Q4 2024 and 2024 Full Year Revenue For The EVE And Black Desert IP

In a surprising move Pearl Abyss changed the way revenue was reported in the earnings call covering the fourth quarter of 2024. Instead of reporting the revenue for the Black Desert and EVE intellectual properties, the breakout instead was by game revenue and other revenue like from Black Desert's investment company. But with the release of Pearl Abyss Iceland's 2024 annual accounts on the Icelandic taxing authority's website yesterday we can now piece together the information traditionally covered by the last Pearl Abyss earnings call of the year.

Before continuing I should add that Croda has already published his analysis of PAI's 2024 financial information. If you would like his take on how PAI managed to lose $19.4 million I urge you to go over and read his post.

First, let's look at the revenue for the EVE IP. The EVE IP is made up of EVE Online, EVE Echoes, and EVE Galaxy Conquest amongst live games. For the year 2024 Pearl Abyss Iceland reported revenue of $60.2 million. Since we have revenue information for the first nine months of the year, that means revenue for Q4 2024 was ₩22.1 billion ($15.8 million), a 11.1% increase from the fourth quarter of 2023. For the entire year, the EVE IP recorded ₩82.1 billion ($60.2 million) for an increase of 12.6%.

Now comes the fun part. How much did Black Desert bring in for Pearl Abyss? Since we know the South Korean video game maker brought in ₩91.1 billion ($65.2 million), then the Black Desert portion of the revenue comes out to ₩69 billion ($49.4 million), a year-over-year increase of 14.8% compared to the third quarter of 2023. The extremely strong quarter meant revenue for the year was only down 1.1% to ₩2.7 billion for the year.

I remember at the time some EVE financial talking heads estimating that based on the Revenant expansion that the EVE IP brought in $18 million for the year. Instead, revenue fell in line with the second quarter of 2024 ($15.7 million) which saw the launch of the Equinox expansion. Given the launch of Galaxy Conquest at the end of October I believe I can speculate that revenue from EVE Online in Q4 was lower than that in Q2.

I will examine the latest financial accounts from Pearl Abyss Iceland in future posts but I believed in taking the opportunity in finishing up old business before moving onto the juicy new news.

Thoughts On EVE Frontier After EVE Fanfest

At EVE Fanfest I attended all of the presentations about one of CCP Games' projects currently under development, EVE Frontier. I have the feeling the videos of the sessions will have a low priority to be posted to YouTube, so I'll just give an overview of my thoughts while the sessions are still relatively fresh in my mind.

First, I think if Frontier is actually EVE 2.0, the project is looking towards addressing some of the perceived weaknesses of the original. For example, when EVE Online launched back in 2003 the omnipotent police force CONCORD wasn't so omnipotent. When powerful outlaw groups disrupted high sec routes, other players were unable to handle the situation themselves. Instead of letting these groups cripple trade the developers made the choice of turning CONCORD into the invincible force we know today. Using the example of Provibloc, the Frontier team spelled out a way CVA and allied groups could have set up their own standings system. The same could have helped back in the early days of EVE Online.

But I'm thinking of other nagging issues as well. Remember how many suggestions to solve the AFK cloaky camping issue by instituting the use of fuel? Or how local chat shouldn't serve as an intelligence tool? Or even that asteroids should serve to block incoming fire? All of these ideas are making their way to Frontier.

As I listened to the presentations I couldn't help but think of Cloud Imperium Games. A few years back they increased the development staff of Squadron 42 while players were demanding faster progress on Star Citizen. Chris Roberts told the players that advances in technology for Squadron 42 would be ported into Star Citizen. After all, the two games used the same engine so doing so made sense, right?

CCP Games is doing the same with EVE Frontier. The game under development will serve as a test bed for EVE Online. The obvious example is the Carbon engine. Frontier uses the newer version utilizing Python 3.12 while EVE Online's version of the engine still uses Stackless Python 2.7. But will the new map improvements coming to the EVE Online map do so from Frontier? While the two games are significantly different, some shared features may show up in Frontier first.

If Frontier were just about CCP making an EVE 2.0 the effort wouldn't raise eyebrows outside the EVE player base. But the development team is also creating a game utilizing blockchain technology. After listening to CCP Coin's presentation on Frontier's economic principles, I realized I needed to add a new condition to evaluating Web3 games: trust.

Players need to trust the games they play. EVE Online had its big scandal involving trust almost two decades ago. The T20 scandal in 2007 involved a CCP Games developer known as CCP T20. He was discovered to have used his developer privileges to unfairly benefit the Band of Brothers (BoB) alliance by manipulating the lottery system for Tech 2 Blueprint Originals (T2 BPOs). This gave BoB a significant advantage in the game’s economy and warfare.

When the scandal was exposed, CCP initially attempted to suppress discussions about it but later admitted to the wrongdoing after mounting pressure. Instead of firing CCP T20, the company had him publicly apologize and introduced new internal policies to prevent similar incidents in the future. This led to the creation of CCP’s Internal Affairs department and the Council of Stellar Management (CSM), which serves as a player-elected watchdog group.

Players also need to trust transactions in games. A famous example from EVE Online was the warp-to-zero bookmark scam. The Warp to Zero bookmark scam in Online was a deceptive trick that exploited the game's old mechanics before warp-to-zero was a built-in feature.

How It Worked:

• Selling Fake Bookmarks – Before warp-to-zero was officially implemented, players had to create bookmarks near gates to warp directly to them instead of landing 10-15km away.
• Scammers Sold "Warp to Zero" Bookmarks – Some players advertised bookmarks that supposedly allowed instant warping to gates, stations, or safe spots.
• The Catch – Many of these bookmarks were misplaced or completely useless, leading buyers to land far from their intended destination—sometimes in dangerous territory.

Why It Was Effective:

• Players were desperate for faster travel and often trusted sellers without verifying the bookmarks.
• Once the transaction was completed, there was no way to reverse it—the buyer was stuck with useless bookmarks.

CCP Coin's presentation flipped the matter of trust on its head. Instead of the blockchain creating player mistrust, the Web3 tech would increase trust in player-to-player transactions and lead to the creation of a stable player-run financial system. Such a financial system, one of CCP's desired goals in Online, didn't quite reach the level of adoption hoped for due to trust issues. The former Icelandic central banker used the EBank bank collapse in 2009 as an example.

