The MMORPG EVE Online is suffering from a severe decline in players: The player count is at its lowest since 2006. Players attribute a variety of problems to this – but the developers reassure: The numbers look worse than they are. It seems that the summer slump of 2021, post-pandemic, is just deeper than usual.
What are the player numbers like? EVE Online is transparent about its player numbers. A status monitor constantly shows how many people are playing on “Tranquility”, the main server (via eve-offline).
The most exciting statistic for most players is the number of “PCU” – the “Peak Concurrent Users”, which indicates how many people were online at maximum in a day. This number has been decreasing for weeks, making players anxious. They are already referring to EVE Online as a “dying MMORPG”.
Recently the number fell to 22,645. As Kotaku notes, this was the lowest peak user count since 2006, so in 15 years.
The decline in numbers began in May 2021.
One could say now: “Well, with such an old MMORPG, that’s normal,” but in May 2020, EVE still experienced a comeback and was then as strong as it hadn’t been in 4 years. Something must have changed.
Players identify the economy in EVE Online as a problem
This is what players say is the cause: In a complex MMORPG like EVE Online, there are always a variety of complaints: There are always problems that plague players at any given time.
One of the current issues is a “ship scarcity” in the game. As Kotaku details, an extremely powerful mining ship, the Rorqual, was introduced to EVE Online in winter 2016. The introduction of this ship boosted EVE Online’s industry so much that there was a flood of new ships, including the mighty Titans.
But since 2019, CCP has swung back and made it harder to produce ships. They speak of the “Age of Scarcity.” A major war, probably one of the largest in the history of EVE, has significantly reduced the existing number of ships because so many were destroyed.
The complaint now is:
- All those who farmed like crazy between 2016 and 2019 are now uncatchable in the lead
- All those who have to produce under the “now applicable, more difficult conditions” are at a disadvantage
Kotaku refers to a “burnout among industrial players, who are already plagued by tax burdens.”
In addition, there is a controversial monetization action from CCP: For €5, CCP offers new players to return their ship if they lost it in a fight with another player.
This is what the developers say: In a statement to Kotaku, it is said that the numbers look worse than they actually are.
While the “peak player count” has declined, the number of daily active players is decreasing significantly less drastically.
At CCP, they apparently believe that players are currently still connected to EVE but simply play less than before.
CCP does not view the “promotion” as being as severe as portrayed in the outraged comments from fans. This offer is likely presented to only 1% of the affected ships. One must also specifically search for this offer; it does not jump out at you.
Summer slump following Covid-19 even deeper than usual?
Here’s what it’s about: We have seen an overall decline in active users in gaming since May 2021. There have been some horror reports of declining player numbers from some games, like the constantly burning CS:GO:
- Also on Steam, the player count rose steadily from August 2020 to April 2021. But then in May 2021, it suddenly fell.
- On Twitch, the average viewer count dropped from 3.1 million (April 2021) to 2.6 million (July 2021), after months of significant growth.
So, the summer slump is surely also responsible for the decrease in player numbers in EVE, which comes every year with gaming and EVE Online.
In short: With better weather, people are more outside and less indoors; they simply play less. Because the gaming industry knows this and has adapted, new game releases are rarer in the summer than in the autumn.
The summer slump in gaming in 2021 is particularly deep due to the aftereffects of the Corona pandemic. Players were partly in lockdown for 16 months and had plenty of time for EVE Online: Now, as the restrictions ease, even the hardest gamers are likely to focus more on real life again.
A hardcore game like EVE Online, where some suffer from oversaturation or burnout, could be hit even harder by the “post-Corona summer slump” than a “normal game.” Also because EVE is so transparent about its player numbers, the drop in player numbers is particularly noticeable.
Whereas for most games and platforms, the number of users does not fall as dramatically as in EVE Online: That seems to be a special case.
EVE Online is a fascinating game that threatens to consume anyone who dives deep into it. The dimensions of EVE Online are huge:
War in EVE Online burns 360,000€ of resources that players gathered over the years
