EVE: Havoc Patch Notes: Pirate Activites

EVE Online's Havoc expansion, set to launch on 14 November 2023, is the game's third full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. The patch notes are fairly extensive. I find reading lengthy patch notes rather boring, so I also like to go to other sources for information. The format worked so well for the Viridian expansion I thought I'd try for Havoc as well. This post, the third in the series, will cover the pirate activities found within pirate insurgencies.

In the run-up to the expansion, I didn't see details of what players would actually do in the warzones. Back in October CCP provided a high level description.

Systems within a Pirate Insurgency can be affected by capsuleer activity to convey a level of corruption and/or suppression. The more criminal activity the pirates engage in, the more the crime level increases, and that will determine the corruption level of any given system within an Insurgency. Conversely, those aligned with empire militia can partake in law enforcement activities which, if successful, can increase the level of suppression within a system. The overall progress of an Insurgency, including the stage of corruption and/or suppression of the individual solar systems within, will be made visible in the Insurgencies UI in-game.  

PIRATE ACTIVITIES

Insurgencies will feature the following gameplay content:

• Corporate Outpost Raid: This site is very similar to existing FW gameplay capture sites. Pirate players can capture the outpost by remaining in the capture point when Mordu Legion NPCs protecting the site have been destroyed, while anti-pirates can do the same by destroying pirate NPCs.
  
  
• The Corporate Outpost Raid comes in a variety of sizes with different ship size restrictions. All Pirate/T2 ships of that size can enter them, similar to existing ADV FW complexes.

The EVE University Wiki provided the following types of factional warfare sites. At this time, we don't know the names of the pirate insurgency sites.

We don't know how similar FW sites are to Insurgency sites

ADV is short for "Advanced". With factional warfare sites, the word indicates the site allows T2 and Pirate Faction ships, and T3 ships in some circumstances. SoCT and Triglavian ships are limited to these complexes. While possibly not applicable to insurgency sites, useful information when wandering through the warzone.

• Mining Ambush: In this site, a friendly ORE Rorqual has been tackled by pirates. As a pirate, fight off the Mordu Mercenaries that arrive to protect it, and eventually, the Rorqual will give in and pay a handsome ransom to your pirate allies, and they will pass along the spoils in the form of LP and system corruption. If you prefer blood instead of LP, you can destroy the Rorqual for a bit of loot and system corruption.
  
  Anti-Pirate players can choose to help the Rorqual by destroying the pirate ransomer NPCs until the Rorqual will eventually be able to warp off and leave, providing a LP reward to the anti-pirates and additional suppression to the system. This is an open site where any ships can enter, although a fleet of well fit cruisers should be able to handle the site. The Mining Ambush has a shared payout of up to 10 pilots before the rewards are diminished.

While we do not know the details about the scaling of payouts, the Mining Ambush sites seem similar in size to Vanguard incursion sites. In those sites, the maximum number of pilots involved before payouts cease is 15. At this time, we don't know if bringing too many players to a Mining Ambush site will cancel all payouts.

Pirate Laundering Centers & Counter-Insurgency Outposts: Once systems reach corruption and suppression thresholds, roaming NPCs which warp around the solar system will appear. Sometimes rare named NPCs will be present and those can be killed for valuable items which can be turned in at Pirate Laundering centers found in the FOB system for pirate factions, while Anti-Pirate players can destroy rare named pirate NPCs and hand in their items to Counter-Insurgency outposts located in their war HQ systems. War HQ systems for the respective militias are Mehatoor (Amarr), Onnamon (Caldari), Intaki (Gallente), Amo (Minmatar). Turning in these items will grant you reward crates.

EVE: Havoc Patch Notes: Pirate Insurgencies

EVE Online's Havoc expansion, set to launch on 14 November 2023, is the game's third full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. The patch notes are fairly extensive. I find reading lengthy patch notes rather boring, so I also like to go to other sources for information. The format worked so well for the Viridian expansion I thought I'd try for Havoc as well. The second post in the series will cover the basic flow of pirate insurgencies.

CCP gave a high level description of Pirate Insurgencies back in October.

