Summer Expansion - Incarna

[Pantastic]

Can we stop calling these microtransactions, please? I think paying more than retail price of a newly-released AAA game makes them more some sort of...macrotransaction.

It's really amusing to me because microtransactions were originally about selling things that cost really tiny amounts of money, aned the problem people discussed was that you need some kind of new payment system to handle them, since credit cards don't really work for a $1 charge. The idea was that if you got payments sorted out, you could make money by selling stuff so cheap no one would really notice the cost, and since it's all digital stuff you don't have any per-copy cost. Now they're charging more for one item than the base game costs for a single item, but calling it 'micro' because that's a buzzword.

Also, I have to thank this thread for sticking the phrase $1000 pants into my mind, I had no idea that Icelandic trousers were so expensive.

[Amarr HM]

Mega-transactions.

[Sparky]

[Simond]

One-off profit from selling 52 internet spaceship cybermonocles @ $70 ea. = $3640.
Monthly profit lost from ~1.5K ex-players cancelling their ~3.5K accounts @ $15/mo. = $52, 500 per month.
CCP = $1000 pants-on-head retarded.   

[eldaec]

It is unlikely that ccp are making anything close to that amount of revenue from monocles.

Only veteran empire pubbies with limitless isk are going to be buying them, and they'll be buying plex from the market.

 
CCP will only gain any revenue if there is enough of a material impact in the plex market to encourage more newbies to purchase plex from ccp and sell them for isk.

Personally I can't see there being an impact for years, as plex stocks are enormous - and prices are driven by a very sticky community opinion that 30 days of eve are worth around 350-390Misk. Massive oversupply has not impacted pricing, I doubt that insignificant extra demand will have an impact either.

[Amaron]

CCP will only gain any revenue if there is enough of a material impact in the plex market to encourage more newbies to purchase plex from ccp and sell them for isk.

I don't totally disagree with you but you're forgetting that people can just buy Plex directly and turn it into monocles.   Their end goal is actually to make sure the price of Plex's doesn't go up much at all.

[eldaec]

CCP will only gain any revenue if there is enough of a material impact in the plex market to encourage more newbies to purchase plex from ccp and sell them for isk.

I don't totally disagree with you but you're forgetting that people can just buy Plex directly and turn it into monocles.   Their end goal is actually to make sure the price of Plex's doesn't go up much at all.

Except bitter vets would never do this because 350Misk is trivial to them and not worth $15.

Cute newbies would never do this because a vanity item means little in a game you have no attachment to.

The only way to break this stalemate is either to burn through the plex stockpile so that prices rise, or introduce non-vanity pay to win RMT so that cute newbies might be tempted.

[Stabs]

The market price of plex has been tumbling as speculators had been getting plex ready for a brisk trade in relisting aurum items. Instead the market is very slow, most people just put their plexes back on the market.

I bought a monocle a blouse and a pair of boots and marked them up at 20% over the isk value. The blouse has sold and the monocle has got close, it's been the cheapest a couple of times after other monocles beneath it sold out.

One of the problems is that this monocle is a huge POD ME sign. It's as if CCP looked at the broken bounty system and made it work as long as you voluntarily spend a billion and a half isk to get on everyone's list as primary target.

I hope the next cash shop features includes the ability to put a monocle on another player. I'd love to turn up to the jita protest and stick one on some unsuspecting person then /popcorn while they get devoured by an enraged mob.

[Amaron]

Except bitter vets would never do this because 350Misk is trivial to them and not worth $15.

Discussing who would buy it is  .   If any of you entertain the notion that you understand with accuracy who would buy one of these things: SEEK HELP.

[eldaec]

The monocle costs about the same as a faction BS + fittings, or a few supercap mods. Plenty of people can afford that just for shits and giggles.

[Stabs]

I sold a blouse for 600m isk. Looking at the bio of the person who bought it she's a low-sec pirate who just wants to look cool.

[Kageru]

The question is how many of the monocles are being sold to troll the people upset about it. It's sales are being assisted by it being the focus of the debate.

... must say though, it also looks really crappy. If I was paying 1.2billion in in-game currency I'd want something that looked a whole bunch more flashy and less like someone had punched a cheap digital watch into my face.

