Citing “global trends impacting general production costs and accounts for years of inflation”, CCP announced that they are increasing the 1-month subscription rate for EVE Online for the first time since 2004. This will also result in a reformulation of PLEX tiers. Naturally, the community has something to say about this.
The new price for a monthly subscription will rise from $14.95 to $19.99 per month, with discounted rates for signing up for longer-term subscriptions. With the increases, which go into effect on May 17th, they’re also adding two new tiers, 2-months, and 24 months. A 2-month subscription will drop the price of each month to $17.99 and if you subscribe for 24 months, your monthly rate will break down to $11.29.
PLEX tiers are also changing with 50 PLEX going to be $2.49, 1000 PLEX at $44.99, and 20,000 PLEX at $649.99.
Recent weeks have brought controversy over the selling of the Prospector’s Pack with a pre-made ship, leading to a vow to change, as well as other considerations so the community has been vocal about asking how this adds more value to the subscription and how many other possibilities did they consider before pushing ahead with a price increase? Of course, CCP did point out that the last increase was way back in 2004.
Feedback was critical and ranged from criticizing the amount of the increase, calling out the lack of significant new content in some time, to noting that this would make EVE the only major game with a $20 a month price tag.
User Kuno Akachi on the EVE forum said, “30% price increase and literally no content for 2 years. good job ccp, this will make me totally resub”. Others wondered if there could have been some kind of incremental price increases that didn't have to add up to such a big jump so soon. There is much varied feedback all across the community, but a general dissatisfaction about the timing and (lack of) content.
Recently, there was also an announced increase for RuneScape, which was also met with criticism. While citing inflation and expenses, those are things players are also impacted by.
With Fanfest happening next month in Reykjavik, surely they have plenty of time to prepare for an earful they may still be getting over this. See the announcement over at EVE Online.