Pirate Insurgencies are a discrete warfare system where there is a winner and a loser, a beginning and an end. The Insurgency conflict between pirates and empire militia can be seen as a race, compared to Factional Warfare which more closely resembles an ongoing tug of war. 

The patch notes are detailed so I will intersperse information into them where appropriate.

With aid from The Deathless, the completed Zarzakh shipcaster and the rejuvenated Fulcrum station, the Angel Cartel and Guristas Pirates are now launching daring raids into empire factional warfare zones, called Insurgencies.

• Insurgencies are brand new gameplay that take part in Factional Warfare systems, however, it is possible for them to spread to include additional solar systems which are above 0.0 security and below 0.8 security.
  
  
• Insurgencies have multiple phases and are centered around a hub system, which has the pirate FOB in.
  
  
• The FOB can spawn at any temperate planet in the FW warzone, which will start an insurgency from that system and include 4 nearby solar systems to start the insurgency with.

For those unfamiliar with the warzones, Dotlan Maps has two special maps that should come in handy. The Caldari/Gallente warzone map in which the Guristas operate and the Amarr/Minmatar warzone map for Angel Cartel members. Hopefully for all involved, the shipcasters work and no one needs to fly 30 jumps to get into a fight.

• The Insurgency will start in the FORECASTING phase. This phase will last approximately 48 hours and will tell all players where the pirate FOB will be placed, and which solar systems are included with it in the upcoming insurgency. During this phase no content will be present, and the FOB is invulnerable, however it will be dockable. This gives players from both sides the opportunity to move assets and get ready to deploy in the theatre, or players the opportunity to get out of harm's way!
  
  
• The Insurgency will then move to the ACTIVE phase, and insurgency gameplay content will start spawning. During this phase, players can increase corruption or suppression by completing gameplay content for either the pirate or empire militias.

Next comes the victory conditions for the factions and individual rewards for the players.

• The FOB is usually invulnerable, however, if the anti-pirates can fully suppress enough systems, it will become vulnerable and they will be able to attack it, it will then enter a 24 hour reinforcement timer (with some jitter) and if they destroy it, they will end the insurgency as a win for the anti-pirates.
  
  
• If the Pirates are able to fully corrupt enough systems however, they’ll be able to plunder everything that isn’t nailed down, take temporary control of the factional warfare occupancy of the solar system where the FOB was placed and win the insurgency for the Pirate side.
  
  
• This can cause havoc in Factional Warfare with several new frontlines being created around the FOB system.
  
  
• When pirates win and take temporary control of the FW occupancy of the system, they’ll eventually give it back when they’ve ransacked everything, however, it’ll be given back in the vulnerable state and the IHUB will be vulnerable right away.
  
  
• Players who contribute to corruption for the pirates, and suppression for the anti-pirates will get a large reward of ISK and Loyalty Points (LP) at the end of the insurgency when one side wins. The side which wins will have a bigger bonus payout!

And finally a bit about how an insurgency can make high sec systems more like low sec.

• High security systems which are affected by an Insurgency will not spawn empire FW police and criminal police NPCs, so pirates and players with low security status can freely enter as they wish!

For those who reached the end and want more, CCP Aurora put together the video below.

EVE: Havoc Patch Notes: Zarzakh And The Fulcrum

EVE Online's Havoc expansion, set to launch on 14 November 2023, is the game's third full expansion since the return of the content format in November 2022. The patch notes are fairly extensive. I find reading lengthy patch notes rather boring, so I also like to go to other sources for information. The format worked so well for the Viridian expansion I thought I'd try for Havoc as well. The first post in the series will cover Zarzakh and The Fulcrum.

First, some information about the system of Zarzak. Back in September I pulled out some in-game information about the newly discovered system.

Zarzakh is a system cloaked in the dust, gas and assorted other bits of matter that are being drawn towards the black hole known as "Point of No Return" to most of New Eden, and "Duzna Kah" to the Amarr. The location of Zarzakh places it deep in the void of Divinity's Edge, or "Yasna Zakh", and somewhat notably essentially at the center of the New Eden cluster by virtue of the astronomical co-ordinate system used by CONCORD. Given this system was proposed by the Jove in the early days of CONCORD, it is suggestive that the dominating features of Zarzakh are the ancient Jovian gates and the ancient Jovian outpost known as "The Fulcrum". 

