Cloud Imperium Games Cash Shop Records $67.7 Million In Sales In Q2 2026

We are only at the halfway point of 2026 and I've already run out of superlatives to describe the revenue performance of Cloud Imperium Game's online cash shop. According to the CCU Game dashboard, in June the company sold $11.8 million in goods, mostly in the form or virtual space ships, an increase of 29.1% over the total in June 2025. 

The year-over-year comparison was even more impressive when looking at the total for the second quarter. The $67.7 million in cash shop revenue for the past three months was a 47.4% increase over that recorded in Q2 2025. For the first half of 2026, the company raked in $95.1 million. Not bad for a video game studio which has yet to commercially launch a game.

Cash shop sales up 52.9% over the average from 2022-2025

The $1024.3 million ($1.02 billion) displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of May was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1,179.4 million ($1.18 billion) in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2024 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $1024.3 million ($1.02 billion) (through 30 June 2026)
• Other cash shop revenue: $2.7 million (through 31 December 2024)
• Subscriptions: $46.8 million (through 31 December 2024)
• All other sources: $105.6 million (through 31 December 2024)

Q2 cash shop sales up 75.5% compared to the previous 3-year average

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 $3.1 million in 2023-2024. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $1,247.6 million ($1.25 billion), or $1.239.8 million ($1.24 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 account creation still grew by 12.7%

The new user account generation may come as a surprise to those who followed Star Citizen in June. Despite all the complaints about server performance introduced with patch 4.8, new user account generation still increased by 12.7% year-over-year up to 38,060 accounts. Not only is new account creation not related to sales, apparently the statistic is not an indication of game stability either.

The 2024 Financial Report: CIG finally got around to posting the combined financial report for the company's worldwide business on 7 June. With that I was able to update some of the financial categories in the monthly summary of known revenue. In total, an additional $30.3 million in revenue is added to my running monthly tally. The total known revenue collected outside the cash shop comes out to $155.1 million from 2012 to 2024, the same amount the cash shop earned in 2025.

The 2024 financial report also showed spending hit a plateau in 2023-2024. CIG spent $163.1 million in 2023 and $160.9 million in 2024. If the company managed to maintain that spending, then CIG spends approximately $13.5 million per month. If CIG was able to keep spending increases at the level of inflation in the UK, we can expect spending in 2026 to wind up at the $14.5 million per month range.

The Defense Crumbles: Pearl Abyss Stock Falls Another 21%

One of the benefits of owning an independent blog is the ability to go back and update stories I find interesting. The fall of the stock price of Pearl Abyss following the managerial buyout of CCP Games/Fenris Creations is one of those stories. When I last looked on 22 May Pearl Abyss stock had fallen to ₩46,050, the target price set by the analysts at JPMorgan. How has the price moved since then?

The price continued to slide

The price continued to fall. By the close of the KOSDAQ on Friday 5 June the stock had dropped another 12% down to ₩40,500 a share. On the following Monday the price crashed through ₩40,000 a share in afterhours trading over the weekend to open at ₩37,700. On Tuesday Pearl Abyss announced three measures designed to stabilize the stock price.

The first was the establishment of the company's first-ever annual cash dividend policy (the greater of ₩10 billion ($6.5 million) or 10% of net profit). 

Next came the retirement of roughly 1.4 million treasury shares (representing 50% of its holdings) three days later on Friday, June 12. When a company "retires" treasury shares, it permanently deletes them. These shares vanish from the books and Pearl Abyss can never reissue or resell them on the open market. By permanently shrinking the total pool of outstanding stock, Pearl Abyss structurally locked in a higher ownership percentage for every remaining shareholder and theoretically eliminated future dilution risk.

The third measure reinforced the retirement of the treasury shares. The company hired Korea Investment & Securities Co., Ltd to institute a buyback of ₩100 billion ($64.7 million) worth of Pearl Abyss shares. The buyback program is scheduled to last until December 2026.

At first the buyback worked as intended by creating a psychological price floor. The buyback news triggered a short-term rally, lifting the share price back up to ₩41,150 by the end of the trading day on 12 June.

Timeline of the price drop

But Pearl Abyss' plan didn't work as intended. Instead of jumping back in to purchase under-valued stock, institutional investors used the guaranteed buying volume from Korea Investment & Securities as a convenient exit door. They dumped their shares right into the company's own bids. Once the temporary buying window closed, the stock resumed its fall in value. 

And this is coming on today's article in GameRant that after three months user counts on Steam are down 95% from its all-time peak. So despite announcing Crimson Desert had reached 6 million units sold on 12 June, the rice has dropped another 12% over the past 12 calendar days.