[eldaec]

Personally, I give zero fucks about the pricing. I have no plans to use $s to buy anything ever in eve, and ccp's piss poor marketing will slow the inevitable spread of RMT into pay to win items (and therefore delays the day I unsub), so it's all good.

[Kageru]

Nobody really cares about the monocle other than as evidence CCP have lost the plot. It's their support for the eventual progression to performance enhancing RMT goods that has people up in arms.

[Comstar]

Someone posted on a random blog that Sony is in talks with CCP to buy a controlling interest in the company. NO further information, the blog's been cleared of the text already, and nothing anywhere else. Could be a troll, but the Eve-o forums are flying with it. Smedly did say he was going have to big news on the sandbox front shortly...could this be it?

[sinij]

I see MTs in sub mmorpgs like commercials on cable - greedy suits will push it until it happens, consumers would rather not have it and  when it finally happens it will change entire mmorpg scene for a decade. Just like I don't subscribe to cable, I won't be subscribing to MTs mmorpgs, unfortunately I am in minority.

CCP epic clusterfuck is nothing but a gift to gamers, its effects will make suits pause and perhaps offer gamers lube before ramming MTs up our asses.

[palmer_eldritch]

Except bitter vets would never do this because 350Misk is trivial to them and not worth $15.

Discussing who would buy it is  .   If any of you entertain the notion that you understand with accuracy who would buy one of these things: SEEK HELP.

I know who

[palmer_eldritch]

Someone posted on a random blog that Sony is in talks with CCP to buy a controlling interest in the company. NO further information, the blog's been cleared of the text already, and nothing anywhere else. Could be a troll, but the Eve-o forums are flying with it. Smedly did say he was going have to big news on the sandbox front shortly...could this be it?

CCP Fallout: i can confirm that SOE has not purchased, nor are we discussing a buyout, of CCP.

http://twitter.com/#!/CCP_Fallout/status/85041773906374656

[eldaec]

The tone and demeanor of my blog on Friday did not correctly portray my emotions towards the community and player base at large. I love and respect EVE and its community on a level that's hard to really do justice in words. However I let my frustration take charge of me, fueled by emotions that had built up due to a breach of trust we at CCP have been experiencing over the past few days. I know that sounds ironic considering those are the exact same feelings you have been having towards CCP.

For that I am sorry.

Having cooled off a bit and taken a solemn look at the situation, I see it's clear we need to strengthen the deep mutual trust and respect that's been so unique and descriptive of our relationship. There are certain questions you want answered and there isn't room for more error in our communication on those topics or our perception of the root causes.

Therefore we have asked the CSM to join us in Iceland for an extraordinary meeting June 30th and July 1st to discuss the events of past week, to help us define and address the real underlying concerns, and to assist us in defining and iterating on our virtual goods strategy.

The result of this meeting should be mutual agreement of how virtual goods and services will evolve in EVE. Other issues may be brought up and we urge you to contact the CSM with your comments and concerns so that they may be addressed at this session.

However, just to prove the point of the Fearless newsletter and give you a further understanding of what it is then there are no and never have been plans to sell "gold ammo" for Aurum. In Fearless people are arguing a point, which doesn't even have to be their view, they are debating an issue. This is another example of how information out of context is no information at all.

Due to the volatility of the topic we want to refrain from any further comments on this matter until after meeting with the CSM.

However, in a different context...

Two Step: that isn't gonna help
Two Step: and can you please answer my question?
Two Step: 1) Is CCP planning on selling non-vanity MT
CCP Zulu: CCP plans on evolving its offering of virtual goods based on player demand

[Comstar]

2 Days from now in Iceland

The Mittani: CCP Hellmar , Did you order the Gold Ammo?
CCP Zulu: You *don't* have to answer that question!
CCP Hellmar : I'll answer the question!
[to The Mittani]
CCP Hellmar : You want answers?
The Mittani: I think I'm entitled.
CCP Hellmar : *You want answers?*
The Mittani: *I want the truth!*
CCP Hellmar : *You can't handle the truth!*
[pauses]
CCP Hellmar : Son, we live in a game that has servers, and those servers have to be paid for by players with money. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Selenne? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Eve Online, and you curse the developers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Eve Online's death, while tragic, probably saved my ability to buy pants. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves games. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at Kugastman, you want me on that Blog, you need me on that Blog. We use words like honor, code, honour. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and posts under the forum of the very game that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you start up a game company, and make your own game. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
The Mittani: Did you order the Gold Ammo?
CCP Hellmar : I did the job I...
The Mittani: *Did you order the Gold Ammo?*
CCP Hellmar : *You're Goddamn right I did!*

[Kitsune]

So they're going to blow more money paying last-minute airline ticket prices to fly people to Iceland than they could possibly have made on monocles.  That's smart.  It wouldn't be a bad investment if doing so would make the disaffected players happy and come back, but I can't imagine anything that they could tell the CSM that would un-clusterfuck this at this point.

