anyone to pick up right now, yet robust enough to grow with the game as we continue to flesh out its other systems and content. This first iteration is deliberately focused on accessibility, but not so far that there is no mastery involved. There is a small price of admission with some skill required - this is a hardcore game, after all; get good/skill issue/etc. - but the controls should still feel intuitive, and Riders should feel like their skill as a pilot improves as they progress in the game.

And here are the differences in flying around the game in Cycle 4.

Flight Controls Changes and Adjustments

As part of the manual flight controls update (and thanks in large part to the deranged screaming feedback we received from players), we have both heavily modified and removed some previously used ways to navigate the space scene to support a more manual flight control scheme.

• We have made multiple changes to the physics engine that better support manual flight.
• All of the ships have been adjusted based on the aforementioned physics changes to better support manual flight.
• The autopilot system has been mostly removed, with some parts still remaining (such as the waypoint system for interstellar travel), but modified:
  
  
• Double-clicking in space to move in a direction has been removed.
• It is still possible to use both the contextual menu (right click) and double clicking on the brackets of static objects to command your ship to automatically go to that point (Approach). Objects in motion such as NPCs and other players can not be approached using this command.
• The selected object window has been removed, as have other movement commands such as Orbit and Keep at Range.
  
  
• The old speed widget has been removed, replaced by the new movement widget.
• Manual flight is enabled in Tactical Mode, but the navigation widget is not shown. As a result, control in Tactical Mode is difficult, but certainly possible. Part of our intention here is to eventually give players a mix of manual and automated movement systems that fulfill the ideal spaceship fantasy, and we’re taking this next step to try and uncouple the legacy HUD until we have higher fidelity automated control schemes which make sense for Tactical Mode.

Bumping into things also begins to matter now, with the introduction of collision mechanics.

Collisions

• We have made the first change of many to the way collisions work in EVE Frontier. We have added different surface material types which interact with the ship in different ways if collided with. Hitting a rock should feel different from hitting a structure, for example (note: both should feel like a not ideal thing to do, for the same reason bodyslamming a door is generally not the best way to open it).
• We have done away with fully elastic restitution which makes collisions feel much more realistic, and added a first pass of VFX and SFX to support the collision event.

Another big difference from EVE Online is the clone technology. EVE players are used to killing off their clones to travel faster. I think the developers of Frontier want to take the concept up to 11.

Character Progression

With this update, we are introducing the first step towards our ultimate transhumanist power fantasy. You will be able to gather a limited amount of memories that can be permanently transfer to the character; however, die and you must start over (Editor's Note: admittedly still better than the alternative of dying and just staying dead).

This initial progression rollout is only a prototype of our long-term plans for character progression - considering how fundamental this system is to the heart of the game, you can expect to see significant developments on this over the next several months (and years probably, who can say). We'll be taking specific feedback during Cycle 4 to further review how satisfying (or disatisfying) this version of the system feels, how easy (or painful) it is to use, and what players are expecting to see in the future.

In this iteration of the progression system, you will:

• Gain memories through gameplay and increase skill level of the shell.
• Die.
• ...and lose the collected memories when you do.
• Ascend (if you don't die), and store some of the memories as permanent character skill levels.
• Each skill level on both the character and shell will improve fitting attributes

From reading the above I get the feeling Hilmar didn't really like the decision to remove skill point loss from EVE Online.

Another difference between Online and Frontier in Cycle 4 is the intelligence of NPCs. Frontier's artificial intelligence promises to be an upgrade over the original game.

NPC Behavior

This update is our first step towards making the feral drones full denizens of the Frontier that Riders must learn to combat or co-exist with. The ferals now have some understanding of the inventories of containers and ships and will react accordingly with what they find. Items in your ship and in your assemblies may not be safe from their clutches.

Design Intent

The work in this release is focused on laying a foundation for the feral drones to be a much more interactive threat, both synchronously and asynchronously, in the Frontier. Our goal with this update is to both re-define what it means to interact with feral drones and to make it significantly easier for us to add depth to their interactions with the environment and players going forward. We want the feral drones to be a source of tension in the Frontier as well as reward those curious and observant Riders with ways to manage and even manipulate these adversaries to their advantage.