Zarzakh's star has been gravitationally captured by a black hole and is slowly orbiting closer and closer to its eventual merger with the mass singularity. This event will take place many years in the future but the effects of orbiting in the relatively near vicinity of a black hole are already being felt in the form of intense and volatile gravitational tidal forces exerted by the singularity. As the star is within the outer edges of the matter accretion disc of the black hole, the instability is further contributed to by the fluctuations in mass density within the cloud. The local system environment here is harsh and unforgiving to say the least.

An earlier dev blog did give a warning about Zarzakh's environment. Not one found in the patch notes.

Zarzakh itself has a completely different atmosphere to the rest of New Eden. It represents brand new space for capsuleers to explore, including a totally unique environment that is as ancient and advanced as many will come to expect from anything touched by the Jove Empire. It has limited visibility and a lot of it has not yet been discovered. Within the system is an interstellar shipcaster construction site, and this location, plus The Fulcrum, and the four stargates are surrounded by safe zones that do not damage any ships. However, venturing outside of those safe zones will immediately come at a price, as Zarzakh’s hostile environment begins to damage a ship’s hull at an increasing pace.

Going forward, the in-game narrative will develop to allow capsuleers to participate in unraveling more of Zarzakh’s secrets. Linking Turnur, Alsavoinon, Venal, and Curse through Zarzakh may also be significant in terms tactical movements within New Eden in the future.

And finally, we get to the actual patch notes.

Thanks in part to the efforts of Loyalist Capsuleers, The Deathless has managed to unlock more of Zarzakh’s potential. The Fulcrum has expanded services from being powered up through the activation of the Stellar Harvester built into the station, and the Deathless Shipcaster is now also fully functional.

"The Fulcrum is now open to anyone who is not enlisted with an Empire Militia, which have been declared as enemies of the Deathless and are unable to dock." Looks like CCP has addressed the age-old complaint of preventing the opposing faction from docking up in stations your militia controls.

• The Fulcrum features a new Deathless hangar environment.
  
  
• Players who are enlisted for the Angel Cartel will get access to a special Angel Cartel Hangar environment, while players who are enlisted for the Guristas will get access to a special Guristas Hangar environment.
  
  
• Players that have an active Deathless Retribution timer are unable to dock regardless of their allegiance.

The Fulcrum will allow unaligned (Neutral) players to use most of the facilities in the station, including: repair, fitting, market, insurance and industry facilities. Some additional facilities and powerful industry bonuses are available exclusively to players who are enlisted with the Angel Cartel or Guristas Pirates.

• The station Industry facilities include full manufacturing, research, copying and invention capabilities.
  
  
• The Fulcrum has a 6% Material Efficiency bonus and a 70% Time Efficiency Bonus when manufacturing any sub-capital Angel Cartel or Guristas Pirate ship. These ME and TE bonuses are available to both pirate enlisted and neutral players.
  
  
• Players who are enlisted with the Angel Cartel or Guristas Pirates will enjoy an additional bonus that reduces the industry job SCC surcharge by 90%
  
  
• The Jump Clone bay can only be used by players enlisted with the Angel Cartel and the Guristas Pirates.
  
  
• The Offices present in the Fulcrum can only be rented by corporations or alliances which are enlisted with the Angel Cartel or the Guristas Pirates.

The Deathless Shipcaster is now fully functional. Shipcasters were introduced into EVE in the Uprising expansion.

The interstellar shipcaster is a one-way rapid deployment mechanism designed to move capsuleers from their faction's HQ star system closer to the FW warzone. This system is exclusive to FW and serves to help players access FW systems more easily, while also creating new opportunities for both combat pilots and industrialists alike.

• The Deathless Shipcaster will alternate between the Forward Operating Base (FOB) system in active Insurgencies, with a 60s charging phase, then a 60s active phase.
  
  
• Only Angel Cartel aligned players can jump to the Angel FOB.
  
  
• Only Guristas Pirates aligned players can jump to the Guristas FOB.
  
  
• On arriving at the FOB, players will get tethering and can dock at the FOB.

