It may look like this, but it isn’t certain.
There are several possibilities of what’s going on:
they are pushing Plex prices on purpose (by increasing in-game Plex demand)
they are trying to counter the rise of Plex prices, but it isn’t working (Plex sales, Plex vault, giant amount of AUR converted to Plex, Plex as event rewards)
they are simply not concerned and let the Plex market settle on its own (because Plex influx, consumption and stockpiling are in healthy relations)
Or all three at the same time:
Slowly driving up the Plex price to make it more attractive for real money purchases, while keeping the price increase at a steady and tolerable level and watching the data about Plex flow to make it possible to find the sweet spot where Influx is at a maximum with non decreasing prices.
In short: we don’t know anything, except prices have been rising up to now.
This is where I’m struggling to see why people are complaining. PLEX are a commodity introduced to combat RMT. They are a luxury that we are lucky to have in game. Their price is at the mercy of the market. If people buy them up and stockpile them then that is their choice. Nobody has any special rights to be able to afford them or otherwise.
Personally I just use them as and when needed at the prevailing price as I can’t be arsed worrying about it.
Technically you could buy fraction more IF (this if is extremely important and pretty much an edge case) you managed to sell at the top of the bubble and now buy at a deflated price.
Truth is there is a problem, also truth is the solution is not as easy as we may think. Plex pricing has a trickle down effect on the rest of the market. One example is I can buy and fit a carrier for about the price of 500-600 plex. I could do that this month, and it’ll be the same next month. Now we reduce the price of plex, say CCP decides to flood the market with plex at 1mil. that would put a carrier fully fit at 600 mil once the old stock is done, or about the price of the current rattle hull, think we have cancer now?
As someone who buys PLEX I would love to see the market for PLEX go even higher than it is now. This gives me more ISK for my $$$.
I only see high ISK/PLEX process as a “problem” for those who buy PLEX on the market.
As a side note, I started as an alpha, liked the game and subbed. I have zero problem paying CCP for the game, either in subscription or in PLEX to finance my in game activities. And if you enjoy the game you should as well since this is what drives continued investment by CCP into the game
Russians make up something like 7% of EVE players according to the last time CCP gave us some demographic numbers, and it could well be higher now. That’s enough reason to make a special deal for Russian players. But you see they don’t do it for everyone, because again, EVE is a western game with western pricing.
And no, CCP didn’t say there was some problem with plex prices, they were discussing general plex issues with the CSM and telling the CSM what they could do if they thought there was a problem. CCP also confirmed that SUBSCRIPTION was how the majority of EVE players paid for EVE (ie people who use plex to sub are a minority).
This “problem” only exists in the minds of that minority that came to be too dependent on something that only a foolish person would become dependent on. I the same way that EVE is a western priced game, in game, PLEX is and should be fore people who can afford it. In both cases it’s not something meant for the ‘masses’.
CCP are unlikely to do anything to lower plex prices because they don’t want to cause a run on the market. Currently, PLEX is a store of value, meaning that investors are holding a significant (I have no idea how much) quantity. If CCP were to interfere to try and push the price down, they would risk triggering a sell-off as investors cash out and the market crashes. This would be bad for them as PLEX is essentially prepaid gametime. So long as it is being purchased and not used, CCP benefits. If the price craters to the point that large numbers of players switch from subscriptions to PLEX to fund their accounts coupled by buying PLEX to sell for isk becoming less attractive, then CCP ends up with a large crater in their monthly revenue. The growing PLEX mountain is something that could cause significant damage to CCP’s bottom line if there is a significant downward shift, so it would be in their interest for the current inflationary trend to continue.
“CCP Quant opened the session by discussing the state of PLEX. He posed the question of
what issues were there with the PLEX market, and some of the changes they were
considering. One of the issue he raised was offshoring of PLEX, and that one of the options
they were considering was adding a special broker’s fee for items like PLEX. Aryth then
explained a scheme that is currently running on the market, where people are deliberately
trying to drive the market price for PLEX upwards.”
Nowhere in the snippet from the CSM minutes that you provided does it mention that the price of PLEX is an issue, it doesn’t even suggest it. It does mention issues with the market, the market and the price are not the same thing.
Frostys is right, the issues with the PLEX market are in how the goods are traded, ie things like offshoring; not the value of the goods themselves.
The issue highlighted in the bolded text is that it’s possible to drive the price up deliberately; the price is a result of the issue, not the issue itself.
Yeah, exactly how does that work? I have asked this before and failed to get a response.
Now, bubbles can and do form with assets all the time. And the weird thing is there is often no a priori logic for them form. People look at bubbles and conclude: the nefarious cabal at work…then the prices crash and they shut up for a bit.