The story of the fall of the stock price of Pearl Abyss began with the news of the sell-off of CCP Games (now Fenris Creations) on 29 April. The sales of Crimson Desert, now up to 6 million units, are now baked into the historic revenue calculations. MassivelyOP has noted that any meaningful DLC or major platform expansions for Crimson Desert are mapped out 1 to 2 years away. The next new game in the pipeline, DokeV, is 2-3 years away. Until the new content hits the market, Pearl Abyss needs to depend on the Black Desert franchise for the majority of its revenue for a significant amount of time.

I did get a quote from Gemini I liked about the near-to-mid term future of Pearl Abyss:

By divesting the steady, boring, predictable live-service subscription engine of EVE Online right at this moment, Pearl Abyss successfully turned themselves into a "pure-play" console/premium developer. The problem? The market hates gaps. Investors looked at the 2026–2028 pipeline, saw a multi-year structural drought where Black Desert has to carry the entire corporate overhead alone, and cleared out.

Whether that analysis is correct remains to be seen. But what is indisputable is that since the news of the departure of Fenris Creations from the Pearl Abyss family the stock price of PA's stock has declined 39.4%.

Cloud Imperium Games Posted A $14.3 Million Loss In 2024

Less than a week after announcing having reached $1 billion in community funding, Cloud Imperium Games posted its worldwide accounting report for the year 2024. For the year, the developer of the upcoming games Squadron 42 and Star Citizen recorded $146.6 million in corporate income while spending $160.9 million, including just under $8 million in capital expenses and investments. Overall, CIG recorded a $14.3 million EBITDA loss when including CAPEX costs.

Financial positions from 2012-2024

The 2024 financial accounting finally confirms some things that up until now were just speculation. Poor performance in the form of recording losses of $34.5 million and payments of $3.1 million to minority investors in 2023-2024 is now very likely to explain the leadership shakeup at Cloud Imperium at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025. The cumulative net position of -$28.2 million is proof that digital ship and vehicle sales were not enough to fund the development of Squadron 42 and Star Citizen alone.

Perhaps more importantly is the information that CIG needs to keep approximately $40-$45 million cash on hand to ensure uninterrupted operation. At the end of 2024 the company was down to only $27.1 million on hand which equaled 2 months of spending in 2024. CIG began the process of restoring its financial position by selling $5 million in shares in January 2025 to Keith Calder's Indus Management Ltd. In March the company borrowed £10 million ($12.6 million) from an existing shareholder, who I believe was Indus Management. In addition to seeking investment from outside sources, the financial issues probably put pressure on the marketing department to sell more virtual goods.

Income from the 2024 financial accounting

Having had my say let's hear from Cloud Imperium's Chief Financial Officer Simon Elms about income.

Total income grew by 3% to $147M reflecting the ongoing loyalty and engagement of our community. Pledges and counter income fell slightly by 3% to $116M – reflecting a year of fewer headline releases for much of the year as we concentrated on the significant technical features needed for the future of Star Citizen – the results of which we only delivered in the final quarter of 2024. However, subscriptions rose by 14% to $7.3M and other income (incentives, partnerships and credits) increased by a very significant 34% to $23M. The latter reflects the growing scale and value of our international development operations and the corresponding incentive and partnership income they generate, bolstered further by the third-party income arising from Turbulent’s existing external clients.

The other income category proved critical in 2024, accounting for the entire growth in the company's income in 2024. Turbulent, purchased in 2023, still required $1.2 million in 2024, but more than made up for the cash outflow by bringing in revenue from non-game development sources. 

Turbulent no longer counts as a contractor

Other income grew strongly by $5.9M (35%) to $23.0M. This reflects the maturing of our international development operations, with UK development credits and related incentive income continuing to grow, as well as expanding partnership and hardware/software vendor income. This income line was further bolstered by a full year of Turbulent income including their local incentives and their existing web service business. This other income represents an increasingly important and diversified income stream, for the Group.

One significant fact I need to highlight is the actual reduction in spending by CIG in 2024. From 2020-2023 spending rose by over 100%, from $80.9 million to $163.1 million over the course of 3 years. Let's return to the CFO for an overview on the company's spending.

2024 was the year in which the cost rationalisation implicit in our 2023 strategic decisions began to crystallise. Total trading costs fell by $3.1M (2%) to $152.9M, a modest reduction in absolute terms but one that masks some significant and deliberate shifts in cost composition.

The dominant structural feature of the 2024 cost base is the sharp fall in contracted game development costs, which fell by $7.0M (56%) to $5.5M as the Turbulent team, fully integrated into the group from the second half of 2023, replaced what had previously been externally contracted development services. This was always the intended outcome of the Turbulent acquisition and represents a significant return on that investment.

Salary and overhead costs in the Rest of World segment continued to grow as Manchester consolidated its position as the hub of our development operations, but the rate of growth moderated compared to prior years. US costs across all categories either held flat or reduced, reflecting the ongoing transfer of development activity out of the United States and the consolidation of publishing activities out of Los Angeles and into Austin.