The patch notes listed three updates needed due to the developers making the system available at Fanfest.

• Zarzakh has now been removed from the autopilot blacklist.
  
  
• Zarzakh has been added to the default avoidance list, note, if a player has a custom avoidance list, Zarzakh will not be added to it.
  
  
• Bombs and Interdictor Bubbles can now be used in Zarzakh.

For those who reached the end of the post, here is the Havoc trailer featuring Zarzakh and The Fulcrum.

Which Pirate Faction Will Players Pick In Havoc?

The patch notes for EVE Online's next expansion, Havoc, dropped on Friday. I took a quick read though and came up with a conclusion for which pirate faction, Angel Cartel or Guristas, will receive the most interest from players. Sorry Gurista loyalists, but I believe the Angel Cartel will prove more popular until the launch of the first expansion in 2024.

The first reason involves the news ships coming to New Eden in the expansion, particularly the new Angel Cartel Azariel-class titan. I don't know much about titans, but the Azariel titan, as expected from a Angel ship, can either fit an armor or shield tank. I know when I started playing EVE back in 2009, the armor-tanking Avatar-class titan was the dominant titan in the game. After 10 years or so, shield titans became, if not popular, an option. With the Azariel, one doesn't need two titans in order to fit into a particular doctrine.

But the main reason is one that affects the Caldari-Gallente war zone: access to Jita. One of the disadvantages of joining Gallente factional warfare is losing access to the game's major trade hub. Each NPC empire has a faction police force that chases after player enemies of that empire. Player members of the factional warfare militias can pass through enemy territory if they are fast enough. Cargo ships and large combatants like battlecruisers and battleships most likely will explode. 

The problem will be twice as bad for those joining either the Angel Cartel or Guristas. The patch notes explain the issue.

The Angel Cartel are at war with the Amarr Empire and the Minmatar Republic, while the Guristas Pirates are at war with the Caldari State and the Gallente Federation.

• Capsuleers enlisted in the Pirate Militias can freely engage capsuleers enlisted with their rival empire militias, and vice versa.
  
  
• Capsuleers enlisted with the Angel Cartel will be attacked by Factional Warfare (FW) empire police in Amarr and Minmatar empire space, if there is not an active insurgency present.
  
  
• Capsuleers enlisted with the Guristas Pirates will be attacked by FW empire police in Caldari and Gallente empire space, if there is not an active insurgency present.

The big deal involves access to Jita. While I have been to Jita three times in 14 years on my two main characters, I am in the minority of players. A lot of players will look at the access issue and just pick the other side. Oh, did I mention the economic benefits of Deathless Circle's base in Zarzakh, The Fulcrum.

The Fulcrum will allow unaligned (Neutral) players to use most of the facilities in the station, including: repair, fitting, market, insurance and industry facilities. Some additional facilities and powerful industry bonuses are available exclusively to players who are enlisted with the Angel Cartel or Guristas Pirates.

• The station Industry facilities include full manufacturing, research, copying and invention capabilities.
  
  
• The Fulcrum has a 6% Material Efficiency bonus and a 70% Time Efficiency Bonus when manufacturing any sub-capital Angel Cartel or Guristas Pirate ship. These ME and TE bonuses are available to both pirate enlisted and neutral players.
  
  
• Players who are enlisted with the Angel Cartel or Guristas Pirates will enjoy an additional bonus that reduces the industry job SCC surcharge by 90%
  
  
• The Jump Clone bay can only be used by players enlisted with the Angel Cartel and the Guristas Pirates.
  
  
• The Offices present in the Fulcrum can only be rented by corporations or alliances which are enlisted with the Angel Cartel or the Guristas Pirates.

If a player wants to take full advantage of The Fulcrum, having access to Jita would make life easier. I think those players will choose the Angel Cartel over Guristas. I know the story of Fatal and The Rabbit is more romantic, but we all know New Eden runs on ISK. Never underestimate the ability of EVE players to min/max any situation.

Pearl Abyss Q3 2023 Earnings Call

On Thursday morning Seoul time, Pearl Abyss held its earnings call for the third quarter of 2023. The South Korean video game maker posted revenues of ₩84.9 billion ($62.8 million). The amount was an 8.3% increase from the second quarter of 2023 but a year-over-year (YoY) drop of 12.7% compared to Q3 2022.