The EBank scandal in EVE Online was one of the most infamous financial scams in the game's history. EBank was a player-run financial institution that operated similarly to a real-world bank, allowing players to deposit ISK (the in-game currency) and take out loans. However, in 2009, the bank collapsed after its CEO, Ricdic, embezzled 200 billion ISK and exchanged it for real-world money—approximately $6,100 AUD.

What Happened?

• Ricdic stole 200 billion ISK from EBank’s holdings.
• He converted the stolen ISK into real money through third-party sites, violating EVE Online’s End User License Agreement (EULA).
• CCP banned Ricdic, but the damage was already done—EBank suffered a massive run on withdrawals, leading to its downfall.

Why It Was Significant:

• It demonstrated how EVE Online’s player-driven economy could mirror real-world financial systems, including bank runs and fraud.
• It reinforced CCP’s strict stance against real-money trading (RMT).
• The scandal led to widespread distrust of player-run banks, making similar ventures rare in later years.

Honestly I'm not sure the use of a blockchain will accomplish what the Frontier team is hoping for. While the hiring of Stefán "CCP Kalirha" Þórarinsson was only announced two months ago, he has a much more impressive resume than I do where economics is involved than I do. Thus, I will, as the Russians say, доверяй, но проверяй (trust, but verify).

Finally, I do have some major concerns involving enforcement of the game's terms of service and compliance with government laws and regulations. Honestly even after attending the presentation I'm not sure what EVE Net actually is. I'm pretty sure acting as an interface between the game world and real world is part of the definition. But is EVE Net an actual platform? I'll need to research the matter further.

Edit: 8 May 2025 - I listed the wrong blockchain. It should be Redstone, not Polygon.

I do know the Frontier team is using the Polygon blockchain Redstone blockchain which is designed to work with Ethereum. Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain platform that enables smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). Here’s a summarized description.

1. Blockchain Structure - Ethereum operates on a distributed ledger, meaning transactions are recorded across multiple nodes globally. This ensures transparency and security.
2. Smart Contracts - Unlike Bitcoin, which primarily handles transactions, Ethereum allows developers to create smart contracts—self-executing agreements with predefined rules. These contracts run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
3. Consensus Mechanism - Ethereum transitioned from Proof of Work (PoW) to Proof of Stake (PoS), making it more energy-efficient. Validators stake ETH to secure the network and validate transactions.
4. Ether (ETH) - ETH is Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency, used for transaction fees, staking, and interacting with dApps.
5. Decentralized Applications (dApps) - Ethereum hosts thousands of dApps, including DeFi platforms, NFT marketplaces, and decentralized exchanges.

An important question is whether Frontier will need to run on a more centralized blockchain to meet governmental regulations? In the EVE Net session the subject of laws was broached by a question about casinos, which can violate national gambling laws. A prime example that came to mind is complying with the European Union's "right to erasure" embedded in the General Data Protection Regulation. If the blockchain is forever but the EU thinks differently, how does CCP resolve the conflict? From the session I learned those issues are still under discussion.

When the videos of the Fanfest presentations hit YouTube I hope to do a more detailed breakdown. But for now I wanted to get some thoughts up in a post before news of Fanfest reaches its expiration date.

Cloud Imperium Games Lost $20.2 Million In 2023

On Friday Cloud Imperium Games released its simplified annual financial report for the 2023 fiscal year on its corporate website. Depending on how one views the data, CIG had either its worst financial year since 2017 or its worst year ever. The company reported total revenue of $142.9 million and total outlays of $163.1 million for a total loss of $20.2 million. The single year loss in 2023 was the largest in company history, outpacing 2019's loss of $9.7 million.

Before continuing the timing of the release of the report needs to be addressed. According to the report:

The basis of this analysis remains the management accounts numbers that underpin the financial statements we provide to our auditors, upon which they perform their work for the annual audit.

As we know from the earlier release of the 2023 accounts for Cloud Imperium UK Ltd the auditor only signed off on their report on 27 March 2025. Even then the auditor only gave a qualified opinion of those reports, but that was based on the put options available to some of the minority shareholders. I did not see anywhere in Friday's report covering the entire company where the dispute would impact the numbers presented, so the put option issue can be placed to the side for this post.

Income

CIG reported revenue of $142.9 million, a record amount for the company and a 9.3% year-over-year (YoY) increase over 2022's total of $130.7 million. CIG gave a brief overview at the beginning of the report.

Income grew again, up 9% to $143M, with regular sales up 5%, subscriptions up 23%, and other income up 50%, the latter owing both to the acquisition of Turbulent and a change in our operations as we intensified development in the UK.

For those wondering about the effects of inflation, in constant 2023 US dollars, overall income only increased by 5%.

An interesting fact is that the Pledge Counter doesn't actually track all revenue from the Pledge store.

Pledges / Sales (from Counter) This line is taken directly from our daily published Funding Stats Counter, showing the net receipts from our backers and customers. The vast majority of sales are of starter pack sales granting access to the Star Citizen alpha game, as well as spaceships and digital items immediately delivered and playable in the game. A smaller fraction of sales came from pledges for concept ships, which all come with an included “loaner” ship for immediate use and playability within Star Citizen alpha. Due to exchange differences and small items that are not included in the counter, such as shipping costs charged on physical goods, the counter does not completely represent all revenue received. Other than subscriptions (referred below), these differences are included in the final income line to give an accurate representation of total sales received.

Except, beginning in the 2022 financial year report, the number is not taken directly from the Funding Stats Counter. For 2023, the counter showed $117.6 million in sales while the graph above shows $119.3 million. Sure, the difference is small (1.4%) but after some time the difference will become noticeable. Including 2022 the difference is now $2.3 million.

By the way, for those who think CIG is artificially inflating their sales numbers, the issue described is actually lowering the visible sales numbers.

In 2023 subscription revenue increased by 23.1%. The report glossed over the increase, but the $20 Imperator-level subscription did receive several upgrades during the year making the package more attractive.

The other income category increased by 50.1% in 2023. The report gave the following explanation.

The other income line represents partnership income with various hardware and software vendors, sponsorship income, and various local incentives based upon the nature and location of our development and production activities. It also includes any exchange differences as referred to above.

Following the acquisition of Turbulent in 2023, it also includes their local incentives and their third-party web service business, where this was maintained following the acquisition.