One of the surprising facts is that labor costs increased even while headcount decreased.

Labor costs continue to increase

Total employee headcount fell 5% in 2024, from 1085 down to 1031. Perhaps surprisingly, the number of developers fell by 4% down to 695. But the number of employees in the publishing ops, community events, and marketing departments rose by 24% up to 258. For those unfamiliar with gaming categories, publishing usually includes those tasked with keeping the servers physically running. I should also add that finding and keeping talented server and network techs is a lot more expensive that finding code monkeys. At least at the businesses I've worked at.

I do want to look at two paragraphs at the end of the report that might have some long time observers shaking their heads. Cloud Imperium has not had a great record in containing costs, instead choosing to acquire as much money as possible.

The improvement in the annual loss from ($20.2M) in 2023 to ($14.3M) in 2024 reflects the operational improvements achieved through cost rationalisation, partly offset by continued investment in our Rest of World capability. The pre-capex position improved more dramatically still, from ($13.1M) to ($6.3M), as capex remained broadly stable. The release of Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 in the fourth quarter of 2024 was a watershed moment for the project. The addition of the Pyro system and the initial phase of Server Meshing — technology first demonstrated at CitizenCon 2023 in Los Angeles — delivered on commitments made to our community and demonstrated the tangible return on the significant investment made over preceding years. As the Chairman noted in his 2024 letter, this is not merely the next iterative patch but a fundamental architectural advance: for the first time, the game runs across a mesh of servers covering the entire playable universe, with server boundaries invisible to players.

I have heard too many stories of broken promises and missed deadlines over the years. Even more recently I've seen the financial reserves slip to dangerous levels. I think in both 2025 and 2026 we've seen Cloud Imperium lean into the marketing department's ability to attract money from the player base. Then again, even with the spending restraint shown in 2024, Cloud Imperium needs to increase funding as I don't see the company able to actually reduce spending. If those in charge can just hold the line on spending perhaps the financial situation will stabilize.

I'll conclude with Mr. Elms' conclusion the the financial accounting posted on Monday.

Looking to 2025, we expect to maintain the cost discipline established in 2024 while continuing to invest in the capabilities and infrastructure needed to deliver Squadron 42 and advance Star Citizen toward 1.0. The investments made in 2023 and 2024 created the foundation for parallel progress on both titles, while also improving the player experience in Star Citizen. That progress has already contributed to stronger player growth and engagement, helping deliver our best top-line performance to date in 2025. Our next priority is to build on this momentum while working to balance the business through to the release of these two highly anticipated games.

How much of those final words are valid and how much is a fantasy I'll leave up to you.

Cloud Imperium Games Cash Shop Records $44.6 Million In Sales In May 2026

Cloud Imperium Games' online cash shop for Star Citizen recorded the incredible amount of $44.6 million in sales revenue in the month of May according to the CCU Game Dashboard.

Setting another all-time sales record

Last month's total was 54.6% greater than the total of $28.8 million recorded in May 2025. CIG's online cash shop also broke the all-time single month sales record of $31.9 million set in November 2025.  For the year so far, cash shop sales for the first five months of 2026 reached $83.3 million, a year-over-year increase of 33.8%.

The all-time sales record was shattered in May

The $1012.5 million ($1.01 billion) displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of May was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1,136.9 million ($1.14 billion) in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $1012.5 million ($1.01 billion) (through 31 May 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 $1,205.2 million ($1.21 billion), or $1.198.4 million ($1.20 billion) when excluding the returned funds. An additional $12.6 million in loans issued in March 2025 and due for repayment on 31 December 2027 are not included in the total.

The number of new accounts created declined YoY

May was another month which showed that new account creation in Star Citizen has no relation to the amount of sales recorded by CIG's online cash shop. While cash shop revenue increased year-over-year by 54.6%, new account creation YoY declined by 5.3%. The record sales was a result of the sale of a $5,000 concept ship to established whales (those who had purchased a minimum of $1000 in the past), not new players picking up the game for the first time.

Below are just some sales records I saw occur in May, mostly taken from the CCU Game Dashboard.

Most sales in a single hour: May 24, 2026, 1600-1700 UTC - $6.6 million.
Most sales in a single day: The top 3 days occurred last month.

• $9.58 million - 24 May
• $3.80 million - 25 May
• $3.56 million - 20 May

Most sales in a single month: $44.6 million
Most sales in a single sales event: DefenceCon 2026 - $34.9 million. The event beat out last year's IAE by $54,000.

Also, May's $44.6 million in sales exceeded the company's annual totals from 2012-2018.

What to watch for: Was the unleashing of the $5,000 Odin concept ship a sign that Squadron 42 will not release in 2026? We'll get a chance to tell this week with the Summer Game Fest on 5 June. Rumors have swirled around the event, so perhaps the public will finally receive an answer, one way or the other. The absence of news makes the delay of Squadron 42 until 2027 a more likely event.