The big news is Pearl Abyss' return to profitability. In the third quarter, Pearl Abyss recorded an operating profit of ₩2.1 billion ($10.7 million) and net profit of ₩15.0 billion ($11.1 million) for the months of July, August, and September. For the first nine months of 2023, Pearl Abyss posted an operating loss of ₩10.9 billion ($8.3 million) but was in the black with a net profit of ₩20 billion ($15.1 million). 

The driver of the good financial news was Black Desert Online. The 21.1% quarter-over-quarter increase to ₩68.4 billion ($50.6 million) was the first quarterly increase in revenue since Q3 2022. Year-over-year, Black Desert IP revenue fell 10.7%. The executives on the call credited the Land of the Morning Light expansion. BDO saw a 36% increase in users during the third quarter.

On the other hand, EVE IP revenue fell 20.8% QoQ to ₩16 billion ($11.8 million). Year-over-year, EVE revenue fell 17.5%. Pearl Abyss blamed the decline of the "base effect" of the Viridian expansion. That is, returning to normal revenue levels following an expansion's launch.

A big reason for the return to profitability was a 10.5% decrease in operating expenses, led by an 18% decrease in labor costs. Pearl Abyss told analysts on the call the decline was due to a one-time, ₩8 billion incentive payout in the second quarter inflating labor costs.

The explanation does not sound entirely true. In the third quarter, headcount fell from 1,341 down to 1,293 compared to the previous quarter. Developer headcount fell 7.1% from 801 to 744 while business and other staff increased by 9 people. The decline is part of a longer term trend. Since the end of 2021, employee headcount has fallen from 1,572 down to 1,293, a decline of 17.7%.  The amount of development staff fell from 983 down to last quarter's 744, or 24.3%.

For upcoming content, Pearl Abyss could point to Black Desert Online's new "War of the Roses" and EVE Online's upcoming expansion Havoc, both releasing in the fourth quarter. The EVE IP is also expanding in Q4, with a 4x strategy mobile game EVE: Galaxy Conquest soft launching in the fourth quarter. An FPS project, EVE: Vanguard, will also hold an open beta test in December.

Of course, analysts asked about the long delayed Crimson Desert. After spending all year telling investors the game would launch in the second half of 2023, Pearl Abyss had to admit the game was not ready for launch. The good news about Crimson Desert is the game will make an appearance at the G-STAR games conference next week. From the answers on the call, I'm not sure Pearl Abyss will introduce a new trailer.

Comparing The October 2023 Monthly Economic Report To A Year Ago

As we approach the launch of EVE Online's Havoc expansion next week, I have looked back to see how well returning to the 2 expansions per year release cadence has affected player activity. On Friday I looked at player activity, both flying around in space and shooting ships, both NPCs and other players. With CCP releasing the October Monthly Economic Report, I thought I should add economic activity to my review of the last 12 months as well.

I posted last month I would not be surprised if the Active ISK Delta was positive in October. The Active ISK Delta is the amount of ISK added to the economy by players returning to the game minus the amount withdrawn from the game by players not logging in for 30 days. A negative Active ISK Delta of only -3 trillion ISK indicated players were sticking around the game.

Last week I noted that the number of average concurrent users for last month was around 25% greater than in October 2022. All things being equal, the major ISK faucets and sinks should have also increased by the same amount.

8 major ISK faucets

Looking at the major ISK faucets in EVE, 7 out of 8 saw year-over-year increases. Only payouts to Sansha incursion runners fell. All other categories rose, with commodities (28.4%), bounties (62.1%), ESS bank (70.2%), insurance (54.2%), and pirate FOB (162.5%) all rising by over 25%. The insurance payout is instructive on determining whether more people play EVE now compared to October 2022. Have insurance payouts increased that much? Or are more ships blowing up requiring reimbursement to players? Below is a year-over-year look at player and NPC deaths in New Eden.

Source: Dotlan Maps

The ISK sinks are perhaps even more telling. All 8 categories of ISK sinks increased by over 30%.