But make no mistake, the large increase is due to making Manchester a main development hub to take advantage of the UK Video Game Tax Relief provision in the law. The amount of money CIG received increased from $8.5 million (£6.9 million) in 2022 to $13.6 million (£10.8 million) in 2023. The increase in money from the tax provision accounted for 89.5% of the increase in the other revenue category.

Outgoes

What made 2023 such a bad financial year for Cloud Imperium wasn't the revenue but the spending. Back in February 2023 I estimated that CIG's spending would rise 15%-20%, putting spending in the $143.4 million to $149.6 million range. Since the actual amount of revenue for 2023 was $142.9 million, if spending actually had only increased 15%-20% I could not credibly call 2023 the worst financial year in CIG's history. Instead, spending increased by 26%, up to $163.1 million.

The report gave its own explanation for the increase in costs experienced by Cloud Imperium in 2023. The explanation is rather lengthy. If CIG's reasoning is faulty or sounds fishy, please leave a comment at the end of the post.

At the beginning of the year, we made the decision to move Star Citizen onto our StarEngine so we could take it to the next stage in its development and add and improve more features and content that we knew our community and customers were and are keen to see realized. Internally we marked this as the end of the long prototyping phase we had been going through and, whilst not changing our open development philosophy, we recognized this change in our development focus as a further step on the roadmap to commercial release.

As set out in my last report, we also made the decision at the start of 2023 that we needed to dedicate and ringfence more resources for our Squadron 42 game in order to get that game to feature complete by the end of the year – again a significant step on its roadmap to full commercial release. Hitherto it was all too easy to divert resources earmarked for Squadron onto Star Citizen to tackle live issues raised by our customers and community stemming from our latest releases, but this was at the expense of the Squadron development plan. So, although an expensive commitment, the decision was taken to devote these planned and required resources to Squadron 42 in the interests of making solid progress towards our ultimate goals.

Additionally, as also referenced in my last report, we completed in July 2023 the acquisition of Turbulent, whom we have worked with for over a decade, to provide not just the online customer and platform focused web services technology and support that we had initially engaged them for back in 2012, but to also tap into their game development talent that we had more recently grown with them and now brought in-house through this transaction.

As if that was not enough, towards the end of the year we held the biggest live CitizenCon event in our history to 3,000+ people in Los Angeles, where we were able to showcase the new elements we could now bring to the game with our StarEngine and demonstrated what those features might look like, many of which had been developed ‘behind closed doors’ as part of our Squadron 42 work.

This goes to explain the 26% increase in our expenditure, including capex, over 2022 with all cost categories up on 2022 except for capex, which was lower as 2022 included the bulk of the investment in the Rest of World Offices and facilities as outlined in the last report.

Since understanding the expenses is so important here is a brief breakdown of each expense category, including Cloud Imperium's explanation. I made additional bar charts as the one included in the report is rather messy.

Salaries

Salaries and related on-costs represent the total employee cost within the Group, excluding service-oriented publishing, community, and marketing personnel – whose salaries and related costs are included within that cost line.

This shows that salary costs increased markedly outside of the USA (+44%), representing both a growth in UK development and, through the second half of the year, all development and related costs incurred in Montreal, Canada following the Turbulent transaction. Including Turbulent, the Rest of World non-publishing and marketing headcount increased by 153 people (27%).

In contrast, US salary costs decreased by 20% following a 30% reduction in US development headcount during the year.

Salary costs don't equate with spending per employee. When looking at the spending for this category of employee one should note the effect of inflation. In constant 2023 dollars, spending per employee actually decreased 11.2% from 2021 to 2023. The acquisition of Turbulent doesn't account for the decline as 86.2% of the drop occurred from 2021 to 2022.

Other Group Costs (Overheads)

Other group costs include expenses for studio operations such as office rental, maintenance, travel, accommodation, IT, and other costs not included in the other cost categories. In 2023, these costs rose by 80% to $33.1M.

US offices and overheads grew by less than 5% as the group's US presence remained stable in 2023. The composition of the US operations changed somewhat with a reduction in development (as noted above) and only a small increase in publishing and marketing headcount. Consequently, the US offices were not expanded, and we would have reduced our overheads in the US were it not for our continued investment into our IT infrastructure, hardware, and software.

In contrast, the Rest of World overhead costs more than doubled, which was largely driven by three main factors:

• The Turbulent transaction during the year, which added almost 200 people to our group and over 13,000 sq ft of office space in Montreal, Canada.
• The improved office facilities of over 30,000 sq ft in Frankfurt, referred to in my previous report, which came fully on-line during 2023.
• And the same only more so with respect to Manchester, to which we added an additional 35,000 sq ft floor during 2023 to accommodate the planned growth expected there, for what is now by far the largest office in the group and the hub of our development operations.

One of the biggest questions was whether the new office space in Manchester and Frankfurt would in the long run save the company money. The answer is no. From 2021 to 2023 the overhead costs, mainly driven by office space, increased by 183.8%. Even taking account the effects of inflation by using constant 2023 dollars, overhead costs increased by 151.5% over those two years. In the 2025 report CIG will be able to drop the costs of running the Los Angeles facility, but as the graph shows the reduced costs will just mitigate the costs of CIG's new European homes.

Publishing Operations, Community, Events, and Marketing

These costs are associated with running the game, deploying online services, and providing customer support. It also includes the costs of running our platform, publishing, data hosting, and server costs. It includes sales collection, customer liaison costs, and the costs of our marketing and community events. Many elements of this cost line correlate closely with income and user engagement but in 2023 we also had two additional factors driving the 33% growth in this cost category to $39.7M.

• From July, the acquisition of Turbulent added 98 people in this area of the business (although this includes web services for third parties – generating incremental sales as noted earlier) now employed but supplying those services that were hitherto invoiced to the US.
• The CitizenCon event in Los Angeles, which attracted over 3,000 people to witness the unveiling of StarEngine and showcased what was therefore coming shortly to the Star Citizen game as a consequence of this technological advancement.

Despite internalizing our Turbulent Publishing services through the ROW from July, the bulk of our publishing and marketing operations continue to be run through the US, which accounted for 65% of spend in this cost category.

It should not be surprising that this spend category is increasing as our game reaches a wider audience, despite, from our perspective, it only just getting out of the prototyping phase. It is essential for us to support our expanding community and customer base while ensuring player engagement in the rich environment we are developing. Therefore, we continue to prioritize investment in our servers, platform, and community tools to enhance the Star Citizen experience, making it comprehensive, secure, and enjoyable.