Well, wait.  If they told the CSM, "We've hired the best coders in the industry to fix one long-standing problem a week for every week for the next year, all paid for by monocles."  It might work.

But the fact that they haven't done fuck all to fix huge gaping problems in the game for years but still spent the resources to foist this shit on players is just a pure insult to everyone who pays them to play this game.

[palmer_eldritch]

I love the idea that they have asked people to drop whatever they were doing (such as going to their real workplace) and take a plane to Iceland in the middle of this coming week so they can discuss video games for two days. I'm sure the CSM will turn up though.

[eldaec]

I did hear that at least one of them has retired and bought a house with cash, also a puppy.

[tgr]

And a sabre.

[tmp]

I love the idea that they have asked people to drop whatever they were doing (such as going to their real workplace) and take a plane to Iceland in the middle of this coming week so they can discuss video games for two days. I'm sure the CSM will turn up though.

The scenario is only missing the local volcano there going active for the third time and grounding all flights, turning these two days into couple weeks.

[kildorn]

Why on earth would you fly a mess of international people over on short notice plane flights to chat about something that could be cleared up in minutes if you'd just give straight answers. Pretty much any answer I can give to that comes up with "we need to get the CSM on message, because our straight answer would cause more rioting"

[Comstar]

Maybe they want the CSM to meet the man who owns 30% of CCP, and is undoubtedly driving a lot of this. A convicted criminal and a taile of intrigue, bribery, murder..and Illinois Nazi's. i am not kidding. Mitten's needs to be careful. Or be on a mission from God.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCP_Games

CCP hf or CCP Games (Crowd Control Productions) is an Icelandic video game developer and publisher, majority owned by the company's staff and founders, Novator Partners and the American investment fund General Catalyst Partners.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novator_Partners

Novator Partners LLP is an English private corporation, specializing in telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and financial services. In addition, Novator operates a Private Equity Fund and a Credit Opportunities Fund. The company is based in London and led by Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson from Iceland.

The owner or owners of Novator are hiding behind a web of companies which includes companies in places such as Cyprus, Cayman Islands, Delaware, Gibraltar, Tortola (British Virgin Islands), and Luxembourg.[1]

Investigations published in Denmark suggest that the underlying companies are linked to Russian companies.[2]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rg%C3%B3lfur_Thor_Bj%C3%B6rg%C3%B3lfsson

Novator Partners, which is managed by Björgólfsson, has bought assets around Eastern Europe. The company's owners are unknown.

Two of Björgólfur's companies, Landsbanki and Straumur, left the Icelandic people with several billions of dollars in debt, when they went bankrupt following the Icelandic Financial crisis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straumur_Investment_Bank

The company was mainly owned by Björgólfur Guðmundsson and his son Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson. The latter was also the chairman of the board.

On March 9, 2009, Straumur was nationalised by Icelandic authorities; according to Straumur, its "liquidity position was no longer strong enough to sustain activities".

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1644916/Icelandic-billionaires-face-the-crunch.html

Investment company Samson Holdings, in which Thor and his father were equal partners, owned 41% of Icelandic bank Landsbanki, which was nationalised by the government in Reykjavik last week. The bank stake, worth about £415m, was Samson's only asset and with that investment now thought to be worthless, Samson has been put into administration. The tangled web of Icelandic banks and business means the final price to Thor and his father could take months to emerge.

Later that year during a radio interview, former Icelandic Prime Minister David Oddsson accused him of offering a 300million krona bribe. Bauger refuted the claim. Last year the Icelandic Supreme Court found him guilty of false accounting and passed a threemonth suspended prison sentence.

