Trying Out Blue Mage

Tuesday is the launch of Final Fantasy XIV's patch 7.21 and the introduction of Cosmic Explorations. But before I dove headlong into crafting and gathering I wanted to level up my chocobo companion. I didn't want to do a boring FATE grind so I went ahead and started up another job: blue mage.

A blue mage in FFXIV is a limited job that learns abilities by mimicking enemy attacks instead of leveling up traditionally. Unlike other jobs, blue mages gain spells by observing monsters use them and then defeating those monsters. Considered a limited job, blue mages can't queue for regular duties but can participate in special Blue Mage-exclusive content. The job features extreme burst damage, meaning the blue mage can do some content otherwise inaccessible. Perhaps more importantly for my purposes, the grind should help level up my companion, as I could get two week's worth of challenge log experience for my chocobo.

When I started the quest to unlock the job, Out of the Blue, I received a pleasant surprise. Blue magic comes from the Whalaqee people of the New World. So perhaps for all the people interested in the story looking into blue mage at the end of Dawntrail is a logical next step? Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Blue mage does have a semi-traditional series of job quests every 10 levels. However, the reminder to do the next quest in the series doesn't pop up automatically like for the other jobs. Also, one can purchase a new spell every 10 levels, at least in the first 50 levels. The quests and spells are obtained in Ul'dah.

I know that guides are out there suggest the best way to level is obtain a certain spell that throws fish and abuse a mechanic. But as part of my reason for playing blue mage is to level my companion, I just took the sortable spell list and started working my way up the levels. The method seems to work as I now have 24 blue mage spells in a week.

I have to admit I'm actually looking forward to running dungeons solo using the blue mage job. One of the spells needed to advance the blue mage quest line required defeating Galvanth the Dominator, the final boss of The Tam-Tara Deepcroft. While I failed to even reach Galvanth the first time I tried at level 26, defeating the creature from a Lovecraftian nightmare was very satisfying at level 32.

My goal for now is to reach level 50 by the end of the weekend so I qualify to participate in the Masked Carnivale. One of my weekly tasks is collecting Allied seals in order to purchase aetheryte tickets. Usually I just go out, hunt down the elite mark from the hunting board, and collect 100 Allied seals, which brings in 20 tickets. If I can just teleport over to Ul'dah and grab a couple hundred seals in 10 minutes every week I'll consider the effort leveling blue mage a win.

My Trip To EVE Fanfest 2025: Paid For By Me

I know that I write a bit about finances of game companies, but when I created The Nosy Gamer 16 years ago I never thought things would get as crazy as they are getting now. Crazy, as from a personal perspective. The issue is attending EVE Fanfest 2025 in two weeks. I looked at the schedule and I plan to attend a lot, if not most, of the EVE Frontier presentations.

EVE Frontier, for those new to the project, plans on using Web3 technology. Forget all the libertarian talking points and theory about the subject. When most regular people find out that the blockchain and cryptocurrencies are involved, they tend to think of people like this guy.

FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried - Photograph: Faith Aktag/Getty Images

Sam Bankman-Fried, often referred to as SBF, is an American entrepreneur who founded the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the trading firm Alameda Research. At his peak, he was considered a major figure in the crypto industry, even ranking among the richest Americans. However, his empire collapsed in November 2022 when FTX filed for bankruptcy amid allegations of fraud.

In December 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested and later convicted on multiple charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering. In March 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion. His downfall has been compared to some of the biggest financial scandals in history.

The circle of legal action concerning Bankman-Fried didn't just engulf his confederates. Several high-profile celebrities have been sued in connection with Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX. The lawsuits allege that these celebrities promoted FTX and misled investors. Some of the notable names include:

• Tom Brady (NFL quarterback)
• Gisele Bündchen (supermodel)
• Larry David (comedian and actor)
• Stephen Curry (NBA player)
• Shaquille O’Neal (NBA legend)
• Kevin O’Leary (businessman and TV personality)
• Naomi Osaka (tennis star)
• Trevor Lawrence (NFL quarterback)
• Shohei Ohtani (MLB player)
• David Ortiz (MLB legend)
• Udonis Haslem (NBA player)
• Golden State Warriors (NBA team)

The only person not fooled by Bankman-Fried, or at least lured by the millions SBF threw around, was Taylor Swift. So the record that crypto-bros will pay people to say nice things about a project to fool the public is pretty much a given at this point.

One of the goals of my trip is to act more like Taylor Swift and less like Tom Brady where EVE Frontier is concerned. Attending all the presentations about the project to try to give myself a good base about the game is a good start. Right now I don't even possess a level of knowledge where I can ask intelligent questions about the game. That I am in the process of changing.

The other point is actually more relevant to the trip. If I come out and write nice things about Frontier, I don't want people to say I am bought and paid for by CCP Games to have the opinion. Well, I know that may happen anyway. After all, crypto-bros don't care about how much they have to pay for good reviews, right? But I want to make any such accusation as hard to stick as possible. Which means my trip to Iceland this year is a little more expensive than it otherwise might be.

For some reason I'm considered some sort of gaming journalist, at least by someone over at CCP Games. Possibly because I was on a list when I got a press pass working with Matterall and Talking In Stations at Fanfest back in 2018 and my name probably wasn't taken off. Out of date lists for the win!

I don't know how many people realize, but most game companies will pay for games journalists to attend events and CCP is no exception. But that caused a problem, because now that CCP Games is one of those evil corporations run by cryptobros, taking advantage of the practice would probably discredit any good things I might find.