As much as many Star Citizen players tend to believe CIG has no financial limits, the company's resources resemble a pie. Yes, the pie is growing, but the more players come to play Star Citizen, the more resources publishing requires. Which, of course, takes away, or at least severely limits the growth, of the resources devoted to developing the game.

The report also foreshadows the closing of the Los Angeles office, or would have if the report weren't released 5 months late. Not only was the company realigning itself to move software development out of the United States but its publishing operations were beginning to become more expensive as well. And with 20/20 hindsight, too expensive.

General and Administration

These costs represent insurance, accountancy, and other professional and legal fees not apportioned directly into the cost areas identified previously. An increase in our cyber security insurance cover and operations generally worldwide, adding fees associated with the Merger and Acquisition activities undertaken in 2023, meant these costs increased by £1.2M to $2.6M in 2023.

Not a lot to say about the category except that acquiring a company and getting anti-hacking insurance costs money.

CAPEX and Investments

This includes capital expenditure on hardware, software, fixtures, fittings, and offices. It varies with staff numbers and includes expenses for hardware renewals, server upgrades, and other security and infrastructure purchases.

It is included in this accounting as it represents an outlay for the materials required to develop and publish the games. Since the total capital expenditure amount is included here, we do not list the depreciation portion of such expenditure subsequently in the cost analysis.

Capex spending in 2023 was $7M, representing the tail end of the fit-out phases in the Rest of World locations that peaked in 2022 and was highlighted in the 2022 report. Also, more computers and furniture were needed for our increasing staff.

Capital expenditures, or Capex, is an important enough topic to expand upon further. The below list are some examples for a video game studio like Cloud Imperium.

• Technology & Infrastructure – Purchasing high-end servers, workstations, and networking equipment to support game development and live operations.
• Software Licenses & Development Tools – Investing in game engines, animation software, and development tools that facilitate asset creation.
• Office Space & Facilities – Buying or leasing studio buildings, office furniture, and equipment needed to house developers.
• Motion Capture & Production Equipment – Acquiring motion capture rigs, soundproof recording studios, and high-fidelity scanning tools for character and animation development.
• Research & Development Costs – Developing new technology such as procedural generation systems and advanced rendering techniques.
• Data Centers & Cloud Services – Expanding data hosting infrastructure to support the online aspects of the game, such as persistent universe storage and multiplayer functionality.

Unlike Operating Expenses (OpEx), which cover day-to-day costs like salaries and subscriptions, CapEx is focused on acquiring and upgrading long-term assets that sustain game development and live operations.

As for what we see from Cloud Imperium in post-2023 reports, I expect the numbers to remain low until the company balances its current revenue and spending. Perhaps CIG will reach balance in 2025 or 2026.

Headcount

The headcount analysis represents the people working at the end of the year under the broad disciplines identified. (Note: It is not average people numbers for the year).

Employee numbers increased by 225 (25%) to 1,085 worldwide by the end of 2023. As identified in much of the commentary above, a large proportion of this increase has arisen from the acquisition of Turbulent in July 2023, which added 198 people to our end-of-year headcount. These are separately identified above in the various disciplines.

US headcount decreased by 25 people (10%) as development reduced, being taken up elsewhere in the group, and publishing and marketing operations only marginally increased. Excluding the Turbulent headcount added in Canada, the Rest of the World headcount grew by 52 (8%) mainly in development, including some relocation from within the group. By the end of the year, the Rest of the World represented 80% of Global headcount (up from 73% last year) although this includes our studio in Montreal which is 18% of our global workforce.

Overall

The numbers in the cumulative net position are bad. How bad? The $20.2 million loss in 2023 wiped out any cumulative gains for Cloud Imperium on the project and put the total revenue for the project $13.9 million in the hole. The only reason CIG could have the limited layoffs they conducted last year and not have sweeping changes is due to the $63.25 million of outside investment made by the Calders in 2018 and 2020. Even then one or more of the minority investors were paid $1.9 million in 2023, reducing CIG's cash on hand at the end of 2023 to $42.6 million, a 34.1% reduction of the company's cash reserve. At Cloud Imperium's burn rate through 2023 the company had enough cash on hand to run for three months at the end of the year. Not exactly a good position but not really life threatening to the company either.

Then came the rationalization for 2023 and a scary preview for 2024.

In 2023, the Group made substantial investments in strategic and tactical areas to progress towards its mid- and long-term objectives. The acquisition of Turbulent brought approximately 200 people into the group, along with the associated overhead and related costs, while securing essential skills in key areas. Gearing up and dedicating development resources, particularly in the UK, advanced us to our release objectives, with the greater effectiveness that stemmed from this change in our development operations, but it did add to our costs. Thus, 2023 was a year where we expended some of our accumulated reserves to accelerate and further our business.

This investment bore fruit in the latter part of 2024 when we released Star Citizen 4.0, which included the initial phase of the Server Meshing technology we demonstrated at the 2023 Los Angeles CitizenCon event. But, this was at the expense of regular releases throughout the year and, whilst it allowed us to end the year well, sales were only comparable with the prior year.

At the 2024 CitizenCon in Manchester, we were also able to demonstrate the roadmap and plan for what we believe will be the 1.0 version of Star Citizen. We also showed the progress made on Squadron 42 by playing through live a chapter in the game and announcing a 2026 release date. Yet all these factors require investment at a time when the macroeconomic environment is unfavorable and the games industry is demonstrating it is not immune to these economic headwinds. Thus 2024’s results, when released, whilst showing some cost rationalization as we bed in the changes made in 2023, will follow a similar pattern. [emphasis mine]

Because the financial report was issued so late the report's author knows what 2024's financial numbers will show and is setting expectations now. Those expectations are the numbers will show another yearly loss of at least $10 million and likely between $15 million to $20 million. How do I know? The next paragraph provided a hint.

However, we firmly believe and are demonstrating that the investments we are making are worthwhile and our investor shareholders share our beliefs evidenced by their recent equity investments and financing – as referenced in our 2023 UK filings. This funding supports the business and replenishes our reserves ready for this next exciting phase in our life cycle. [emphasis mine]

That financial support took the form of purchasing $5 million in Cloud Imperium shares and providing a loan of £10 million, or $12.6 million. The $17.6 million provided, most likely by Keith Calder but not yet confirmed, falls within the $15 million to $20 million loss range. The comment about "replenishes our reserves" indicates the cash on hand was reaching uncomfortable levels for the accountants, if not CIG's auditor.