Landsbanki is the parent of Icesave, the internet bank whose collapse last week threatened 300,000 British account holders, with £4.5billion assets. Mr Gudmundsson's wife, Thora Hallgrimsson, 78, was once married to a Nazi, former US Marine George Lincoln Rockwell.

They were married by her uncle, the Bishop of Iceland, in 1953 and moved to Virginia where Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party. When Icelandic paper DV tried to reveal the Nazi connections in 2005, Mr Gudmundsson tried to buy it in an attempt to stop the story.

http://eyjan.is/2008/10/20/umfjollun-um-tengsl-islendinga-og-russa-ur-russnesku-dagbladi/

(Translation, so dodgy to read):

For example, in December 1992, the FAC St. Petersburg mayor’s office has registered a company CJSC «Boltik International» (registration number 3303-AOL), founded by Victor Anitsev and steel company Baltic Group Limited, registered in the anonymous mailbox in the town of Kin Town – the capital of the British Virgin Islands. Virginia offshore belonged – Attention! – Bergolfuru Gudmundsson (Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson) and his son Bergolfuru Toru Bergolfssonu (Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson). Now, father and son headed the list of the richest people of Iceland: a son, according to the «Forbes», was the first dollar billionaires and – again attention! – Co-owner of two (of three) grohnuvshihsya, banks Iceland: «Landsban ethicists» (Landsbanki) – desolate, and «Kaupting Bank»-take control of the state.

In March 1995, was established by another company – OOO «Mall« ROSA »(Liteiny Ave, 41), which is less than a year, in February 1996 th, changed the name and address – became known as OOO« Bravo »- and Remmehzavoda moved into the territory, and its leader became Magnus Torsteyns-son, friend and companion is already familiar to us Gudmundsson and Bergolfssona. The next step was the establishment in August 1996, OOO «Bravo International» (December 1997-JSC «Bravo International»). Co-founders made 6 registered at the same address in the Cyprus town of Limassol. President of the company – all the same incredibly active Icelander Tor Bergolfsson.

Finally, in March 1997 the first was established yet and CJSC «Bravo service» (founders – the company «Hyudzh Holding Limited» (one of the same six-Cypriot) and «Bravo International». Gendirektorom the company was Sergei Sanne, now occupies the post of Director Social Policy Ltd. «Evrazholding». Firma «Bravo International» successfully varila beer «Bochkarev» and had no problems in St. Petersburg, and after Anatoly Sobchak in 1996-m lost the election, but Vladimir Putin moved to Moscow. A So those of competitors Icelandic-Russian breweries, however, problems arise time and again. And how! 10 January, 2000 fell victim to killer deputy director of «Baltic» Ilya Weismann, but was killed before the Director General of the dealer company «Baltic» Aslanbek Chochiev. (edit- Holy shit).

A Icelandic businessmen meanwhile shown on Russian soil, all new successes. In March 2000, in St. Petersburg was opened Honorary Consulate of Iceland. And honorary consul was appointed … surprise, surprise! – Yes, the same son-billionaire-banker and president of «Bravo International» Tor Bergolfsson. Honorary Vice-Consul became Magnus Tor-Steinsson. At the ceremony on 10 March was attended by Foreign Minister of Iceland Halldor Ásgrimsson and St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev.


------------------------------------------------------------
Well...that goes down the rabbit hole dosn't it.

Yeikes, I think this explains a lot dosn't it. I'm surprised Evenews24 hasn't done an expose on this before...though maybe they don't want to have to meet the mysterious Russian backers of all this.

[Phildo]

Hey Comstar, why do you need to be in Bat Country if you're just contracting things away and unsubbing again?

[Comstar]

So I can get go to some stations and check what the fittings are before I give them away.

That and I think I want to fly one more in the defence of Goonswarm - 555t 555 555 5 Command Ship Pilot. At least while there is drama and hilarity to be had. I bought a PLEX card, might as well get some use out of it. Please accept my request? I have some ships I want to lose rather than just give away ALL of them :)

[Phildo]

And I just got done purging you.  Fine, you're in again.