I made the most of the situation. Instead of flying economy class for a 4-day trip, I'm flying out Saga Class for a 6-day trip. Back before the pandemic CCP had a deal with Center Hotel Plaza and their guests would stay there. Now with the move of CCP's offices out near the airport the company may be using, the trip to the venue might really be long and inconvenient. Instead, I am staying at Center Hotel Arnarhvoll. Right across the street from Harpa, the venue hosting the convention.

Along with a couple of other perks the media gets I'm abstaining from I think I'm inoculating myself from charges of being bought and paid for. However, if I do somehow wander into the press area and grab a blueberry muffin or bag of chips I'll make sure to record it as part of my experience. Although I'm pretty sure the price to purchase my integrity is a lot higher than that.

My EVE Fanfest 2025 Schedule

Things have definitely changed with EVE Fanfest. Gone are the days I was lucky to get a schedule of events a day in advance of the start of the convention. Today CCP released the on-site schedule so I once again get the opportunity to pick out my own schedule of what to view. Oh, all times are EVE/UTC. Funny how those times line up.

Thursday, 1 May

On Thursday, I have a tough choice of going out to breakfast and writing my traditional post about CIG's financial performance for April or going to see Rahne give the convention's first presentation, "Weaponizing EVE for Good!" From 10:00 to 10:45 she'll give a talk about some of the initiatives in which players help people. While I might go just to find out if Paragon SKINs provide the same combat benefits as store-bought SKINs, those new to New Eden might want to find out not everyone in EVE is a cold, cruel bastard.

I might attend the player-presented session at 11:00, "Third-party Tools, ESI, and You!". But then again I 

The first must attend session, "Upgrading CARBON to Python 3", occurs at noon. Given by CCP Apona, I as much want to find out when Tranquility will receive the upgraded CARBON engine currently powering EVE Frontier.

I then get a few hours to write until 16:00 and the "Black Holes" presentation. I know, the EVE Frontier Hackathon Results Presentation is occurring from 13:00 - 15:00. But that is on a live stream and I think I'll have time to watch later. But given the prominence of black holes in the formation of the EVE Frontier universe, I need to find out what is in the presentation.

Friday, 2 May

Now, all the presentations on the main stage of Harpa are currently scheduled to be streamed. That leaves me available to attend the EVE Frontier presentations.

10:00 - 10:45 - Eldborg - The Welcome Ceremony is first up. Since I am staying across the street from Harpa, I don't have much of an excuse to miss the opening ceremonies.

11:00 - 11:45 - Silfurberg - Frontier Economics: A Small Open Economy Perspective. Presented by CCP Kalihra, the talk is an overview of the Frontier team's learnings so far and the road ahead. "As we open the Frontier Economy we will open the door to new opportunities and face new challenges. We will discuss what theory can tell us about what to expect." I'm pretty sure the word "economy" doesn't exactly mean what gamers expect.

12:00 - 12:45 - Silfurberg - EVE NET - Presented by CCP Raudur & CCP Sondheim, the session will explain what is EVE NET and how it powers on-chain interactions, smart items, and player driven systems in EVE Frontier.

13:00 - 13:45 - Silfurberg - Carbon – Opening the Future: Our Journey to Open Source. I guess the title says everything about the presentation as the description only lists CCP Tuxford's name. I guess we're safe as long as no big red buttons are present.

14:00 - 14:45 - Silfurberg - Physics of the Frontier. CCP Wizard is presenting an overview of the physics engine used in EVE Frontier and how the engine differs from the one in EVE Online. Of all the Frontier presentations this is the one I hope winds up on YouTube. I have the feeling the notes I take won't be comprehensive.

15:00 - 15:45 - Break - Yes, I'm going to try to grab a bite to eat before the EVE Keynote.

16:00 - 17:00 - EVE Keynote - Eldborg - Presented by an ensamble cast (CCP Okami, CCP Burger, CCP Hellmar, CCP Orca, CCP Rattati, and CCP Collins), the EVE Keynote is always a must attend event. 

The past, present and future of New Eden. Join CCP Games developers live from EVE Fanfest for the latest on EVE Online - including an exclusive first look at this summer's expansion - plus exciting updates on EVE Vanguard, EVE Frontier, and EVE Galaxy Conquest.

Saturday, 3 May

I'm going to leave myself time to write and eat breakfast on Saturday morning and begin my convention day with the EVE Frontier Keynote.

11:30 - 12:15 - Norðurljós - EVE Frontier Keynote. Presented by CCP Goodfella, CCP Overload, and CCP Jotunn. The session is advertised as:

Get your first look at EVE Frontier, a new experience in the EVE universe. In this keynote-style presentation, the team will lift the curtain on the game's setting, core ideas, and the vision behind the project.

12:30 - 13:45 - Eldborg - EVE Summer Expansion Keynote. Presented by CCP Okami, CCP Mercury, CCP Nomad, CCP Tiger Shark, and CCP K1P1, the description of the session reads [REDACTED]. This is probably the biggest session next to the EVE Keynote.

14:00 - 19:45 - Break - I know CCP is holding two sessions for attendees to ask questions about the summer expansion, but those sessions usually are painful to attend. If I go back to my hotel room to write I can watch them there. Plus, dinner and probably a nap are in order before the final event.

20:00 - 01:00 - Party at the Top of the World - I'll be at the party for an hour or two as I always want to see the company's employee band. 