The conclusion of the report also supports the thesis of Cloud Imperium running low on cash.

So, 2023 involved significant expenses and similar costs are anticipated for 2024. However, progress is being made towards our goals, with a focus on achieving our key objectives. We are working towards delivering a high-quality gaming experience and universe of substantial scale and fidelity, which is made possible through the support of our current and future players and community.

The report indicated earlier that revenue, at least from the pledge store, was flat in 2024. If expenses were also similar in 2024 to 2023's then the loss should also be similar as well. Fans of Star Citizen need to hope revenue for 2025 increases greatly in order for the company to survive long enough to begin selling copies of Squadron 42.

EVE Fanfest 2025 - EVE Keynote

The final session of day 2 of EVE Fanfest was the EVE Keynote. I won't do a comprehensive breakdown of the session, but enough notable items were identified to warrant pointing them out for players of CCP Games' many games.

First on stage was CCP Games' Chief Executive Officer Hilmar Veigar Pétursson. After presenting a history of EVE Fanfest, Hilmar noted that EVE was becoming a platform with two games, EVE Online and the currently under development first person shooter EVE Vanguard. He urged people to visit Steam and put Vanguard on their wish list to help with the algorithm. CCP has even created a campaign similar to Kickstarter's stretch goals.

Hilmar then announced a big event called Nemesis occurring on 16 September 2025. 

Hilmar proceeded to talk about the other game under development, EVE Frontier. Not really a lot of news about the game except the project has progressed to the point the team was at Fanfest discussing the game. The news about Frontier Hilmar made were the gaming shows Frontier would appear on this summer.

Hilmar did confirm that Frontier is in effect working as a test platform for both the upgrade of the Carbon engine to Python 3 and the conversion of the engine to be open source. For those paying attention to the strings of dev blogs, the work on Frontier filters into EVE Online through the EVE Evolved technical track.

CCP Orca followed Hilmar to discuss the happenings on the publishing side of EVE. Now, the swords for the active alliances that have reached 10 years of existence and the Alliance Tournament trophy are nice stories, but CCP Orca did announce some news. First, Galaxy Conquest has reached 680 thousand installs. Perhaps not great for a mobile game but solid numbers for Pearl Abyss. The next season begins at the end of May.

Of note are plans to expand the tournament scene. The tournament tools will receive an upgrade and released to players so they can hold their own tournaments.

Titan Forge Games and CCP Games are releasing the EVE: War For New Eden board game, with the first tournament being held at Fanfest. The pair are going to develop a dice game, details to be released soon.

Next up were EVE Online Game Director CCP Rattati and Creative Director CCP Berger. CCP Rattati outlined a new approach to onboarding new players, one advocated by major null sec alliances for at least a decade. Get out of the way, give players the tools, and let other players teach new players how to play. Despite the existence of organizations like EVE University, the desire is to give a major role to the major null sec alliances. Given the success, or the lack thereof, of CCP's efforts throughout the years, perhaps the shift is for the best. Just don't expect career agents to be fixed now.

CCP Rattati then proceeded to make the major updates seen in the Equinox and Revenant expansions an official part of the development cycle. I did see where some EVE players have described the move as a de facto return to the old quarter system. However, the move to me seems more like the Final Fantasy XIV development schedule of a major .X point patch every 4 months with a minor .X5 patch every two months. CCP Rattati confirmed plans for a third major patch for the summer expansion during the third quarter of 2025.

CCP Berger came back on-stage and introduced the next EVE Online expansion, Legion. The expansion will launch on 27 May 2025. I was a little surprised at the timing as the last two summer expansions, Viridian (2013) and Equinox (2014), both launched in June.

CCP Okami and his team provided further information about Legion. Features planned are map upgrades, freelance jobs (a form of corporation project), ESI updates to support freelance jobs, corp palletes for the SKINNR system and updates to the corporation logo editor. The Equinox sovereignty system will also see the addition of three new categories of sovereignty upgrades. One of the upgrades will allow generating system effects similar to those found in wormholes. Finally, attacking entities in null sec warfare will have the ability to capture skyhooks instead of going through the experience of destroying the structures and the building and installing their own.

Well, not quite finally. No EVE expansion is complete without new ships. Legion will see the introduction of two. First is a Triglavian marauder, the Babaroga. The other is the long awaited Angel Cartel dreadnaught, the Sarathiel. The Angel dreadnaught will have the unique ability to use capital micro-jump drives even while sieged. 

Up next was CCP Collins to talk about EVE Vanguard. The big news he announced was a Steam early access launch date of summer of 2026. Players will also have access to the game through the EVE launcher. The early access is the point players will have 24/7 access to the game servers.

And of course, the presentation ended with a trailer.

The EVE keynote served as the introduction to the other keynotes given on Saturday so this piece is just focused on what I consider major, or at least noteworthy, news. Was I excited as I left the main hall of Harpa? Not really. Nothing really blew my socks off except the 2D map option coming to EVE Online. But as the company's leadership made crystal clear back in 2019, I'm not the target audience CCP is looking for. We'll have to look at places like Eve-Offline and various metrics in the game to find out how the message from the EVE keynote was really received.

Fanfest 2025: Upgrading CARBON to Python 3

About six weeks ago I wrote about CCP's efforts to upgrade the Carbon engine that runs both EVE Online and EVE Frontier from Python 2.7 to Python 3. Today I attended a session the provided more details about the effort.

CCP Aporia

Given by CCP Aporia, the presentation provided some additional details not known before. Or perhaps details provided a long time ago and just forgotten. One fact I probably should have expected is that the Carbon Engine which powers both EVE Online and EVE Frontier was extracted from EVE Online. I'm not sure how often such a process is as I believe today studios begin with a game engine (or create their own) before developing a game. Then again, the development of EVE began in 1997. Best practices in game development have probably changed over the last 30 years.

Now, I knew that Python 2.7 was depreciated in 2020 from the previous dev blog. One point I didn't think about was the lack of new programmers who didn't have experience in Python 2.7. I should have realized as the classes I've taken in Python over the years have all been conducted in Python 3.x, with the latest taking place in Python 3.12. 