[palmer_eldritch]

Maybe they want the CSM to meet the man who owns 30% of CCP, and is undoubtedly driving a lot of this. A convicted criminal and a taile of intrigue, bribery, murder..and Illinois Nazi's. i am not kidding. Mitten's needs to be careful. Or be on a mission from God.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCP_Games

CCP hf or CCP Games (Crowd Control Productions) is an Icelandic video game developer and publisher, majority owned by the company's staff and founders, Novator Partners and the American investment fund General Catalyst Partners.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novator_Partners

Novator Partners LLP is an English private corporation, specializing in telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and financial services. In addition, Novator operates a Private Equity Fund and a Credit Opportunities Fund. The company is based in London and led by Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson from Iceland.

The owner or owners of Novator are hiding behind a web of companies which includes companies in places such as Cyprus, Cayman Islands, Delaware, Gibraltar, Tortola (British Virgin Islands), and Luxembourg.[1]

Investigations published in Denmark suggest that the underlying companies are linked to Russian companies.[2]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rg%C3%B3lfur_Thor_Bj%C3%B6rg%C3%B3lfsson

Novator Partners, which is managed by Björgólfsson, has bought assets around Eastern Europe. The company's owners are unknown.

Two of Björgólfur's companies, Landsbanki and Straumur, left the Icelandic people with several billions of dollars in debt, when they went bankrupt following the Icelandic Financial crisis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straumur_Investment_Bank

The company was mainly owned by Björgólfur Guðmundsson and his son Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson. The latter was also the chairman of the board.

On March 9, 2009, Straumur was nationalised by Icelandic authorities; according to Straumur, its "liquidity position was no longer strong enough to sustain activities".

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1644916/Icelandic-billionaires-face-the-crunch.html

Investment company Samson Holdings, in which Thor and his father were equal partners, owned 41% of Icelandic bank Landsbanki, which was nationalised by the government in Reykjavik last week. The bank stake, worth about £415m, was Samson's only asset and with that investment now thought to be worthless, Samson has been put into administration. The tangled web of Icelandic banks and business means the final price to Thor and his father could take months to emerge.

Later that year during a radio interview, former Icelandic Prime Minister David Oddsson accused him of offering a 300million krona bribe. Bauger refuted the claim. Last year the Icelandic Supreme Court found him guilty of false accounting and passed a threemonth suspended prison sentence.

Landsbanki is the parent of Icesave, the internet bank whose collapse last week threatened 300,000 British account holders, with £4.5billion assets. Mr Gudmundsson's wife, Thora Hallgrimsson, 78, was once married to a Nazi, former US Marine George Lincoln Rockwell.

They were married by her uncle, the Bishop of Iceland, in 1953 and moved to Virginia where Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party. When Icelandic paper DV tried to reveal the Nazi connections in 2005, Mr Gudmundsson tried to buy it in an attempt to stop the story.

http://eyjan.is/2008/10/20/umfjollun-um-tengsl-islendinga-og-russa-ur-russnesku-dagbladi/

(Translation, so dodgy to read):

For example, in December 1992, the FAC St. Petersburg mayor’s office has registered a company CJSC «Boltik International» (registration number 3303-AOL), founded by Victor Anitsev and steel company Baltic Group Limited, registered in the anonymous mailbox in the town of Kin Town – the capital of the British Virgin Islands. Virginia offshore belonged – Attention! – Bergolfuru Gudmundsson (Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson) and his son Bergolfuru Toru Bergolfssonu (Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson). Now, father and son headed the list of the richest people of Iceland: a son, according to the «Forbes», was the first dollar billionaires and – again attention! – Co-owner of two (of three) grohnuvshihsya, banks Iceland: «Landsban ethicists» (Landsbanki) – desolate, and «Kaupting Bank»-take control of the state.

In March 1995, was established by another company – OOO «Mall« ROSA »(Liteiny Ave, 41), which is less than a year, in February 1996 th, changed the name and address – became known as OOO« Bravo »- and Remmehzavoda moved into the territory, and its leader became Magnus Torsteyns-son, friend and companion is already familiar to us Gudmundsson and Bergolfssona. The next step was the establishment in August 1996, OOO «Bravo International» (December 1997-JSC «Bravo International»). Co-founders made 6 registered at the same address in the Cyprus town of Limassol. President of the company – all the same incredibly active Icelander Tor Bergolfsson.