What type of changes to the AI? Here are the ones listed in today's patch notes.

Drones equipped with these new behaviors currently are only available in landscapes, all other drones are using older behaviors.

Some drones are now equipped with scanners and are capable of checking the inventories of wrecks, containers, ships, and certain assemblies.

Some drones desire specific items and will do what is necessary to acquire these objects of interest.

Some drones will leave traces of their interactions with objects.

The loot of some drones is now partially tied to their activities and experiences before their deaths.

Drones now have reasons for attacking beyond simply shooting on sight.

Drones are capable of halting aggression under the right circumstances.

Drones will hold grudges against specific ships which have wronged them.

This isn't all the changes the development team have made to change EVE Frontier into something more than a reskinned EVE Online. I'll go into more detail about some of the industry changes and the new massive belts that don't despawn. But the subjects deserve their own posts. I'm not going to say whether I like the changes -- I probably won't like all of them -- but I'm glad this cycle runs far past EVE's Winter Nexus event, because I still want that ice mining destroyer.

EVE Frontier Patch Notes: Founders' Access Patches 0.3.2 And 0.3.3

I'm a little late with the patch notes for EVE Frontier's Founders' Access 0.3.2 the game is down for maintenance. As stated before the launch of Cycle 3, yesterday pushed out new content, just in time for players on the 10 day free trial to miss out. I guess that's one way to encourage people to pay for access. Also, to hide any new bugs from the general public. Frontier is in alpha, but the developers want players to experience a polished alpha. I know, a contradiction in terms.

I'm going to alter the order of the patch notes and list the changes based on the roadmap that came out in early October. I'll take the description from the roadmap and combine it with the actual improvements listed in the patch notes.

Creative Base Building 

The first in a series of Build mode upgrades sees the introduction of vertical building placement, along with camera improvements, and greater flexibility in building placement. Build higher, build smarter, and bring your creative vision to life in new ways. 

• Reinforcement timers have been removed from all assemblies.
• An MVP for free camera movement has now been added to Build Mode.
• Precision placement of assemblies based on collision data is now possible in Build Mode.
• Camera panning is now possible in Build Mode.
• Audio improvements are now present in Build Mode.
• Decay has been removed from all Refuges.

Endless Industry 

Industry becomes more intuitive and continuous. This starts with the death of batched jobs.  Keep your structure powered and with enough input materials, and it will keep producing indefinitely. Accompanied by UI changes, this change lays the foundation for a smoother industrial experience. 

• Input materials can now be removed from an manufacturing assembly regardless of its state.
• Input and output materials of the selected blueprint are now pinned to the top of the inventory view.

These entries are under "Creative Base Building" in the patch notes. I'll have to log in and start building a base to see if anything else changed. I waited until after the free trial period specifically to use this feature.

In the 0.3.3 patch notes I saw the following addition to bases and wasn't sure which of the above to attribute the feature to, so I'm placing it here. Some of the market functionality of Upwell structures in EVE Online is finding its way into Frontier.

New Assembly added - Relay. 

• Allows players to sell Feral Data and buy Lenses through the assembly directly. 

The Death Loop 

Death on the Frontier is inevitable, but your re-awakening should give you a fair shot at survival.  Cycle 3 introduces greater control over where they are re-entry, letting you choose where you return to improve your odds of survival, or send you right back into the fray. 

The next portion of the patch notes didn't contain itself to just bullet points of changes. I think someone else wrote this section. The Death Loop apparently is the system the developers feel is the most important introduced in the patch.

Respawn Choice & Strategic Reentry

When a Rider perishes — whether in combat with other Riders, through conflict with NPCs, or by initiating self-destruct protocols on their ship — they now gain improved control over their return to the Frontier.Instead of being cast into a random system, Riders can now select their respawn location directly through the Map Interface. This new view highlights the site of their death alongside available respawn points, empowering Riders to plan their next move and decide which clone to transfer their consciousness to. 

Available Spawn Points

Riders may choose to respawn at:

• Any of the original starting locations, or
• Any Hangar or Refuge they own

This system removes the need for the previous “Set Home Base” functionality, simplifying the process and ensuring a consistent death experience for all Riders. The “Set Home Base” feature has been fully removed as a result.