8 major ISK sinks

I am open to the argument that CCP instituted game changes that raised taxes and fees. In fact, taxes did increase in the Viridian expansion, but in my opinion not enough to account for the increased amount of the ISK sinks. Unless I am missing massive inflation in the non-PLEX portion of the economy, I think increased activity by players accounts for the increased flow of ISK out of the game.

Unless CCP returns to its practice of EVE's first 10 years of disclosing subscription numbers, those of us on the outside won't know for sure about the number of players in New Eden. But I think by all observable measures, the number of players in EVE Online has increased since the return to the two expansions per year release cadence. 

EVE Online's Busiest Weekend In 2023 ... So Far

Over the weekend a funny thing happened in EVE Online. A lot of players decided to log in and play the game. On Saturday, the global Tranquility shard experienced a peak concurrent user (PCU) mark of 33,274. Saturday marked the most players logged in at one time during 2023. The mark lasted 24 hours as on Sunday the PCU was 34,142 players. But to me, the most remarkable statistic was the 30,257 players logged in at 19:09 UTC Monday. Thirty thousand players on a non-holiday Monday is a lot over the last two years or so.

PCU reached 30,000 on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday

The Havoc expansion is due to launch next Tuesday. Traditionally activity picks up in the lead up to an expansion launch date. In the case of Havoc, players are trying to grind standings in order to take advantage of the new systems coming in the expansion.

Another factor in play was the end of the Crimson Harvest event. The average concurrent users mark increased throughout the event period. With the end of the Crimson Harvest today, a lot of players apparently were collecting last minute rewards.

With one week to go, EVE's Tranquility server will probably experience its peak PCU for 2023 sometime on Sunday 19 November. I expect the PCU to exceed 2022's peak PCU of 35,240 on 16 January 2022. I really don't think 40,000 is in the cards, but if the ACU throughout December is 24,000-25,000 I'll probably laugh at the end of the year. I don't many people were predicting that much activity in EVE at the end of 2024.

Comparing Activity From Before The Resumption Of Expansions And Now

A year ago the situation looked rather bleak. Continued anger over plans to add blockchain technology and NFTs to EVE Online combined with a major price hike combined to lower the number of players online at any one time down to levels last seen during Blackout and the Chaos Era in 2019. The situation appears brighter with the return of the two expansions a year release cadence. With the third expansion, Havoc, launching in less than two weeks, I thought I'd compared October 2023 to a year ago, the month before the launch of Uprising.

First, let's look at the average number of concurrent players online. The seven-day average ended the month of October 2022 under 17,000. At the end of last month, the average was over 21,000 players, or roughly an increase of 25%. While the ACU does not indicate financial results, the number of players logged into the game is a historical mark players look at to determine the health of the game. A 25% increase over a year is usually considered pretty good.

Looking at data from Dotlan Maps, we can see all numbers are up in October 2023 compared to a year ago. The biggest changes involved the number of ships players lost in low security space (up 32.0%) and the number of NPCs killed in null sec (up 49.1%). The ship losses in low sec did not cannibalize activity from null security space, with null sec witnessing a 28.4% increase in player ships exploding.

Finally, a closer look at low sec ship losses. CCP made low sec a priority for the last year. Historically, players losing ships in low sec is still far below the security band's glory days of 2013-2015. But in 10 of the last 12 months players managed to lose over 200,000 ships. With the introduction of the Deathless and players allowed to side with the Angel Cartel and Guristas, we may see the numbers continue to increase once Havoc launches.

So far, so good. The developers hopefully will continue the work that has brought a bit of a revival to EVE over the last year. I really don't want to tempt leadership with thoughts they need to introduce blockchain technology to New Eden again.

CIG Sees $14.7 Million In Sales For October 2023

The Cloud Imperium Games marketing machine was running on all cylinders last month. In October, Cloud Imperium Games, makers of Star Citizen and Squadron 42, earned $14.7 million in sales according to the CCU Game - Star Citizen dashboard. The total was $6.8 million, or 87.5%, more than the sales recorded in October 2022. Overall, CIG's sales total for 2023 so far is $80.7 million, a 2.1% decrease from the first ten months of 2022's total of $82.4 million.