A pretty jam-packed time. Honestly a lot better schedule than the last 2 or 3 Fanfests I attended. Perhaps the big change is wanting to attend as many EVE Frontier sessions as I can. Now all I need to do is get to Reykjavik without getting lost. As this is my 8th Fanfest, I should manage.

My First Day In EVE Frontier's Cycle 3

When the subject rolls around to EVE Frontier, I maintain that for the project to succeed, Frontier must be a good game that happens to use blockchain technology, not a blockchain game. One day I will explore the difference, but not today. Over the weekend I blocked out a little time to play in the alpha's third cycle.

My goal for this cycle is to learn how to build bases and use the structures provided in the game. No more searching out an NPC station shortly after I log in. I'd actually learn to use the game mechanics and systems. A task made much easier by a player who came up with a relatively comprehensive guide to getting started. At least, comprehensive enough for me to get started.

The game in its current iteration places the player in space in a ship in front of an asteroid. Of course, this is a trap as I haven't figured out a way to return to that starting location. Oh, did I mention one of the differences between EVE Online and Frontier is the lack of bookmarks in Frontier? So I filled up my cargo hold with ore and searched out a place to build my structures.

According to the guide, players should build structures intended for long-term use at either a planet, moon, or some other type of celestial like a star gate. But a very important note is to write down the location where the base is built. The UI does not contain an Excel spreadsheet identifying all the  objects located on grid, much less the solar system. Which explains how I lost my first structures. I couldn't see them as I scanned my camera around. So I warped off to another moon and had success. The moon is easy to remember for any EVE veteran, planet 4, moon 4.

I wanted my base to perform three functions before I logged off Sunday: manufacturing, reprocessing, and ship fitting. The first two were addressed in the starting write-up. At least in this cycle, filling up my cargo hold with the ore staring me in the face when I first entered the game provided enough material to construct reprocessing and manufacturing facilities. That was fast!

My next two immediate concerns were fuel and mining crystals. Unlike in Online where ships operate on energy generated using advanced technology indistinguishable from magic, ships in Frontier operate on fuel. Thankfully my little starter ship runs on fuel produced by water. And, water is a plentiful side-product of the reprocessing process.

Mining, well at least the basics, work the same for brand new players. Take ship, fly up to a rock, and start up the mining laser. The differences end there. For one, new players in EVE have civilian-grade mining lasers. The brand new player in Frontier gets a laser with 5 mining crystals. And if everything works correctly a new player doesn't have to suicide in order to get to an NPC station to get a new rookie ship.

A big difference in Frontier is that building a reprocessing and a manufacturing structure near an asteroid is the efficient way to mine quickly. The steps are simple.

1. Start mining laser
2. Transfer ore into the reprocessing structure
3. Reprocess the ore
4. Move the water created into the manufacturing structure
5. Make fuel if needed

That's right, a brand new player can reprocess and manufacture things in a belt. And reprocessing the ore and removing the water is effectively the same as using an industrial command ship in EVE to compress the ore to make it easier to transport.

After filling up my cargohold, I wound up warping back to my moon base. Unlike in EVE, I had to use the in-game map. I zoomed down to the planet my moon orbited, selected the moon, and warped to my base. Landing 7-10km away is a bit tedious, but my starter ship is pretty zippy and doesn't handle too badly. I think the handling is partially due to Frontier utilizing a 1/4 second server tick compared to EVE's 1 second server tick.

The manufacturing structure I could build as a 5-minute old player only can produce one object at a time, but after a couple of minutes I had more mining crystals and enough fuel to avoid having to worry about running out.

I needed two different types of ore to do my base building, so I travelled to another belt and set up the process again. Well, not immediately. Seems the beginner ore I used isn't found in the second belt. So I wound up warping back to the first belt, filling my cargohold with the required ore, then travelled back to the new belt.

The end of completing this first objective of building a base at a moon was rather anti-climatic, to be honest. I misread something and instead of mining enough for 8 steel plates, I mined enough for 800.  I wound up chuckling in real life and built the refuge, the object that allows ship fitting in space.

I should add that learning how to effectively mine, locate bases, build ship, etc., isn't just a good idea. Players basically need to learn how to do all these tasks to escape the starter constellations. The starter constellations, at least in this cycle, appear rather safe. Perhaps all the experienced people are already out in the wider galaxy leaving me a constellation all to myself. But while I didn't see another player in my few hours time playing on Sunday, I did see the remains of a base someone had built.

I think for now I'm just going to stay in my nice little relatively safe location and learn the mechanics of the game. After all, the game is still in early alpha and the universe will wipe regularly. Why go out and build up material possessions that CCP can take away when I can build up knowledge that the developers can't.

I Have My Ceremonial Healing Set

Last week I poked through the gear wall in Dawntrail's patch 7.2 with drops from The Underkeep. On Sunday I smashed the wall as I finished crafting the Ceremonial healing set, the IL 740 crafted gear used by Final Fantasy XIV's raiders to begin running patch 7.2 raid content. Given all the running around I had to do, I'm happy I managed to acquire the gear only 5 days after all the hardcore raiders did.

