A brief recap: Back in June of this year, CCP released the latest expansion for Eve Online, Incarna. Incarna brought a good amount of new content to Eve, but players were chiefly concerned with two aspects of the update: The Noble Exchange and Walking In Stations. Players are now able to buy cosmetic clothing for their characters, at rates some people found rather steep. Considering the factor that players were unable to see one another, CCP went ahead with the now infamous $70 ocular implant. The Captain’s Quarters (or Walking in Stations) was blasted for not having enough content and causing performance issues for players on lower-end machines.
Responding to player outrage, a string of poor PR moves only served to put CCP in an even worse light. At first, the company responded by making the poor comparison to how people pay more money for designer clothing. An internal memo leaked that discussed ships and bullets, but was later shot down by CCP as gathering random thoughts from the staff, and that the memo had no bearing on real company policy. CCP finally released an official statement that they had no intention on selling non-vanity items in the cash shop. Following that announcement, CCP dropped the ball by announcing that the $70 ocular implant wasn’t even the top tier of items, and that Eve would see a $10,000 gold plated Titan ship if they believed the ultra rich portion of the fan base would buy it.
Well CCP has released a couple of new blog posts, chief of which offers an apology by CCP Hilmar relating to his actions over the past few months. In the blog post, Hilmar discusses issues pertinent to the community, from the Walking in Stations portion being little more than a prototype glorified as a full feature, to the poor presentation of the cash shop. After some soul searching, Hilmar is ready to get CCP back on track, returning to the business players once loved.
I’m sharing these revelations with you now because it’s taken this long to transform them into action. From all this self-reflection, a genesis of renewal has taken root, a personal and professional commitment to restore the partnership of trust upon which our success depends, and a plan that sets the foundation for us to sensibly guide EVE to her fullest potential. In the coming days and weeks, the details of this plan and what it means for you will be unveiled. Part of what led us down this path is the fact we have not communicated well. This blog, and those that will follow, will hopefully demonstrate our conviction to transparency.
You can find the entire apology here with a look at future content here
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