Posted - 2011.06.29 16:13:00 - [1]

 

(tl;dr is at the end of post)

This is an open-ended discussion directed at the CCP development team and its playerbase. While my assumptions might be incorrect, I think it would be safe to assume that CCP has introduced its questionably priced vanity items in the Noble Exchange Store as a way to make money to fund their company, as well as their other projects Dust 514 and WoD. I'm by no means a business or financial expert, but by looking at the following graph, I noticed a trend (which I've noted in bright, gross colors for all to see.)

EvE Online Subscription Graph

I had only joined EVE after Apocrypha had been deployed, but I've been told by many that it was the most successful and invigorating expansion CCP had developed to date. It introduced a lot of new SPACESHIPS content that allowed people to explore and build new things, as well as adding a new element to PvP in wormholes. It was an expansion that appealed to ALL players. As you can see from the graph, CCP gained over 50,000 NEW subscriptions due to the Apocrypha expansion. That is a LOT of revenue!

Afterwards, CCP released the Dominion and Tyrannis expansions. While I'm not one to comment about Dominion (never done the 0.0 sov content myself), the Tyrannis expansion was very ill-received by the community. Planetary interaction was poorly implemented and disappointed players who had been promised to be able to rule planets as a benevolent leader, or a tyrant. Nearly no new space content had been implemented.

So the suggestion and discussion I direct at CCP and the players respectively is this: It is very, very obvious from that graph that new and exciting space content sells. 50,000 subscribers is not a number to dismiss as a fluke. If CCP really does need the revenue, they need new content, not a highly controversial microtransaction store.

CCP should open Jove Space to the players. Introduce new quests, skills, weapons and ships. It would be the success of the Apocrypha expansion all over again! The lore has been 8 years in the making and it is the unknown reaches of space that the players are most interested in. Give us Jovian content, CCP, and you will see your subscription numbers soar!

My 2 cents.

TL;DR: CCP should introduce Jove Space content to get more players. Apocrypha has shown that exciting new space content will attract subscribers (over 50,000). Implementing Jove Space, something that all players have wanted to explore for the past 8 years, will, in theory, attract new and old subscribers alike.