The set consists of 11 pieces: a weapon, 5 main pieces (head, body, hands, legs, feet) and 5 accessories:

• Ceremonial Wand
• Ceremonial Hood of Healing
• Ceremonial Tunic of Healing
• Ceremonial Gloves of Healing
• Ceremonial Hose of Healing
• Ceremonial Thighboots of Healing
• Ceremonial Earring of Healing
• Ceremonial Necklace of Healing
• Ceremonial Bangle of Healing
• Ceremonial Ring of Healing
• Ceremonial Ring of Healing

The materials for crafting fell into three main categories: existing gatherables, patch 7.2 gatherables, and duty materials.

The first group was easy since I'm a pack rat and had most of them lying around the cottage. The list consisted of:

• Levinsilk (5)
• Gargantua Hide (16)
• Acacia Bark (4)
• Raw Black Star (6)
• Magnesia Powder (8)
• Claro Walnut Log (20)
• Yak T'el Spring Water (6)
• Pearl Grass (6)
• Wind Parsley (6)

Next up is a sub-section of the existing gatherables, the aethersands:

• Mythloam Aethersand (5)
• Mythroot Aethersand (3)
• Mythbrine Aethersand (3)
• Sungilt Aethersand (6)

Aethersand is acquired in two ways. The first is through an advanced gathering mechanic known Aetherial Reduction. The other is through going to a vendor and purchasing them using orange gathering scrips. The Sungilt Aethersands cost 100 orange scrips while the others cost 200 orange scrips each. All told, that's 2800 orange gathering scrips, or about 3 weeks worth of scrips from doing the custom deliveries for Nitowikwe and Margrat.

Up next were the new materials gatherer from the new Folklore nodes introduced in patch 7.2. Each node only spawns once every 12 game hours at a time. Oh, and to unlock the botany or mining legendary nodes for each region requires 1600 purple scrips, or 9600 total scrips including the fishing spots. Never forget fishing because a lot of the top crafting and gathering food includes a hidden out-of-the way fish as an ingredient. Gathering isn't that painful as one node will appear every 5 minutes in real time. Just be prepared to spend either a lot of gil or a lot of aetheryte tokens zipping from zone to zone.

The five new materials required were:

• Cochineal Pigment (40)
• Shaaloani Coffee (36)
• Raw Rhodochrosite (24)
• Cordia Log  (12)
• Octahedrite (10)
• Fulgurite (8)

And finally, the last group of materials required. I know running the duty roulette is a much faster way of obtaining Allagan Tomestone of Heliometry, but as bad as I am at running dungeons I hid away from the world and ran The Underkeep 17 times in order to get the 1360 tomestones I needed to purchase the materials. Each one cost 20 tomestones.

• Diatryma Pelt (20)
• Cronopio Skin (18)
• Neo Abrasive (12)
• Hydrophobic Preservative (10)
• Shaaloani Coke (8)

And this is what I had to do in order to advance in the MSQ. Well, it is if I want a decent shot at getting through Recollection without frustrating everyone in my party. Now, if real life will just let up a bit so I have an hour or two solid time to try running the new trial.

A Look At the Active ISK Delta In March 2025

On Monday CCP Games released the March Monthly Economic Report (MER) for EVE Online. As this post will look at a major influence on the New Eden money supply I want to take a quick look at the developers' main takeaways from last month's MER.

Economic Summary

• Production has stabilized and we’ve seen a marked increase in Mining, especially in Null Sec.
• The Bounty Faucet also saw a dip in March, while Market Tax Sinks have increased.

Okay, not the longest list considering the studio released a major mid-expansion patch in the middle of the month. But the surge of interest in the patch did bring players back into the game. And that movement affects the New Eden money supply, specifically the metric known as the Active ISK Delta.

The Active ISK Delta is the net effect on the money supply of players leaving and returning to the game, including all GM actions. In March, the Active ISK Delta was the 2nd biggest ISK sink in EVE thanks to the mid-expansion patch. The patch affected the Active ISK Delta's ranking in two ways. First, with players returning or sticking around to see the new content, the Active ISK Delta was only -20.6 trillion ISK. Put into context, only 0.9% of the money supply left the game economy due to player movement into and out of the game. Since 2018 the average percentage was 1.8%, meaning the developers cut the negative Active ISK Delta in half when inflation of the money supply is factored into the calculation.

The other reason for the Active ISK Delta falling to second place was the increase of the base sales tax from 4.5% to 7% in the patch. The move vaulted transaction taxes into first place on the list as the amount of tax collected jumped 63%, from 22.7 trillion ISK in February to 37 trillion ISK in March.

Can the Active ISK Delta give any insight into why the developers felt a tax increase was needed? Just from observation over the past few years the developers are worried about inflation and the growth of the money supply. Even with the tax increases the New Eden money supply grew by 0.9% in March.

Now comes the amusing question. If the developers were looking for zero growth in the money supply, they only failed to achieve zero growth due to the Active ISK Delta only removing 0.9% of the game's ISK instead of the 7-year average of 1.8%. Is whoever is overseeing the economy really that dialed into the workings of EVE's economy, or was the 0.9% difference just a coincidence?

Cloud Imperium UK Ltd's 2023 Accounts Are Not Pretty

At the beginning of 2024 fans of Cloud Imperium Games were ecstatic. The company's cash shop had posted another year of record sales of $117.6 million, a year-over-year increase of 3.5%. But in the financial report for 2022 posted to the CIG corporate website, the company revealed worker headcount increased in 2023 from 860 employees to over 1100. Did the overall company revenue match the nearly 30% spike in employees? In a filing with UK Companies House on Friday, the answer apparently is no.