A clever explanation

CCP Aporia did receive a question about why, if Python 2.7 was depreciated so long ago, was CCP just now getting around to upgrading the engine. He gave a rather generic answer but I think I know why. The developer told up that work on the upgrade began in May 2023 with initial planning beginning in March of the same year. Looking back, CCP released a press release announcing what was then known as Project Awakening on 21 March. Coincidence? Perhaps, but I think the information cements my theory that the Carbon engine upgrade occurred because of EVE Frontier.

Another interesting fact is that CCP, in conjunction with their partner Recked Digital, actually performed two upgrades. The first, upgrading from Stackless Python 2.7 to Stackless Python 3.8.1, was finished in November 2023. But then CCP made the decision to upgrade Carbon from Stackless Python 3.8.1 to Python 3.12. A forward-looking move as Python 3.8 was scheduled to be depreciated in October 2024 and Stackless Python would be archived in a read-only state in February 2025. The version of the Carbon engine upgraded to Python 3.12 was first used by EVE Frontier in June 2024.

Some of the benefits of making the switch to Python 3.12 is better observability of problems. A new tracemalloc package in Python 3.12 is much more effective at finding memory leaks than CCP's existing in-house tools. tracemalloc is a built-in module in Python used for memory allocation tracking. It helps developers understand how much memory their code is using and where potential memory leaks might be occurring. Key features of tracemalloc are:

• Tracks memory allocations, including the size and location.
• Provides snapshot comparisons to identify unexpected memory growth.
• Helps debug high memory usage issues by identifying problem areas in the code.
• Displays statistics on memory allocation per file and line number.

In addition, upgrading to Python 3.12 means receiving the latest bug fixes and performance improvements as they are released. Also, hopefully the developers will have the ability to implement a native replacement for the global interpreter lock once one is developed that is faster than the GIL.

The upgrade improved the performance of the Carbon engine by an average of 20%.

Now for the big question. When will EVE Online receive the upgraded engine? According to CCP Aporia the question remains up in the air. Two of the reasons are pretty straightforward. EVE Online is a live game and has a lot of players. Does CCP want to provide an unstable server for players for a week or two? I'm pretty sure the answer is no.

The third reason CCP Aporia talked about is one I intellectually knew about but didn't really consider before. EVE Online has a lot of history. A lot of history means a lot of data. Probably pentabytes (1024 terabytes) of data. Python 2.7 & Python 3.12 handle data in different ways, meaning data stored for handling by Python 2.7 may not be compatible with the way Python 3.12 processes data. I'm pretty sure players would hate to see big stacks of items disappear during a transition.

We may hear more information about the Carbon engine on the final two days of Fanfest. But for now I'm waiting for more news on when the Tranquility shard will receive another upgrade.

Cloud Imperium Records $7.9 Million In Cash Shop Sales In April 2025

Cloud Imperium followed up a record first quarter yesterday by finishing the month of April with $7.9 million in cash shop sales. The revenue amount, according to the CCU Game dashboard, represented a year-over-year increase of 52.6% over the $5.2 million in sales recorded in April 2024. For the first four months of 2025, CIG finished with $33.4 million in sales, a 48.5% YoY increase over the $22.5 million recorded during the same time frame in 2024.

The $807.5 million displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of April was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $906.1 million in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2022 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $807.5 million (through 30 April 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 $68.25 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 $974.4 million 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 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 April CIG once again exceeded the average from the three previous years. The 20.2% increase over the average showed more of a general satisfaction as no real event caused a spike in sales in the month. Overall, cash shop revenue is up 28.5% over the three-year average of $26 million from January to April.

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.

For the first time in months CIG experienced a large increase in new player accounts. Year-over-year witnessed an increase of 119.1% due to what I believe was an unexpected free-fly event. The CCU Game dashboard showed the increase occurred from 17-28 April, with the largest day of account creation occurring on 18 April with 5644 new accounts. For the year, account creation is still down compared to 2024 but the difference is now only 3.4%, down by only 5005 for the year.

Ongoing concerns - In April we were finally able to access Cloud Imperium UK Ltd's financial accounts for 2023. As we learned, record revenue doesn't necessarily mean record profits. But we don't know if 2023 resulted in losses as CIG has still not released the full report players became used to from for the years 2018 through 2022. I suspect so, but with downsizing occurring in the United States losses are not confirmed.

At this point I have to wonder what has changed. Have laws changed and the posting of the accounts on its website no longer required? Have conditions changed and the posting of the accounts is no longer required?

A Different View Of The EVE Economy

With EVE Fanfest starting tomorrow I'd like to go back to last Friday's dev blog and address a point.

Let’s talk PLEX - the primary currency of the NES, the backbone of player-driven trading, and, for many, a long-term investment vehicle. It’s no secret that PLEX plays multiple roles in EVE, and right now, those roles are colliding in ways that we believe deserve both attention and action.

I was a little surprised to find out PLEX is the backbone of player-driven trading. Either I'm way out of touch or the development staff speaks a different language than I do. I suspect the latter.

To me, EVE Online has a player driven economy so naturally all trading is player driven. And quite frankly I suspect that most players do not use PLEX to purchase ISK to buy ships, modules, and ammunition. But that is the non-RMT economy. I highly suspect the author of the dev blog was referring to the sale of RMT tokens and items from the cash shop.

Back in August 2019 I decided to take a look at the split between the value of non-RMT items vs items acquired with real life money like PLEX, skill injectors, and SKINs. Six years ago the breakdown was 50.9% to 49.1% in favor of the traditional game economy, although the null sec blackout was in effect. With all the changes that occurred starting in 2022 the ratio is probably reversed. If the ISK velocity data is any indication, the percentage of the economy consisting purely from PLEX sales I imagine is still running around 20-25%.

In context, of course the phrase was describing transactions involving the New Eden Store. After all, the title of the article was "Evolving the NES: Mastery Packs, Expert Systems, and a Smarter PLEX Economy". 

Still, I was a little surprised at the wording. Normally players can ignore how much of the economy consists of RMT tokens. I really didn't expect CCP would come out and remind people of reality, especially right before Fanfest.

EVE Fanfest: Wandering Around Reykjavik (Kind of)

The last 24 hours weren't too bad. I started last night off with a trip up to the Sky Lounge, the Center Hotel Arnarhvoll's bar. Located on the top floor, the place is a nice, quiet bar with a nice view of the harbor. I did discover that years of non-drinking have taken their toll and one beer had me buzzing. Considering I had a Gul Light I think I am now officially in the lightweight category.

