Eve has changed enough that it went from 500k paid accounts, to 250k free/paid accounts - simply because of itself, not because competition showed up.
I think itās around a million semi-active accounts. I think youāre right in that itās around 250k very active accounts (150k paid, 100k free), another 250k āday trippersā who only occasionally login and 500k that are mostly offline.
From my observations and interactions with people whom I started playing with in 2003 and various people whom I tried to explain EVE to over the years, having alternatives on the market greatly reduced the amount of crap in EVE that people are willing to put up with. There are now better multiplayer games or MMOs for lore and story, PVE, PVP, immersion, RP that additionally have a box price, are largely free to play or have a much cheaper subscription fee.
The economy aspect is probably still unique to EVE, but that only matters to a very specific kind of person who will end up plexing their account anyway.
Of course whatever we as individuals postulate is based on a very small sample size and anecdotal evidence, ultimately CCP has all the data they need to know exactly why people are leaving the game and whether the cost of removing these reasons is lower than the potential benefit, so this is all moot anyway.
Anyway, CCP should sponsor Josh Strife Hayes to do a video on EVE, even though he said he wouldnāt.
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Thereās still nothing out there that attracts the kind of narcissistic and dysfunctional personalities that EVE does. 
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Twitch Streaming?
Yes, because thatās worked so well so farā¦
Name one?
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Star Citizenā¦ Naw, Iām just messing with you. Although I often wonder what CCP couldāve done with $800+ million dollars in 8 yearsā¦ You know, Star Citizen made all that bank selling unique in-game ships. Hmmmā¦
About 40% of Eve players are new each year. Since online counts are steady, my guess is player count actually has been somewhat steady the last couple years too, which then means 40% quits every year too.
Post with link to CCP talking numbers, itās very brief near start: 40 - 45% not playing at beginning of year - #4 by Kezrai_Charzai
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Roblox and Minecraft
But Eve-Online is Unique. Still #1 Spreadsheet space MMO. Even the A.Iās agrees.
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If just one then WoW Retail/Classic/Hardcore/Seasonal/ā¦ for anything other than the open world full loot PVP aspect, Albion or Rust otherwise. Personally Iām waiting for Bitcraft thatās coming out in three weeks.
EVE is unique, donāt get me wrong, but itās comparatively scuffed, obscure and tedious and rarely my first recommendation to anyone unless they want a deep economy and logistics simulation specifically.
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CCP needs to quit over penalizing newer players trying an aspect out for the first time. Two examples would be the ganking experience and the losec experience.
No problem with ganking in any sec in the game, but there is a huge difference between ganking and then offering advice on fits/partial reimbursement/ or plain old encouragement from the aggressor to the loser verses the taunting/license offering/or continued targeted harassment elsewhere in the game. That part is on the players.
The second easy improvement is to quit telling people to try losec and then have them popped at the gate by some smart bomber or instant lock fleet. At least let them enter and catch their bearings before ganking them. There should be a strong enough NPC deterrence at only the first gate into losec to allow a newer player to step into losec and take a breath before stepping off the ledge and traveling to a mission,belt or station.
Iāve had numerous former ( and current) players mention those two aspects when the topic of how much time they now spend on EVE. Fortunately the first issue is a rare occurrence, but the second one is much more frequently brought up.
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Low-sec is really the low-hanging fruitā¦
Roblox i not even a game?
Minecraft is not an MMO. Is just a small multiplayer game where you can host your own worlds.
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That one is entirely on the players. The first thing to explain new players is Eve is full of homicidal maniacs, they do not engage for a reason or a challenge, they simply murder anything they see just because they can. People coming from more more mentally stable communities expect to just be able to fly through low sec unharmed in low value ships, because there is no reason to kill them.
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Strictly speaking it already exists, there are rules about rookie griefing and youāre not allowed to even attempt it in certain systems
https://support.eveonline.com/hc/en-us/articles/203209712-Rookie-Griefing
Ignore the date at the top the actual original article is much older and that was just the last time it was updated
If the players step out of those safe systems then they are considered free game
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Ah yes Moby Dick strikes again. 
Horrible movie. Give me the chance to wd the null blkās again and see how long that bloated chunk of junk can survive! 
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At this point, I donāt think CCP wants to retain new players, just suck their wallet dry.
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Might be a big reason Eve canāt retain players, most players have always wanted high sec.
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Unpopular opinion.
As a veteran player, high-sec was used to establish low and null sec groups in the early days. There was a lot of volatility and changing of hands and space continually.
The direction of travel for many years has been null-sec focused whichever way you slice it. It does look like pulling up the drawbridge to avoid competition or new blocks rivalling the status-quo. This has an overall negative effect on the game long term.
Fortunately some improvements have retained and made players return (including myself) - more can always be done, but this overarching crushing of ambition by vested interests has a large part to play.
There is an argument that its up to the players to sort, unfortunately moving goalposts and undermining of systems does not help. The issue starts and ends with nullsec pandering.
I dont envy CCPās task. but they have created a rod for their own back. If they stir the pot, nullsec get upset. Its virtually to the point where they are beholden to nullsec and all their related shenegians to manipulate the strings to keep the status quo.
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