Of course we are still waiting for CIG to publish the financial report for 2024 on its corporate web site. I wonder just how bad the news was for CIG to still not release the report a year-and-a-half later.

Finally, is there any progress on infrastructure improvements? I have to believe that the more people play Star Citizen, the higher the server costs. Unlike an established game like EVE Online where per player costs decrease the more people play, I believe CIG's server costs increase in a linear fashion the more people play. Those increased publishing costs eat away at other cost saving measures the company implemented.

A Closer Look At Pearl Abyss' 23.1% Stock Crash After The Fenris Creations Divestment

The more I look into the situation between Pearl Abyss and Fenris Creations, the more I become convinced both parties view the separation beneficial for themselves. An article in The Asia Business Daily points out the unfavorable environment for video game companies. 

Industry experts attribute the decoupling between game companies' earnings and share prices to a combination of uncertainty over upcoming game lineups and concerns about a global economic slowdown.

With Black Desert annual revenue falling over 50% since 2019 I understand why Pearl Abyss would want to divest itself of a studio spending a lot of money trying to develop new video games. Getting DokeV developed and released quickly is a better use of now limited development funds to our former overlords in Anyang. And, if I'm honest, their assessment is correct.

The revenue from Pearl Abyss' cash cow is down from 2019

Some analysts thought the divestiture would help Pearl Abyss by removing the need to help the Icelandic/UK studio develop games.

For Pearl Abyss, analysts view the divestiture as a positive move that frees capital for its own intellectual properties. Crimson Desert, released in March 2026, has sold over five million copies globally, and the company has indicated plans to channel proceeds from the CCP sale into developing and marketing its own titles, including DokeV, while remaining open to future collaboration with CCP. 

I thought the last phase was just polite fluff until I learned more about the terms of the managerial buyout.

Pearl Abyss, the Korean developer of hit MMO Crimson Desert, has sold Eve Online developer CCP Games back to its CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson for $100 million in cash and $20 million in "token acquisition rights", eight years after buying it for $225 million in cash plus $200 million in performance-related payouts. The figures were reported by Korean outlet Digital Today.

The "tokens" are believed to refer to blockchain-based survival game Eve Frontier, for which CCP raised $40 million in 2023, in a funding round lead by crypto-enthusiast VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. Frontier is currently available in pre-release form for those who purchase Founder Access, and its Terms of Service refer to "on-chain" tokens it terms "Alpha Tokens" while expressly disclaiming "to the fullest extent possible in law any liability regarding the nature or value of these Alpha Tokens or wallets."

At this point I looked at the two major international investors who have issued a rating for Pearl Abyss since the board of directors for Fenris changed hands from Pearl Abyss' control on 6 May. First up is JPMorgan. According to Investing.com, on 12 May the US-based financial giant lowered its target from ₩50,000 down to ₩46,000 while maintaining a "Sell" status. A day later Japanese giant Nomura Securities raised the target price from ₩84,000 to ₩92,000 while maintaining its "Buy" recommendation.

Why the difference in analysis based on the same facts? I had to admit I needed help getting out of the rabbit hole and turned to an AI program, Gemini. Rather fitting since Google DeepMind was involved in the financial transaction covered in this post. Let's start with why Nomura had a positive outlook.

• The "Pure-Play" Margin Fix: Nomura's model looked past the loss of EVE Online's revenue and focused entirely on the immediate elimination of CCP's massive, ongoing R&D burn. Wiping those capital-intensive Web3 and mobile development liabilities off the balance sheet instantly expands Pearl Abyss's upcoming operating margins.
  
  
• The "Free Call Option": Rather than penalizing the deal for including $20 million in digital tokens, Nomura treated those acquisition rights as a zero-risk, high-upside financial instrument. Pearl Abyss successfully insulated itself from 100% of the operational losses of EVE Frontier, yet legally retained skin in the game if the project hits.
  
  
• The Valuation Multiplier: With a clean balance sheet, Nomura argued Pearl Abyss should command a premium P/E (price-to-earnings) multiple, driven by a highly efficient two-tier model: Black Desert Online acting as a stable corporate safety net, entirely funding the global expansion of Crimson Desert and the acceleration of DokeV.

Let's now compare Nomura's rosier outlook with JPMorgan's institutional counter-argument: a strict, risk-averse focus on cash-flow diversification and asset quality.

The Revenue Quality Markdown: JPMorgan's equity research team prioritized structural stability. EVE Online provided a highly predictable, fiat-denominated, multi-decade annuity. Trading that reliable cushion away right as the massive initial package sales of Crimson Desert begin their natural second-quarter post-launch taper leaves the company entirely exposed to a cyclical revenue gap.