Afterwards I decided to take one more walk. I went over to the 10-11 shop on Austurstræti. The 7/11 equivalent is at the bottom of the hill close to the Center Plaza. Perhaps more importantly Austurstræti houses a bunch of restaurants and pubs like The Laundromat Cafe, The English Pub and The American Bar. 

The view of The English Pub and American Bar facing Parliament

Across the street from 10-11 is a nice bistro I've visited over the years. A couple of CCP devs were over in front of the place talking to people. I went in, bought a couple bottles of Fanta and some snacks, and went over and talked to CCP Convict. I had a nice chat and left him because I was starting to get cold. I left him talking to people with someone urging him inside. Hopefully he didn't stay outside much longer. If he caught a cold, it wasn't my fault.

I woke up Tuesday morning jet-lagged, sore from walking up and down Reykjavik's hills, and maybe just a little hungover. I managed to get to the Sky Lounge for breakfast at 8 am. The meal was the usual buffet type arrangement but the scrambled eggs, sausage, and bacon were all cooked well. Personally, I'll give a place an extra star if the eggs come out right.

When I got back to my room I surfed the net looking for a little news. Failing that I watched the latest antics in the WNBA drinking water the entire time, laid down for an hour, and finally felt human around noon. Which, I should add is 7 am in Chicago, meaning my body clock still hasn't adjusted.

Lunchtime meant taking a stroll to see what was built around Harpa. Back in 2018 construction equipment was everywhere. Now in 2025 I see a new hotel and some high-end stores and other businesses. At least, they looked high end from the outside. Apparently a national investment fund from Abu Dhabi bought the hotel from the original owners.

The Edition (left) and Harpa (right)

I didn't remember the Icelandic Coast Guard docking ships so close to Harpa. The ship in the middle of the picture above is the ICGV Freyja. Acquired in 2021, the Freyja was not in service the last time I visited Reykjavik. I knew the harbor area featured new things, but a new ship was not on my list.

I eventually made my way to my destination: 101 Bistro. I always try to stop in for some fish & chips (fried cod and french fries for Americans) whenever I attend Fanfest. I also had a glass of Viking so the meal cost around $38. Maybe a little expensive but I can say I didn't just eat what I normally eat at home.

Oh, and on the way back to the hotel I picked up some more soda and a Kit-Kat bar. Unlike the United States, Kit-Kats are made by Nestle, not Hershey. I never really thought the two chocolates were that different until I ate my first Kit-Kat in Bulgaria. Ever since, I try to pick up a Kit-Kat whenever I travel abroad.

Now it's time to wrap up my first full day in Reykjavik. I need to do a little research before Thursday and staying in and not drinking might be smart. Hopefully early registration will occur Wednesday.

Travel Day To EVE Fanfest 2025

I succeeded in making my way to the Center Hotel Arnarhvoll overlooking the Harpa convention center and concert hall in Reykjavik. My last trip to the world's northernmost capital city was seven years ago, which coincidentally was the last time EVE Fanfest was held in Harpa. I thought I'd record some of the differences this year compared to my seven previous visits. And perhaps a few people might find something useful to take away.

The first thing I noticed was the ease in which I could obtain electronics designed for European electrical outlets. Going back to my travels to Bulgaria back in 2010 I always found finding adapters a pain. This year all I had to do is do a quick search on Amazon and I received everything in a day. I was even a little surprised because one piece arrived the same day I placed the order. Absolutely amazing compared to my previous travel experiences.

The second is inflation has really hit. The biggest piece of sticker shock was the trip to and from O'Hare Airport. The price has increased 50% since my last trip to EVE Vegas. Now, I have to admit some things have changed. The tip is probably included now because I didn't even have to pull out my credit card. All the charges were pre-handled. In return I received some piece of mind because I was receiving text messages letting me know they were setting up the trip. The driver arrived as I was putting the lock on my checked luggage. Really nice service.

Did I mention I flew Saga Class on Icelandair? Okay, the entertainment system was out for the trip. But I credit the seating for my ability to sleep on the flight. Sure, I didn't sleep well but I did sleep which made a difference for running around in the afternoon. I missed the meal but can testify the chocolate chip muffin was first rate. But the biggest improvement was probably access to the lounge. Icelandair doesn't have a lounge of its own in Chicago but I was able to access the one run by the Polish airline LOT. I had gotten through security and customs a lot faster than I thought I would and had three hours to kill. I really appreciated the lounge LOT runs and can't wait to see Icelandair's lounge on my way back.

My first roadbump occurred in the LOT lounge when I realize I forgot my charging cable for my phone. I have an old phone that uses a Type B micro cable. I was hoping to find one when I got to Keflavik airport as I sometimes think Keflavik is more shopping mall than airport.

As I hoped, Keflavik delivered. The airport has an electronics store, Elko, that has a wide range of cables, outlets, headphones, etc. Not only did the shop have the old cable but is located right by the luggage carousals so getting my replacement was really convenient. Plus, I didn't have to worry about recharging my phone's battery meaning I didn't need to buy a watch.

At this point I should make an observation. The reports of EVE's demise will only hold water once the customs officials don't recognize the mention of EVE Fanfest. Once again, telling the person checking my passport I was in the country to attend the convention was all the explanation required.

Speaking of Keflavik, the luggage unloading really impressed me. By the time I walked around the airport and did my impromptu shopping almost everyone had picked up their luggage. I'm used to O'Hare, one of the world's busiest airports. Flying into a much smaller airport brought some benefits.

Now, I did some trip preparation which paid off when arranging for my bus trips to and from Reykjavik. I'm carrying a notebook and on the first page is my travel information. Things like flight times and hotel details. Well, I'm not very good speaking Icelandic so I resorted to pointing to the notebook when explaining where I was going.

I was blown away when I reached the hotel. My 7 previous trips had prepared me to wait until check-in time unless I took advantage of a "early check-in" offer. My plan was to avoid the wait by taking a 10:15 pm flight out of Chicago, arrive at the hotel around 11-11:30 am, drop off my luggage and eat at The Laundromat Cafe. I walked into the lobby with an EVE playing couple a little after 11:30 am and we went up to the counter. Imagine my surprise when the nice young lady told me my room was already prepared and I could check in. I quickly took advantage, got up to my room, unpacked and took a shower, and was out the door walking around Reykjavik by 12:30 pm.