Our Design Intent

The goal of the Death Loop is to create a unified and more strategic death experience with expanded opportunity space. By allowing Riders to make meaningful choices about their reentry, this system increases motivation to return to the Frontier — not as a setback, but as an opportunity to adapt, learn, and reclaim what was lost.

We will continue investing in the Death Loop experience — expanding its immersion through clone consciousness sequences, richer contextual information, and more. Your feedback is highly encouraged and will help us prioritize next steps 

Next up in the patch notes are entries I don't feel fall within new categories listed in the road map.

Content:

• Three new sites that draw from the Exclave’s historical layer with fractured, half-forgotten relics of the past have been added.
• The NPE has been updated with a new objective to build a Network Node.

And finally a list of defect fixes and known issues.

Defect Fixes:

• Corrected a fuel loss issue stemming from multi-stack refueling.

Known Issues:

• Death Location icon is sometimes slow to appear.
• Autopilot selections appear on the Respawn Selection map.
• Distant respawn location cards jitter during zoom.
• Respawn selection cards change position after entering the Settings menu.

Exploring EVE Online's Global PLEX Market For September 2025

CCP Games published EVE Online's monthly economic report for September last Tuesday. I'm still trying to figure out how to approach the data since CSM member and EVE economics YouTuber The Oz informed me that ISK is still considered active until an account has not logged in for 90 days. I do wish CCP would confirm that someplace on the internet, but until proven otherwise I'll go with the guy who has direct access to the developers. With that piece of news reviewing the active ISK delta every month wasn't really productive. So what do I write about now?

I can still note what the developers consider important.

Destruction remains relatively stable over the last ~9 months. While production continues its long term (~18 months) trend upward.

Money supply has stopped falling. However ISK velocity continues its downward trend over the last ~6 months.

MPI continues to fall.

Since I'm interested in the money supply I decided to look a little deeper into the data. According to one of the graphs in the MER, the amount of ISK actually fell in September by 1 trillion ISK, or basically remained flat. But digging into the money supply file I found two things of note. The first is that the entry for 31 August 2025 was missing. Yikes! 

Faucets and sinks from the September 2025 MER

But even when taking that into account the file showed 2410.3 trillion ISK in the money supply, or 1.3% more than in the graphic above. And the Active ISK Delta also doesn't explain the discrepancy. But according to the data, the money supply began an upward trajectory on 9 September.

Jester's average concurrent user graph

Looking at Jester's average concurrent user graph the timing for the upturn makes sense. At least the money supply is still responsive to near-time player behavior changes.

The Global PLEX Market since its inception

I know people expect information from the MER, but I'm going to post one of my own. The seven-day moving average for the price of PLEX declined by 0.7% over the course of September.

I want to dig deeper into the relationship of the PLEX market and the overall New Eden economy. I'm going to begin looking at two metrics. The first is the sale of PLEX on the GPM versus the amount of ISK entering the economy due to the game's ISK faucets.

ISK made vs ISK bought

One interesting fact to note about the data. Sales of PLEX are not included in any of the totals. Realistically the exchange of ISK for PLEX is probably considered a currency exchange effect, not an actual sale of an item.

The other statistic I want to see is what percentage of total ISK spent in the game was purchased, especially since ISK spent on PLEX doesn't count in the data.

Percentage of sales purchased with cash

For the two full months the Global PLEX Market has operated each month has exceeded 20%. I will need to set up my spreadsheet for some additional statistics but I'm still playing around trying to determine anything valuable to spend the time to track.

I am bringing back one previous chart, the quarterly Active ISK Delta going back to the start of the Alpha & Omega period.

For the quarter following the Legion expansion the amount of ISK removed from the game due to the net effect of players entering and leaving the game, including GM actions, equaled 9.0% of the starting total of 2504.3 trillion ISK. As mentioned previously in this post the MER provided two different figures for the amount of ISK in the money supply at the end of September so I cannot give a further breakdown. But for what I can give, I'd say that the Legion expansion was better received than last summer's Equinox expansion. I'll let null sec residents let me know if they felt that way.