For the second year in a row, Cloud Imperium UK Ltd filed its annual accounts late. Why should followers of games like Squadron 42 or Star Citizen care? Because Cloud Imperium UK Ltd is the "Rest of the World" category in CIG's annual financial reports. The company describes itself in its strategic report as follows:

Principal Activities

Cloud Imperium UK Ltd. operates from the UK managing the rights for the video games Star Citizen and Squadron 42 outside of the US market. Cloud Imperium UK Ltd. generates its revenues from its subsidiary, Roberts Space Industries International Limited, a company engaged with publishing activities for worldwide markets excluding USA. From its revenues, it directly funds Cloud Imperium Games Limited, the largest video game development presence in the Cloud imperium Group and all other non-publishing activities pertaining to Star Citizen and Squadron 42 outside of the USA.

Looking at the Group Statement of Comprehensive Income one can see that the Group recorded a loss of £8.4 million, compared to a profit of £8.5 million in 2022. Here is CIG's explanation.

Fair review of the business

During the year ended 31 December 2023, the Cloud Imperium UK Ltd. group ("the Group") reported revenue of E47.9m (2022: E44.6m) following various alpha releases made during the year. Costs have risen to E67.7m (2022: E43.2m) as the Group continues to progress with the development of the video game Squadron 42, but to which it has added the development of Star Citizen. The primary development for Star Citizen is being undertaken from the UK following the early alpha release version at the end of 2022, which introduced persistence into the game and marked the end of that phase of development. The road to commercial release for the full Star Citizen game is being undertaken in the UK. As usual the publishing activities associated with the video game Star Citizen outside of the US continue to be undertaken within the UK group. Other operating income has increased to E 11.8m (2022: E6.9m) as a result of an increased video game tax credit arising from increased development activities in the UK, with the Group recognising a loss ofE8.4m (2022: E8.5m profit). At 31 December 2023, the group reported net assets of E33.3m (2022: E40.9m).

This loss is consistent with the mid to long term goals of the business aimed at commercial release of the games in development and in particular the cost committed to the development of Squadron 42 to get it to a stage where it can prepare for future commercial release with greater visibility and control.

The passage suggests that with development for Star Citizen now occurring in Manchester that costs in the US should have decreased significantly. But in 2022 the average number of employees working for Cloud Imperium UK each month jumped 49%, from 573 in 2022 to 854 in 2023. Given the total number of employees world-wide jumped to over 1100, headcount in the U.S. probably remained steady.

One of the problems with just viewing the financial information from the UK is that increased costs in one half of the company could result in lower costs in the U.S. Observers will need to await the posting of the comprehensive financial report for 2023 to appear on the CIG corporate website for actual profit or loss figures.

With the boring but required coverage of Cloud Imperium UK Ltd's losses out of the way, let's get to the interesting stuff.

The Turbulent Acquisition - When last year's strategic report revealed CIG purchased the remaining 75% of Turbulent for CA$9.8 million, I was awaiting fuller details about the transaction in this year's accounts. For those not familiar with CIG and its history, an explanation from the Group Statement of Comprehensive Income is below.

On 1 July 2023, the group acquired the remaining 75% of the issued share capital of Turbulent Media Inc., taking the group's total equity interest to 100%, for a total consideration of £4,330,702.

Cloud Imperium UK Ltd. and Turbulent Media Inc. have successfully collaborated since 2012 on the ongoing evolution of Star Citizen, the iconic Massively Multiplayer AAA video game currently in development. Turbulent Media Inc. is based in Montreal, Quebec in Canada.

Turbulent Media Inc. has been integral to the development of Star Citizen has equally been integral to the development of our e-commerce platform, building our marketing and platform infrastructure, and now to actively contributing to the development of Star Citizen and SQ42. Management recognises the shared cultural values and passions between the two companies, which have helped create a natural synergy and development pipeline for our joint projects over the past decade.

Management have estimated the useful life of the goodwill to be 10 years. The acquired software is integral to the daily development of Star Citizen that has now been moved to the UK. The strong customer relationships will generate external revenue for the group. The group will now utilise the assembled workforce to continue the development of Star Citizen and SQ42.

Upon derecognition of the investment in associate, the share of historical profits and amortisation of Goodwill of the investment have been recycled against retained earnings in accordance with FRS102.

The total consideration of £4,330,702 was CA$7.2 million at the exchange rate on 1 July 2023.

Reading the final details of the deal were amusing as CIG was able to consider £2.9 million owed to Turbulent wiped off the books. Also, payments owed to the two co-founders of Turbulent, Benoit Beausejour and Marc Beaudet, count as employment expenses of £1,945,744. The payments were contingent on the pair staying with CIG for two years. I believe the two-year period is over on 1 July 2025.

The Put Option - Last year a conflict arose over a financial arrangement made between the Calders and CIG when they made their initial investment into the company. The continued existence of the put option, however, is still causing conflicts between CIG and their independent auditors, PwC.

The auditor explained why the audit could only give a qualified opinion on the accuracy of the financial accounts.

Basis for qualified opinion

The Group and Company have disclosed a contingent liability within note 31 of the financial statements. This is a put option entered into by the Company in 2018 with certain minority sharehotders which, if exercised, would result in a contractual obligation for the company to deliver cash or another financial asset to the holders in exchange for the shares. In accordance with FRS 102 this should have been recognised as a financial liability within the balance sheet. After initial recognition, the liability should have been subsequently measured in accordance with section 11 and section 12 of FRS 102 with the changes recognised within the Statement of Comprehensive Income. Management has outlined a valuation within Note 31 which is material, however, we were unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence in relation to this balance and so have qualified our opinion in respect of this put option.