The Volatility Haircut: From a Western underwriting perspective, unlaunched utility tokens are non-cash-generating, intangible assets. Lacking legal guarantees or market liquidity, JPMorgan applied a steep risk premium to the transaction, essentially discounting the $20 million token portion down to zero.



Over-Reliance on an Aging Core: JPMorgan argued that with EVE Online gone, Black Desert Online is being asked to carry the entire live-service weight alone. If DokeV faces lengthy development delays, the studio has no fallback if BDO monetization hits a natural mature plateau.

I am not an expert in the investment policies of international banking institutions so I just took the bullet points from Gemini's analysis. But I can say with a lot of confidence which company was correct 3 weeks after the news of the divestment broke: JPMorgan.

Trading on Pearl Abyss stock closed Friday at 46,050, or 50 won above the JPMorgan target price. Perhaps worse for clients of Nomura, Pearl Abyss stock is now half the target price its analysts set. And since the end of trading on 29 April, the day before the news broke, Pearl Abyss stock has declined in price by 23.1%. Unlike investor reaction to the launch of Crimson Desert, the price may not bounce back for quite a while. As The Asia Business Daily article noted:

Securities analysts point out that expectations for Crimson Desert have already been priced into the stock. The current sentiment in the gaming industry makes it difficult for a new game's success alone to push share prices higher, while concerns over a lack of upcoming titles are weighing on investor sentiment.

Samsung Securities noted, "It will take one to two years to release DLC for Crimson Desert, and development of the next titles, DokeV and PLAN 8, will also require time," adding, "A lack of momentum from new releases is inevitable over the next one to two years." Meritz Securities also assessed, "Market attention is shifting toward monetization in China, DLC release schedules, and shareholder return policies."

I think Nomura may have been just a bit too optimistic.

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.

Pearl Abyss Q1 2026 Earnings Letter

Yesterday Pearl Abyss released its earnings information for the first quarter of 2026 in a new format. Instead of a call the South Korean game maker posted a letter which had most of the information given in a typical earnings call. 

The big news, of course, was the launch of Crimson Desert on 19 March 2026. The company described some rather impressive numbers.

[T]he game solidified its position as a AAA game by recording 2 million copies on the first day of launch, 3 million within 4 days, 4 million within 12 days, and 5 million within 26 days. In addition, we enhanced the overall user experiences by adding new content and improving user experience through patches based on user feedback.

According to the letter, Crimson Desert brought in ₩266.5 billion ($177.1 million) in the first quarter, meaning the first 4 million copies sold were recorded in the earnings letter. Sales were split roughly 50-50 between the PC and console versions of the game. 

Selling those 4 million copies did come with costs. Commissions increased quarter-over-quarter by ₩28 billion ($19 million) due to an increase in sales on Steam. Also, quarter-over-quarter advertising costs increased 151% up to ₩23.4 billion ($16 million).

Pearl Abyss' other IP, Black Desert, saw a 2.2% decline in revenue, both QoQ and YoY, down to ₩61.6 billion ($42.1 million).

Now for the elephant in the room: the divestiture of CCP Games, now Fenris Creations. As part of the move Pearl Abyss removed all trace of Fenris from the report except for one line in the appendix stating the losses caused by the "Discontinued Operation". From what I found, standard accounting practice is to reclassify as "Discontinued Operations" any activity of a subsidiary that is sold. Doing so provides investors with an apples-to-apples comparison of Pearl Abyss' current business to historical data. As such the graphs in the letter had any data from Fenris/CCP removed.

Unexpectedly, at least to me, the earnings letter provided an answer to the question, just how many resources was Fenris/CCP taking from Pearl Abyss in developing games. According to the appendix, the "Discontinued Operation" would have experienced ₩33.6 billion ($23 million) in net losses in 2025 with an additional ₩12.1 billion ($8.2 million) in the first quarter of 2026.

I was also able to calculate the operating losses generated by Fenris/CCP during 2025 by combining the data from the letter to the information in the Q4 2025 earnings call. Those came out to ₩47.0 billion ($33.1 million).

This breakdown highlights why management likely moved toward the divestiture. By removing a segment that was averaging a roughly ₩10–13 billion quarterly operating loss in 2025, Pearl Abyss's baseline profitability appears significantly stronger once the Crimson Desert revenue hit the books. Given Pearl Abyss' recent history with investors, they can use all the help looking good they can get.

Pearl Abyss Stock Down 13% Since The Divestment Of CCP Games/Fenris Creations

I think a lot of people think that now that CCP Games purchased its freedom from Pearl Abyss and changed its name to Fenris Creations I don't have to worry about Pearl Abyss financial reports anymore. Wrong. I need to see if the company line coming out of Anyang that CCP was dragging down Pearl Abyss is true.