Overall, CIG has raised $702.6 million from confirmed sources (the funding page & the 2021 financial report). The income breaks down as follows:

• Sales/Pledges: $620.6 million (through 31 October 2023)
• Subscriptions: $27.8 million (through 31 December 2021)
• All other sources: $54.2 million (through 31 December 2021)

In addition, CIG received $63.25 million in investor funding in 2018 and 2019, bringing the total confirmed funding of the project up to $765.8 million. Of the total through the end of 2021, $1.4 million was paid out to investors as dividends.

Sales began to pick up the week before CitizenCon as CIG held a rather controversial event involving the F8 Lightning. Apparently players were able to purchase the fighter, which up until now had been a perk for those who had spent thousands of dollars to reach Concierge level.

CitizenCon really drove sales, however. The two-day event featured the debut of server meshing for Star Citizen on day 1 and the announcement Squadron 42 was feature complete on day 2.  While a marketing speak way of announcing the single player game was in an alpha state after 11 years of pre-alpha work, the announcement did spark excitement. Overall, in the final 11 days of October, the funding page recorded $8.1 million in sales.

Final Fantasy XIV x Fall Guys

Final Fantasy XIV has held a lot of collaborations with other games. In addition to other Final Fantasy titles like FFXI, FFXII, FFXIII, FFXV, and Final Fantasy Tactics, Creative Business Unit III has run collaboration events with Yo-kai Watch, Monster Hunter World, Dragon Quest X, and Nier: Automata. So the latest collaboration might not come as too much of a surprise: Fall Guys.

To participate, a character needs to reach level 15 and complete the Manderville Gold Saucer access quest "It Could Happen To You". Then inside the Gold Saucer, complete the quest "Just Crowning Around". To engage in the Fall Guys event, reading the patch notes helps.

How to Participate

Speak with the Blunderville registrar to participate in a show.

To enter Blunderville Square, you may speak with Wy (X:6.1 Y:7.4) or the Blunderville attendant (X:5.9 Y:6.3).

Party Registration

The party leader must speak with the Blunderville registrar to join the show with their currently formed party. Parties can be registered regardless of size. Cross-world parties are also permitted.

Party members other than the party leader are not required to be in the Blunderville Square at the time of registration.

Alliance Registration

The alliance leader must speak with the Blunderville registrar to join the show with their currently formed alliance. You must have a full alliance of 24 players to participate.

Alliance members other than the alliance leader are not required to be in the Blunderville Square at the time of registration.

* Rankings for each stage are calculated based on personal progress rather than the entire party or alliance.

That's right, the Fall Guys collaboration is a social event. I imagine I'll see a lot of parties or events in my free company's Discord over the next two months.

Let the Show Begin

Players who have registered for a show will be sent to wait in Lobbyville. The show will begin when 24 challengers have gathered.

If a set amount of time has passed before 24 challengers have gathered, however, the show will begin automatically.

* Rewards will be adjusted based on the number of challengers in each show.

How to Play

• Each show will have three stages in total. Players must complete the objective of each stage to qualify for the next round.
• Challengers who qualify for the next stage will remain in spectator mode until the next round begins.
• Challengers who have been eliminated may remain in spectator mode until the end of the show.

* If you wish to leave spectator mode, you may do so at any time by selecting the Leave button from the Blunderville menu.

Rewards

MGF, or Manderville Gold Saucer Fame, is awarded to all Blunderville challengers after a show has concluded. MGF is calculated based on your final rank in the show. MGF can be exchanged for rewards by speaking with the MGF trader.

* The MGF trader will also confirm your total MGF.

The rewards one can purchase with MGF are pretty nice. In addition to the almost mandatory outfit, I saw a mount, 2 minions, an orchestrion roll, 3(!!) framing kits, scrolls that add 15 minutes to meal durations (not stackable with FC effects) for 2 hours, and Gold Saucer Aetheryte Tickets to avoid taking the airship to the Gold Saucer. Oh, and enough furniture to turn an FC house into a replica Fall Guys arena.

This is a collaboration event, so only runs until the end of 2023. But I imagine Blunderville will return periodically, especially if received well by players.