The put option as described at Note 31 is a bit confusing. First the description.

A contingent liability exists with respect to 1,877 ,400 (2022: 1,877,400) of the 11,745,920 (2022: 11,715,800) issued shares as of 31 December 2023. The holders of these shares have the right to put their shares back to the Company for repurchase at a minimum return premium of 6% per annum on the initial purchase price. For 1,599,900 (2022: 1,599,900) shares they also have a value formula based upon the three years' average revenue leading up to the start of the exercise period.

When the information first emerged last year, the smaller investor was identified as Eli Klein, who advised CIG on the Calders' initial $46 million investment in the company. The larger investors were the Calders, specifically Keith Calder and Indus Management, LTD. According to the above, the shares acquired from Ortwin Freyermuth last year do not qualify for the put option.

The timing of when the option may be exercised is unusual. The clock doesn't start running on the decision period until CIG completes its accounting for the fiscal period. A move that makes sense since in at least one instance the payout is determined by a formula that extends for three years.

For 1,599,900 (2022: 277,500 shares were exercisable between 01 January 2024 and 31 March 2024) shares their first put rights are exercisable within 30 days of the financial statements being delivered for the year ended 31 December 2025 and within 30 days of the financial statements being delivered for the year ended 31 December 2028 and for all   shares (2022: 1,877,400). Separately 277,500 shares are exercisable on 31 December 2027.

Based upon representations from the holders and given the company's financial position, budgets and forecasts the company currently assesses the probability of the holders exercising their put rights to be remote.

So according to the above, Klein can exercise a put option within 30 days of the financial statements being delivered for the years 2027 and 2028. For the Calders, the years are the end of 2025 and 2028. I had been under the impression a decision was required in the first quarter of those years.

The explanation for why CIG did not want to include the contingent liability is because, to summarize, the terms are confusing. How confusing? Here's the example CIG included in the accounts.

Consequently, consistent with prior years, the company has not recognised this put option as a financial liability measured at the net present value of the expected payments. If it were to do so at the minimum return value on the investment for those shares it would generate a liability with a present value of £30.4m at 31 December 2023 (2022: £31.1m) using a discount rate of 10% (2022: 7.32%). This would rise to £44.6m (2022: £47.8m), based upon a multiple applied to an estimate of three prior years revenue leading up to the exercise dates. There are many assumptions underpinning the calculation multiple before the probability of it being exercised is considered, and the fact that this is considered remote is the primary reason for not recognising the uncertain net present value of this potential contingent liability.

Of course, the claim that any of the shareholders wishing to take advantage of the put option is so remote the company didn't need to consider the possibility did not fly with the auditor. But if a put option is exercised at the end of 2028 probably would exceed $100 million.

Post balance sheet events - A loss of £8.4 million is possibly an accounting trick for tax purposes. The acquisition of Turbulent was possibly a shrewd move, especially considering the expenditure was much less than reported in the 2022 company accounts. The put options are complicated affairs that shareholders probably won't exercise in the next few years, if ever. But then we get down to the post balance sheet events. These are financially significant events that don't affect the evaluated year's balance sheet. 

The first is the sale of 247,520 shares to an existing shareholder on 15 January 2025. The sale price of each share was $20.20, making the purchase $5 million, or £4.1 million at the day's exchange rate. The fact the buyer was an existing shareholder was a new detail not known before the release of the accounts.

The second is a previously unknown event. On 3 March 2025 CIG borrowed £10 million, or $12.6 million from an existing shareholder. While the identity of the shareholder is unknown, the principal of the loan is due on 31 December 2027.

From page 6 of the 2023 company accounts

Looking back, Cloud Imperium UK Ltd posting an £8.4 million loss two years ago is potentially embarrassing but without the figures from the U.S. portion of the operation, explainable. The fact that the auditor of the report could only give a qualified opinion on the facts surrounding the Calders' put option, a contingent liability potentially larger than CIG's assets, is worrisome. Especially since the liability is likely to exist for the next 5 years. But the raising of £14.1 million ($17.6 million) over the past 3 months is part of a series of events since the end of 2023 that leads one to believe CIG is in financial trouble.

In March 2024 Chris Roberts explained the departure of staff as well as announcing the eventual closure of the Los Angeles office for game development. In April & May, Cloud Imperium co-founder and long-time business associate of Roberts, Ortwin Freyermuth, sold off his shares in the company and resigned from the board of directors in June. In December word once again spread about layoffs at Cloud Imperium, this time involving quality assurance staff.

In January, right before the sale of $5 million in CIG shares, word of a leadership shakeup leaked out. The new leadership team adopted a strategy that resulted in first quarter cash shop sales rising over 47% compared to the first three months of 2024. So in addition to raising $17.6 million from existing shareholders, the cash shop raised an addition $8.2 million. Add in the closure of the Los Angeles office for administration as well as game development and matters don't look good. And with Friday's announcement that CitizenCon would not take place physically and only last one day, the bad news continues to roll on.

Cloud Imperium UK Ltd Late Filing Penalty Set To £750

Correction: 6 April 2025 - Now that the documents are available, the timestamp shows the accounts were received on 29 March, not 4 April. This means that the fine is only £750, not £1500. The blog post has been updated accordingly.

This morning Cloud Imperium UK Ltd filed its group of companies accounts for the 2023 fiscal year with UK Companies House. 