How can I do that? One way is looking at the stock price of the South Korean game maker. If divesting itself of CCP/Fenris was a good move, investors should reward the move by buying up stock. If the move is bad then the price should decline.

Through the first 5 trading days since the buyout was first noticed the price of Pearl Abyss shares on the KOSDAQ has declined 13%. Friday's trading was neutral so the decline actually occurred over 4 trading days. I wonder if the price will continue to decline as the EVE IP brought in 26.2% of all gaming revenue for Pearl Abyss in 2025. And please note I used the $65.2 million figure from the investor calls, not the over $70 million figure claimed in the press release from Fenris.

For those wondering, in 2019 the gaming revenue percentage was only 10.5%, showing the EVE IP had become an increasingly important source of revenue generation over the previous 7 years.

Of course, I still need to follow other sources of information. Pearl Abyss should hold its next earnings call covering Q1 2026 next week. I am also waiting on the latest financial filings with Skatturinn (Iceland Revenue and Customs) which should provide a lot of information. I have a suspicion the documents will be filed later than usual as the section covering future expectations might need some revision. Also, some old familiar faces are showing up besides Birgir Már Ragnarsson, the chairman of the board of Fenris. I need to update my notes with the latest on those as well.

CCP Games Rebrands To Fenris Creations

Shortly after I posted my article about the 23rd anniversary of EVE Online CCP Games announced they were no longer CCP Games.

REYKJAVÍK, Iceland – May 6, 2026 – The company formerly known as CCP Games today announced that it will become an independent entity operating under the new name Fenris Creations.

Just a little history about the company now known as Fenris Creations. The company was founded in 1997 as Loki Multimedia and stayed that way until the name was changed to Crowd Control Productions in I believe 1999. For those into Norse mythology, Loki was the father of the wolf Fenrir. Fenris is another name for Fenrir although apparently the alternate name doesn't come from Old Norse.

Fenris Creations is now governed by its own Board of Directors, returning to a model similar to how the company operated before 2018, and one designed to support strategic decision-making for persistent live games and long-running virtual worlds. The ownership group comprises Fenris Creations’ senior management and long-term investors aligned with the company’s future as a developer, publisher, and operator of player-driven online experiences. As disclosed in Pearl Abyss’ regulatory filings, the transaction value is $120 million USD, with consideration comprising both cash and non-cash elements.

I don't think people have pointed out the "non-cash elements" of the transaction. Did Pearl Abyss receive shares in Fenris? Or is the publishing and marketing organization CCP merged into Pearl Abyss remaining with the South Korean company? One of the many questions I have about the transaction.

The change reflects a shift in ownership and governance only. Fenris Creations will continue to operate as a standalone studio, responsible for its strategy, operations, and creative direction. Fenris Creations’ leadership team, studios, products, and ongoing development plans remain unchanged, with the same people who have guided the EVE universe for many years continuing to lead the company.

This section leads me to believe Pearl Abyss didn't get the Shanghai office. And as a stray note explains why Fenris uses NetEase as its Chinese publishing partner and Pearl Abyss uses Tencent.

Alongside this transition, Fenris Creations is entering into a research partnership with Google DeepMind, focused on advancing understanding of intelligence in complex, dynamic systems. The collaboration will explore areas including long-horizon planning, memory, and continual learning, using EVE Online as a uniquely rich environment for study. Google DeepMind will work with an offline version of EVE Online running on a local server to test and evaluate models in a controlled setting. Together, the partnership will also explore new gameplay experiences enabled by these technologies.

Google has invested in Fenris Creations as part of this transition, taking a minority stake in the company.

Google DeepMind seems a fitting partner considering the direction the company has headed in the past 4-5 years. The AI studio has involved itself with games, producing AlphaGo, the first computer program to defeat a Go champion. But looking on Wikipedia I see an application designed to run data centers efficiently. Fenris has a long history of being involved in data centers in Iceland. If the off-line servers Google DeepMind plans to use to simulate EVE are located in Iceland, Alphabet may gain first hand experience with geo-thermal powered data centers.

I should note that Google is now a part-owner of Fenris Creations. I haven't seen a credible source stating how big the stake actually is. Sorry Reddit, but you don't count. Another question to wait on financial filings with the Icelandic taxing authority.

“EVE is built to endure - and it only works if you’re willing to keep pushing into the future. This transition gives us direct ownership, clear accountability, and the independence to invest in worlds that grow over decades,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of Fenris Creations. “We’re grateful to Pearl Abyss for their partnership and for the consistent support they’ve shown us over the past seven and a half years. EVE Online exists today because of pioneering thinking, patience, and trust between developers and players. Our new structure and partners enable us to carry that legacy forward - continuously evolving a living universe and actively exploring what it can become, with forever in mind.”

Hearing from Hilmar is pretty standard by this time for those who have covered the company for a few years. But the next block is from someone new.

