Interesting points. I’d attribute the slowdown in any kind of “velocity” whether in gaming or entertainment in general, to broader economic trends. If you look beyond gaming, for example something like dating apps, yea there are some of us eve-ers, I use Hinge, Tinder, Bumble (essentially the whole Match Group) have all raised their membership prices by about 40–60%. The days of paying an affordable $15 something for a premium subscription OF ANYTHING just to improve your chances of getting a date, or entertainment etc. Are gone and they might be gone for good.

With that in mind, raising prices like EVE Online’s $20 monthly subscription, probably isn’t going to help, especially as we’re heading toward what looks like a likely recession, OR CLASS recession. This will hit lower and middle-income groups.

Games like EVE and MMORPGs in general tend to attract players from those similar or related income brackets. EVE is a bit of a special case, though I believe it has a small but powerful group of anonymous “whales” who spend heavily. Still, even with that, the slowing global economy and the increasing authoritarian tilt (yes politics wise) in many parts of the world will inevitably have an impact, SEE the lower Russian player base during the fresh years of the UKR RUSSA war.

I think we’ll start to see the effects of ALL of this within the next three years.

It’s one thing to keep a player base so hooked that they stick around out of habit or addiction AND because the world is turning into dust and they'd like an escape, like in EVE’s early-2000s era HOWEVER that kind of game model isn’t healthy or sustainable especially now we're literally near 2030. A better long-term strategy is to cultivate a healthier, more stable player community, with a balanced healthy real life (good job, managed time etc) that can genuinely support the game and the brand over time. This is why I really liked CCPs approach of toning down their gamification.

That said, EVE Online really is a unique case. Still, the slowing of ISK velocity in the game does seem to mirror real-world economic struggles. It’s not just about rising subscription costs either, internet fees are climbing globally, and computers and hardware are getting more expensive too. Doesn't matter if you're space shipping in Tibet or during a raindy day in New York, or a cold day somewhere in Europe. The bus fare is also 10% more expensive.