This morning the filing of Cloud Imperium UK Ltd filed its group of companies accounts for the 2023 fiscal year appeared on the UK Companies House website. According to the website the accounts will be available to the public in 10 days, which is Monday, 14 April 2025.

As seen on 4 April 2025

The fine for the late submittal of the accounts by a private company or LLP between three and six months is normally £750. But as Cloud Imperium is filing late for the second year in a row, the fine is doubled to £1500. According to the Companies House website not only is the company subject to the fine.

The fine for the late submittal of the accounts by a private company or LLP between one and three months is normally £375. But as Cloud Imperium is filing late for the second year in a row, the fine is doubled to £750. According to the Companies House website not only is the company subject to the fine.

Consequences of not filing

Not filing your accounts or confirmation statements is a criminal offence. Directors or LLP designated members could be personally fined for this in the criminal courts.

Failing to pay your late filing penalty can result in enforcement proceedings. Any criminal proceedings for not filing confirmation statements or accounts is separate from (and in addition to) any late filing penalties issued by Companies House against the company.

You could get a financial penalty if you do not file your confirmation statement on time. The registrar could also take steps to strike your company off the register.

What does the news of Cloud Imperium finally filing its 2023 accounts mean going forward? For one, we may see the company file its annual financial report on its company website next week. I imagine the company's leadership will want to present its full report (and any spin) to the general public before the accounts become available on the 14th.

We also will get some answers to some questions. I currently am going on the assumption that the Calders' put option for Q1 2025 caused some conflict with the auditors. The option expired on Monday. The accounts will probably address whether the put option was exercised or the Calders will wait until the first quarter of 2028.

Another question up in the air is the status of Turbulent. The Montreal-based company was acquired in the summer of 2023. Will the company fall under the UK branch of Cloud Imperium or the US branch? If the UK, that move could have complicated the creation of the accounts. Also, such a move might signal the long term direction of the US branch.

Finally we come to the question of new offices in Manchester, and perhaps Frankfort as well. The construction for building both sets of offices completed in 2022. Cloud Imperium did not begin moving staff into the Manchester facility until 2023. A look at the accounts should show how much the company is currently spending on office space, at least in Europe.

I'm hoping that by the end of the month I can stop writing about Cloud Imperium's finances for 2023 and can move on to 2024. Based on recent history, CCP Games' release of its 2024 accounts should show up for public access on Iceland's taxing authority website in 4-6 weeks. As for Cloud Imperium? I really hope they submit their accounts on time for a change.

Breaking Through The Dawntrail 7.2 Gear Wall

Well, I did it. I am now eligible to enter Final Fantasy XIV's patch 7.2 trial, Recollection. I reached item level (IL) 715 on Sunday night. Of course, reaching the minimum item level of Recollection did not initially help me run The Underkeep. After melding my newly dropped gear, I managed to defeat the first two bosses cleanly but took 25 minutes to kill Valia Pira.

While not finishing well, my 9th run of The Underkeep did result in the drop of three more pieces of the healer's Underkeep healers set, giving me 7 out of 10 gear pieces at IL 725. My weapon, however, was still IL 710. Still, I could try to push on and get a first week completion of Recollection. But for my greater goal of crafting the Ceremonial healing set, I kept grinding away.

A funny thing about crafting the best armor sets in patch 7.2. The biggest hurdle is acquiring the Allagan Tomestones of Heliometry required to purchase the rest of the goods I need. Yes, patch 7.2 introduced 5 new legendary nodes whose materials are also acquired, but after two hours or so I had more than enough, even though the nodes only spawn twice every game day. I already had purchased the required Tomes of Regional Folklore in patch 7.1 so no speedbumps encountered in that respect.

The preferred crafting food for high-end crafting apparently switched to ceviche. The big pain is fishing the main ingredient, cloudsail. Not really hard, but I found a YouTube video that really sped the process up. As in going from catching 17 my first hour to catching 34 in 30 minutes.

So off to The Underkeep I trudged on Monday night. And then, something clicked. For my first run of the night I defeated all three bosses without dying once. I do have to credit my newly acquired dropped gear for giving me just enough health points to keep from dying to the second boss. Include a newly acquired instinct to self-heal immediately upon taking unexpected damage and I survived. Perhaps more importantly, I completed the dungeon in under 30 minutes. The 30 minute mark is key because without free company buffs food effects only last 30 minutes.

Interestingly enough, I almost didn't make that first deathless run. I had for the first time in my time playing FFXIV hit the weekly tomestone cap. I had reached my 450 Allagan Tomestones of Mathematics cap for the week and the reset wasn't until Tuesday. But as I really don't plan on grinding out the IL 750 Historia set so the "lost" tomestones didn't bother me so I decided to just run the dungeon twice to get the drudgery out of the way.

For those trying to get through the dungeon at my skill level, here's how I managed it. For the first two bosses, follow around G'raha Tia. But I was playing white mage. I'm not sure what to do for tanks.

The final boss was difficult because I couldn't follow G'raha around. Instead I tried to stay in space as much as possible. Entering the arena I dive directly to my right to the corner. From there I was able to observe what to do for the first minute or so. The first real problem mechanic is when the boss spreads out pie slices. Don't try to find an uncovered spot. Just stand in a dark red slice. From that first corner I could basically run forward to find a spot.

Another problem I had was the bosses half-arena attack. I did key off G'raha, and later on Krile, to know which side of the arena to run to. But that was probably after 50 pulls and only a handful of successes.