“Games have always been a huge part of my life - I’ve been a gamer since I was a kid, and I started my career designing and programming complex AI simulation games like Theme Park. They’ve also been at the heart of many of Google DeepMind’s breakthroughs - like Atari DQN, AlphaGo, AlphaStar and SIMA - because they’re the perfect training ground for developing and testing AI algorithms,” said Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO Google DeepMind. “I’ve known Hilmar for many years and long admired his work, and I’m thrilled to partner with him and the fantastic team at Fenris Creations to explore new gaming experiences and advance AI research safely inside a player-driven universe as amazingly complex as EVE Online.”

I never thought I'd quote a bible verse in relation to Hilmar, but familiarity breeds contempt. Apparently while people were wondering about Hilmar running around the world acting like a thought leader, he actually was a thought leader. If the co-founder of DeepMind has followed Hilmar, then the Icelandic game executive gains a bit of geek cred.

“I’ve followed CCP’s progress closely over the past several years and have great respect for what the company has achieved,” said Birgir Már Ragnarsson, Co-founder and Partner at Omega Ventures, and Chairman of the Board at Fenris Creations. “As Chairman, I’ve seen firsthand how this company performs when its leadership is set up to focus and execute. We’re entering this next phase from a position of strength, with experienced leadership and strong partners in place. I’m looking forward to playing a part in that journey and supporting Fenris Creations as it continues to make history.”

When I saw Birgir was involved as the new Chairman of the Board, I knew Hilmar was getting the old gang back together. From reviewing all the tax forms submitted to the Icelandic taxing authority plus Birgir's LinkedIn page, he first became involved with CCP Games back in 2005 when he was named to the board of directors. He first appeared on paperwork as the Chairman of the Board in 2013 and was the chairman when the company was acquired in 2018. I can't wait to find out who else is on the board.

"For employees and the local community in Iceland, Fenris Creations emphasized that this transition does not involve restructuring or layoffs. There are no planned changes to the company’s organizational structure, and its headquarters will remain in Vatnsmýrin, Iceland. Studios in Reykjavík, London, and Shanghai will continue to operate as they do today."

I usually don't believe this talk of no job losses. But in this case I wonder if the company will need to beef up some departments that were previously merged with Pearl Abyss. At least Pearl Abyss can't make Fenris lay off people if things get bad in South Korea. Let's just say I won't have a lot of faith in Pearl Abyss' game development until they prove they can produce a game on-schedule.

Since 2018, CCP Games and Pearl Abyss have worked closely together while evolving as companies. Following a joint review of long-term strategy, both parties concluded that the company is now best supported through independent ownership as Fenris Creations, while Pearl Abyss continues to focus on the growth of its own core titles and IP portfolio. Broader differences in operating context, current strategic focus, and long-term priorities were among several factors considered in this decision.

This paragraph I believe is a pile of crap. With Pearl Abyss trying to throw Fenris under this bus for its financial difficulties, something tells me not all was peaceful in the relationship.

Fenris Creations enters this next phase with strong momentum across its sci-fi universe. EVE Online closed 2025 with some of its best results in several years, including a record-breaking revenue month in November and a standout Q4 that became the second-highest revenue quarter in the game’s more than 20-year history. The iconic spaceship MMORPG exceeded internal expectations and demonstrates sustained strength as a live service in its third decade of continuous operation. Adding to this strong position are two upcoming titles in development: EVE Vanguard, an extraction-adventure FPS, and EVE Frontier, an online space survival game. The company remains profitable, with over $70M in reported revenue for 2025 and strong reserves, reflecting sustained player engagement and enabling continued investment in the long-term health of the EVE Universe.

The $70 million figure is huge. From following Pearl Abyss' earnings calls through last year, I have Fenris' revenue from games in the EVE IP at $65.2 million. I wonder what happened for the year-over-year revenue growth in 2025 to be twice that reported on the calls. Foreign exchange effects perhaps?

Pearl Abyss and Fenris Creations part ways with mutual respect following a partnership that supported the company’s growth during an important period in its history. Both companies now move forward with clear direction on their respective priorities.

Sorry, but I've followed Pearl Abyss, or at least its leadership, to believe that for a second.

Aream & Co. and Arion Bank are acting as financial advisors to Fenris Creations, and LOGOS is providing legal counsel.

Fenris Creations will continue to communicate openly as it moves forward under this new model, with a clear focus on the future of the EVE universe.

A couple of more pieces of information to look into.

I just have to conclude that the 23rd anniversary of the launching of EVE Online was memorable. But I have one more data point to track: the price of Pearl Abyss stock. The Korean NASDAQ has only had 4 business days since word of Pearl Abyss selling off CCP Games hit the news. But over the last 5 days, the price of the company's stock has fallen nearly 13%. Something to think about as we discuss the transaction.

