EVE General Discussion

1Then Hardenthefuckup, also known as CCP, got up early along with all of his players. They encamped near the Tranquility server. The Nullsec encampment lay in the valley to their north, near the blue doughnout.

2THOR told CCP, “You have too many players with you for me to drop Nullsec into their hands, because EVE would become arrogant and say, ‘It was my own abilities that delivered me.’

3That’s why you’re to ask in full view of the players, “Whoever is afraid of losing a ship or is carebearing may go back from EVE Online and return WoW.” So 22,000 players left and 10,000 remained.

4“There are still too many players,” THOR told CCP. “Bring them down to hisec and I’ll refine them for you there. Therefore when I say to you, ‘This one will be going with you,’ he’ll go with you, but no one may go about whom I tell you, ‘This one won’t be going with you.’”

5So he brought his soldiers down to Hisec and THOR told CCP, “You are to cull out everyone who runs missions like a bot from everyone who ganks miners.”

6The contingent of players who ganked miners and bumped them numbered 300 men, but everyone else would run missions.

7Then THOR told CCP, “I’m going to deliver you with the 300 players who ganked by giving the Nullsec into your control. Send everyone else back to WoW.”

8So the players took their ships with them, along with their jump clones, and CCP sent all the rest of the players of EVE back to their WoW guilds, but he retained the 300 eleet. And the Nullsec encampment was below him in the server...

Good sir, I have started playing EVE during a summer. And it wasn't like this. Summer has nothing to do with it

I wouldn't be so sure.

On june 2013, the lowest averaged weekly PCU spot was recorded on the 27th, at 32,310 users. Remember, this is an average of the daily highest user count in a 7 days period (thursday to thursday, exactly).

With june 2014 soon to end, the highest point reached so far was recorded on the 5th, at 28,402 users.

So june 2014's highest is 4,000 users below june 2013's lowest. Actually we are at 2009 levels, and as july and august severely diminish activity, 2014's absolute lowest may drop below Incarna's.

Numbers don't lie: 20% of the players who were logged in in 2013 aren't logged in in 2014. And CCP just has fired 22% of its employees since december of 2013 (cancelling WoD provided a very convenient reason to dismantle the Atlanta office).

Same date last year had over 6000 more accounts connected to Eve (on a weekly average ). So summer has nothing to do with it. You are right though. It happens every year. It is just worst this year!!

6000 accounts divided by the average number of accounts a player has and we are looking probably at around 2500 RL players no longer playing.

Its huge! So the past success Eve had no longer seems to work. The roman empire lasted for a very long time. Still, it met its end like anything else (successful or not).

It's not that easy. PCU represents the maximum amount of player connected that day, which is only a fraction of the total accounts.

Assuming a straight correlation betweeen players logged in and accounts being paid, then it's easy to figure that 20% less PCU = 20% less subscriptions, which would naturally lead to 20% less revenue = 22% less employees = 20% less development expense = OMG, how did we get in here and how do we go out?

I believe Eve Offline's big graph on the link I posted shows weekly average. Not maximum amount.

The two questions you raise are the two main questions CCP needs to reflect on atm:

1- How did we get here?

2- How do we make Eve better to attract / retain players ?

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By the way, for those who think this year's world cup is a factor, during the 2010 world cup Eve had more players logged in then what we see now. Both world cups were pretty much at the same date. So...yeah!

Eve Online, dying growing since 2003 -and now shrinking.