This isn't a walk through of the dungeon. Maybe I'll do something later, but for now I'm concentrating on gearing up my max level jobs. After another setting a personal best of 28:30 in completing The Underkeep last night, I'm looking forward to getting the final 171 tomestones needed to let me begin crafting my Ceremonial gear. That is only 3 more runs of The Underkeep to go.

All of the cutting edge raiders had arranged to get their Ceremonial gear to begin running the new Savage on Tuesday. While I technically don't need to do the same to continue on with the MSQ, I figure I need all the help I can get. The main difference is while crafters are out working to gear up their friends and FC mates, I'm making the gear for myself.

Cloud Imperium Records Record Sales in March And The First Quarter Of 2025

Cloud Imperium finished off a record quarter yesterday by finishing the month of March with $10 million in cash shop sales for the first time in the company's 13 year history. The $10 million, according to the CCU Game dashboard, represented a year-over-year increase of 40.2% over the $7.3 million in sales recorded in March 2024. For the first three months of 2025, CIG finished with $25.5 million in sales, a 47.3% YoY increase over Q1 2024's $17.3 million.

First quarter 2025 cash shop sales

The $799.5 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 $898.1 million in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2022 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $799.5 million (through 31 March 2025)
• Subscriptions: $33.0 million (through 31 December 2022)
• All other sources: $65.6 million (through 31 December 2022)

In addition, the company has received a total of $63.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2022 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $961.4 million, or $956.6 million when excluding the returned funds. An additional $5 million in shares sold in January 2025 are not included in the total.

The Funding Plateau - Over the last three years, Cloud Imperium has faced a sales plateau in the company's sales of virtual good like internet spaceships. Sales have fallen withing 3% of the average of $115.9 million between 2022-2024. I believe the shakeup of upper management that began in Q4 of 2024 is designed to break through and increase revenue for the company. So in addition to providing year-over-year metrics I will also comparing the sales figures from 2025 to the average sales for the years 2022-2024. I believe if sales continue to fall within the range of $112.4 million and $119.4 million the C-Suite at CIG, if not the board of directors, will not be happy.

In March the Marketing Masters In Manchester had a lot to smile about. Not only did sales rise 40.2% for the first quarter YoY, but increased over the previous 3-year average for the quarter by 31.4%. Sales really benefitted from both the continued effects of the release of Alpha 4.0.2 on 28 February and the final sales associated with the launch of Alpha 4.1 on 27 March.

March 2025 cash shop sales

Over the first seven days of March, the company recorded $1.6 million in sales, a $790,000 increase over sales in the first seven days of March 2024. Over the final five days of the month CIG received $4 million in sales, or an increase of $3.1 million over the same period in 2024. These two periods offset the disappointing performance of the annual Fortuna event which only brought in $3.4 million, a $1.4 million YoY drop from the event's sales in 2024.

New Account Creation - From 2022 to 2024 CIG saw the number of new accounts created each year fall by 44.5%. I'm assuming that part of the shakeup is aimed at improving that performance as well. So I came up with a simple predictive formula to estimate how big of a drop in new player account creation is expected based on historical trends. For the year, my formula comes up with a 19% drop in new user accounts created in 2025, which is twice as much as I predicted at the beginning of the year.

Q1 2025 new account creation

Overall in Q1, the number of new accounts created fell by 29% year-over-year, from 121,088 accounts in March 2024 down to 86,008 last month. I often get asked how sales revenue can increase to record heights while the game itself attracts less and less new people. The answer, as always, is any correlation between sales numbers and new account creation is purely coincidental. The marketing team is concentrating on sales to long term players with a proven track record of spending a lot of money (aka "whales").

March 2025 new account creation

However, for the first time since August 2024 CIG experienced a year-over-year growth in the number of accounts created in March. Account creation increased by 6.1% to 25,496 last month. While not a large amount compared to the over 40% cash shop revenue increase in March, the rise does represent the first uptick in the metric for the new leadership team.

Ongoing Concerns - March has come and gone and we do not have any indication if the Calders exercised their put option during the quarter. As the only remaining period to exercise the option is Q1 2028 the submission of Cloud Imperium's accounts to UK Companies House should provide a clue.

Speaking of UK Companies House, CIG had not submitted its financial accounts to the government body as of the writing of this post. From past experience a 7-10 day lag does exist before the paperwork will show up on the site. But as of today, the fine for late filing increases from £750 to £1500. If the accounts are not filed in April I'll begin to think something suspicious is occurring instead of just the regular Cloud Imperium shuffle.

We do know that the Cloud Imperium page is active on UK Companies House as back in February the company posted the required information, on a timely basis, on the allotment of $5 million in shares to as yet unnamed purchaser. The company probably will not reveal the buyer's identity until required by Companies House. The next deadline is in September.

Observers are still awaiting the traditional reveal of Cloud Imperium's 2023 financial report on CIG's corporate website. I believe, if not legally required in the UK, is traditionally seen as a bad sign by investors if one is not present. I'm still trying to track that piece of information down. Honestly, I didn't expect CIG to fall behind this late.

Finally, for a quarterly review, I cannot forget the shutdown of CIG's Los Angeles facility. In March 2024 Cloud Imperium CEO and co-founder Chris Roberts issued a "Letter from the Chairman" in which he announced game development work would cease in California but the office would remain a main administrative hub. Last month we learned differently.