Cloud Imperium Games Cash Shop Revenue Up 42.4% In April 2026

The powerhouse marketing team at Cloud Imperium Games started off the second quarter of 2026 strong, setting a new record for cash shop sales in the month of April. Revenue increased by 42.4% compared to April 2025, reaching nearly $11.3 million last month. For the year so far, cash shop sales for the first four months of 2026 reached $38.7 million, a year-over-year increase of 15.8%

The $967.8 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 $1,092.2 million ($1.09 billion) in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $967.8 million (through 30 April 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 $1.160.5 million ($1.16 billion), or $1.153.8 million ($1.15 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.

With marketing activity advertising Squadron 42 picking up I'd wager a lot of people want to see the amount of accounts created each month grow. In April, the amount grew by 62.9% year-over-year up to 90,115. The big YoY increases should end in a couple of months but until then new account creation will run wild. Through the first four months of 2026 new account creation is up 96.7%

What to watch for in May: The cash shop will probably experience a new monthly sales record next month. The traditional May sale, Invictus, is being replaced by one sponsored by Drake. If the sale brings in over 10% in increased sales the record of $31,938,644 set in November 2025 will fall.

Also, will CIG announce a publishing partner for China? Without one, Squadron 42 cannot launch in the People's Republic.

Finally, will CIG publish its 2024 global financial report? The 2023 report was released on 2 May 2025. As of the time I finish this post CIG still has not published anything.

Pearl Abyss Sells CCP Games To CCP's Management Group

What was rumored in June 2025 finally came to pass on the final day of April 2026. Pearl Abyss sold off CCP Games to its current management team for $120 million (₩177.1 billion). Pearl Abyss announced the acquisition in September 2018 with the deal finalizing the following month. While the final total of the deal was $225 million and not the $425 million originally reported, Pearl Abyss' spending spree following its 2017 IPO may not have been totally wise.

While the numbers from 2026 are not known at this time, in the years 2019 to 2025 CCP Games generated approximately $412 million in revenue for Pearl Abyss. But revenue does not equal profits and by 2022 Pearl Abyss was seeing red numbers in its books. In the past four years Pearl Abyss posed net losses two times and operating losses the past three years. A Korean outlet provided the following information from Pearl Abyss:

CCP Games is an Iceland-based developer with a proven track record, having successfully serviced its flagship space-themed sci-fi game, 'EVE Online,' for over 20 years. Pearl Abyss acquired the company in 2018 with the goal of diversifying its portfolio and securing global IP.

However, persistent operating losses at CCP Games following the acquisition have placed a significant burden on Pearl Abyss' financial structure.

Consequently, analysts and industry experts view this sale as a highly positive signal. By shedding a loss-making subsidiary that had negatively impacted Pearl Abyss' consolidated financial statements for years, the company has resolved a key source of uncertainty. Having shed this financial weight, Pearl Abyss can now actively invest the substantial capital secured from the sale into the development and marketing of new IP.

Regarding the valuation of the sale, Pearl Abyss stated that the price was "determined objectively by comprehensively considering CCP Games' current business structure and market conditions."

I have to admit to a bias. After listening to Pearl Abyss' leadership evade, mislead, misdirect, and the unkind would say lie, about the state of Crimson Desert on the quarterly earnings calls over the last 5 years, I have about as much trust for what Pearl Abyss states as the investment analysts on those calls. Which is not much. If the investment analysts trusted Pearl Abyss we wouldn't have seen the company's stock drop 36.6% of its value in the two days following the release of Crimson Desert upon the early reviews of the state of the game.

Did Pearl Abyss Iceland, the holding company controlling CCP Games for Pearl Abyss, post losses every year? If I recall correctly, the answer is yes. But did the home office in Anyang contribute to the mess?

Let's go back to Crimson Desert. The game was originally supposed to launch in the final three months of 2021, not the first three months of 2026. Imagine what the profits would look like if a game launched every three years beginning in Q4 2021. With DokeV launching in either Q4 2024 or Q1 2025 the company probably doesn't experience any losses, whether net or operational.

Finally, what about Pearl Abyss' revenue from its cash cow, Black Desert? At the same time delays in launching Crimson Desert kept new revenue from arriving, the problems experienced by the Black Desert IP, particularly Black Desert Mobile, led to a 55% decrease in revenue from 2019 to 2024. Pearl Abyss was no longer pulling in the cash to fund any plans discussed at the time of the acquisition in 2018. While CCP Games revenue gains were the equivalent of finding coins between the cushions, the Black Desert revenue loss during that time exceeded the amount of money Pearl Abyss spent acquiring CCP Games.

Now for the fun part of these exercises: what comes next? Pearl Abyss Iceland and CCP Games usually submit their financial accounts to the Icelandic tax authority on the last day of April or the first two weeks of May. With the change in ownership I'm interested to see if the pattern holds.

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.

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

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.