If you’re an EVE Online player that’s nervous about in-game store items like the Expert System consumable, then you really might be shaken by the latest post from The Ancient Gaming Noob, which outlines an emailed offer about a Skill Point Resurgence pack that sells 1,620,000 Skill Points for $43.99.
Fellow MMO blogger Wilhelm Arcturus points out that while the email is written like a personalized offer, similar emailed offers were made to his other accounts as well as others on Reddit, ultimately leading to what he feels has been a foregone conclusion for EVE’s monetization:
“We went from skill injectors to skill point give aways for compensation to alpha clone skill injectors to skill points in starter packs to skill points in packs in general and now to skill points sold directly under the guise of a special, personal offer… that is available to anybody who logs in… in just five years.
“We are almost there now, just millimeters from skill point packs being a regular item in the web store. If I were making predictions, I would guess that we’ll see these skill point packs before the end of Q2 2021. That the ‘personal’ offer expires on May 17th might be a tell as to when the pretense will be removed and it will be generally available.”
The topic of monetization was among the questions asked by EVE streamer Oz in his interview with CCP Rattati, the game’s Director of Product. In the interview, Rattati talks about the differences in what’s acceptable monetization in western markets versus eastern markets as well as the overall ethos for what’s sold in EVE’s store:
“Usually the best way to design monetization is to start from being helpful, try to find where we can actually assist the player in the best way possible and not exploit them. I think that’s where we’re trying to gauge; what is a good starter pack, what is a good kick-off point, and if you’re interested in that, that’s your prerogative to use or not.”
Rattati also offers assurance that Pearl Abyss has “literally zero” input on the game’s monetization strategies, and discusses the aforementioned Expert Systems; on that topic, Rattati defended the consumable as a way for new players to navigate the confusion regarding using Skill Points, at one point saying, “We definitely don’t want to sell Skill Points.” The full interview, which also talks about resource scarcity and redistribution among other things, is embedded below, while the talk about monetization starts at about 41 minutes in.