Needless to say, I accomplished the mission and found The Laundromat Cafe. And yes, the cheeseburger was just as good as I remembered although I now regret ordering a milkshake as well. I didn't know the exchange rate and my cheesburger, fries, and Fanta only cost around $30. I could have had a milkshake for only $4 more.

I picked up some ibruprofen on the way back from the hotel at a pharmacy. Unlike the United States where just about everywhere sells the drug, Europeans require going to a pharmacy where the drug is sold over-the-counter.

Armed with a full belly, some pain reliever, and a big bottle of water, I returned back to the hotel, took a nap, and wrote this first post from Reykjavik. Technically I still have 2 hours to go before my first 24 hours is complete, but I want to check out the hotel bar tonight. Tomorrow, I imagine the attendees will begin trickling in and I'll want to find some EVE players out and about drinking and eating as attendees of EVE Fanfest are wont to do.

New Changes To PLEX?

CCP Games announced the company was making a change in EVE Online's in-game New Eden Store on the Friday before Fanfest. The subject of concern is the the venerable currency known as PLEX. CCP has indicated the company has plans to change the system.

In 2008 CCP introduced an RMT token into EVE known as the Pilot's License Extension. An RMT token refers to a virtual item or currency in a game exchangeable for real-world money or vice versa. "RMT" stands for Real Money Trading, which involves transactions where players buy or sell in-game assets, accounts, or currency using actual money.

For example, in games like EVE Online, PLEX can be considered an RMT token because it allows players to legally trade in-game currency for real-world money value within the game's official system. However, unauthorized RMT activities outside the game's ecosystem are against the terms of service and can lead to penalties including account termination.

The original purpose of PLEX in EVE was to provide players with a way to pay for their game subscription using in-game currency. Players could purchase PLEX with real money and then sell it on the in-game market for ISK (Interstellar Kredits). The system allowed players to effectively fund their subscription through gameplay, creating a bridge between real-world money and the in-game economy. 

PLEX remained relatively unchanged until May 2017. The introduction of free-to-play gaming in the form of alpha accounts was introduced in Ascension release in November 2016.

However, the planned in-game cash shop currency, Aurum, was unpopular and ditched in favor of a revamped PLEX. On 9 May the following changes were implemented to PLEX.

1. PLEX Denomination Change: The shift from 1 PLEX to 500 PLEX was introduced to provide more flexibility for players. This change allowed smaller transactions and made PLEX more versatile for in-game purchases.

2. Aurum Removal: Aurum, the previous in-game currency, was phased out. Players with Aurum balances were compensated with PLEX, ensuring a smooth transition.

3. New Eden Store Updates: The New Eden Store was revamped to accommodate the new PLEX system, enhancing the shopping experience for players.

Despite some spikes, the price of PLEX remained relatively stable in the following 4 1/2 years, only rising by 8%, from 2,549,000 ISK on 9 May 2017 to 2,752,000 on 1 January 2022. 

The year 2022 was in some respects a watershed moment in the history of CCP Games. With revenue failing to keep up with costs, CCP made two decisions that impacted the PLEX market. First, as Friday's dev blog noted, CCP began introducing EVE Store products to the New Eden Store. According to the article, doing so allowed players to purchase them for PLEX and created a sort of parity between the stores. In other words, the company increased the uses, and thus the demand, for PLEX from those who purchased the currency with ISK.

Next, in May 2022 CCP raised prices. The monthly subscription cost for Omega accounts was raised for the first time since 2004. For example, the 1-month Omega subscription increased from $14.95 to $19.99. Discounts were offered for longer subscription tiers, such as 2-month and 24-month plans. The pricing and tiers for PLEX bundles were also restructured and the prices overall raised. In other words, higher real world PLEX prices resulted in an incentive to not purchase PLEX and cut down on the supply.

Rising demand plus lower supply usually means rising prices. And as I learned over lunch at a soup joint in Reykjavik at Fanfest in 2014, lower PLEX sales for CCP and game time code sellers as well. Apparently most people don't have a plan to spend $50 on EVE ISK and get as much as they can. Instead, players will figure out how much ISK they need and spend the minimum amount of real world currency to obtain the amount. Which means the higher the in-game ISK price of PLEX is, the less money CCP will reap from players buying ISK for dollars/euros/pounds/etc.

How bad was the inflation rate for PLEX? From the beginning of 2022 to the launch of the Equinox expansion 2 1/2 years later the average price of PLEX in The Forge rose 87.5% to 5,160,000 ISK. A commodity that had risen in price by 0.15%/month 1.2%/month for 55 65 months was now rising in price an average of 2.9%/month. 

Correction 6 July 2025: The figure from the change in PLEX in May 2017 to October 2022 should have been 1.2% over 65 months not 0.15% over 55 months.

The blaring issue with the supply problems with PLEX makes the next feature introduced in Equinox rather puzzling. The SKINNR system, the system in which players can design custom SKINs for their ships, requires PLEX. For those who don't want to wait, more PLEX is required. And yet, I didn't see any effort to incentivize the purchase of PLEX to put on the market with real world money. But perhaps surprisingly the average price of PLEX in The Forge has only increased 18%, up to 6.1 million ISK, in the 10 months since the launch of the Equinox expansion.

According to Friday's dev blog, here are the steps CCP has undertaken to address the situation.

Here’s what we’ve done so far:

• AIR Daily Goals now include PLEX as a permanent reward, creating a steady stream of accessible PLEX for active players.
• Seasonal events increasingly feature PLEX in their seasonal reward tracks.
• Occasional PLEX gifts mark special milestones and in-game events.
• Mysterious GalNet Crates I and II, featured in Twitch Drops and tradeable on the in-game market, also offer a chance at PLEX.

These steps help, but we know they’re not enough.

We’re exploring additional tools and mechanics that can rebalance the flow of PLEX, making it feel less like a speculative asset and more like a practical, fluid currency that powers your in-game choices.

I have additional thoughts about what I read. I'm also sure CCP Games will provide more details in the Fanfest presentations next week. But for now I really do need to pack everything now that my laundry's done. Which reminds me, I really do need to check out the Laundromat Cafe once I get to Reyjavik.