Finally, in March 1997 the first was established yet and CJSC «Bravo service» (founders – the company «Hyudzh Holding Limited» (one of the same six-Cypriot) and «Bravo International». Gendirektorom the company was Sergei Sanne, now occupies the post of Director Social Policy Ltd. «Evrazholding». Firma «Bravo International» successfully varila beer «Bochkarev» and had no problems in St. Petersburg, and after Anatoly Sobchak in 1996-m lost the election, but Vladimir Putin moved to Moscow. A So those of competitors Icelandic-Russian breweries, however, problems arise time and again. And how! 10 January, 2000 fell victim to killer deputy director of «Baltic» Ilya Weismann, but was killed before the Director General of the dealer company «Baltic» Aslanbek Chochiev. (edit- Holy shit).

A Icelandic businessmen meanwhile shown on Russian soil, all new successes. In March 2000, in St. Petersburg was opened Honorary Consulate of Iceland. And honorary consul was appointed … surprise, surprise! – Yes, the same son-billionaire-banker and president of «Bravo International» Tor Bergolfsson. Honorary Vice-Consul became Magnus Tor-Steinsson. At the ceremony on 10 March was attended by Foreign Minister of Iceland Halldor Ásgrimsson and St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev.


------------------------------------------------------------
Well...that goes down the rabbit hole dosn't it.

Yeikes, I think this explains a lot dosn't it. I'm surprised Evenews24 hasn't done an expose on this before...though maybe they don't want to have to meet the mysterious Russian backers of all this.

psycho

[Comstar]

Holy...well. I keep getting amazed this week.

Big new news.

Someone went and got the Official CCP Financial for 2010 from the Icelandic government here.

In the case of CCP, the Icelandic banking crisis put us in such a position at the end of last year. All of a sudden, the salaries of Iceland-based employees, many of whom are foreigners, went down by 30-50% compared to previous levels, in real currency (meaning dollars or euros). Suddenly, we were paying people far less than their peers in comparable companies in Europe or the U.S. Our management swiftly came up with the only logical thing to do according to our values: offer our Iceland-based employees to switch their salary into euros, based on the average exchange rate in 2008. Almost everybody took up the offer, and CCP had lived up to its promise of unity, fearlessness, transparency and excellence.

No wounder they felt betrayed.

But don't worry, it gets far far worse.


Ah ha, the pennies drop. I think this explains everything. When in doubt, follow the Money. Unless they convince a bank that investing in an Icelandinc Business is worth while, this thread will end November 1st.

As was said before, the Income Statement isn't where the information is. It's in the balance sheet, cash flow, and, as always, in the notes.

So CCP raised $16.5M in equity over 2010. The shares were issued in 09 and CCP received the money from existing investors over the course of 2010. This is how they improved their cash position.

The loan CCP took out is repayable on October 28, 2011 and is listed as Current maturities of non-current liabilities in the balance sheet with a value of $11.8M (see note 19, pg31). It was interest only until its maturity this October.

CCP lists an operating profit $6.5M but this relies exclusively on the capitalization of in-process R&D. It is the most accurate and appropriate way to treat those expenses, but it can make it difficult for the inexperienced to understand what is going on with the company.

CCP increased its development asset by $23.5M in 2010 and amortized $6.5M of its existing intangible assets. This shows as a net capitalization of $17M. In the cash flow statement you can see that net cash from operations is $17.3M vs cash charges for investment activities (development + other) of $25.9M. Raising net $16M only improved their cash position by $7.4M

TLDR CCP is burning $8M a year in cash. They have to repay $11.8M this October which will wipe out their current cash balances. This leaves a rather large hole which can only be filled through further debt or equity instruments.

CCP is making an accounting profit but is RAPIDLY running out of cash thanks to the cost of WoD and Dust. They are desperate for money and need MT to show investors/banks that their business is improving. They are also carrying a large amount of capitalized development that should really be written off, wiping out the "retained earnings" of the balance sheet.
.
.
.

Assuming that nothing changes with regard to their income and expense structure, and that they can't refinance the loan, CCP will go bankrupt on October 28th.

I wounder of CCP is willing to the get the CSM to come to them, so they go into detail of "If we don't charge 25 dollars $US a ship, the game will not exist in a years time. Either support our plans, or the company, game and your free trips to Iceland, are dead by November".

[Goumindong]

The thing is that even if that comes to pass and they don't get another loan to cover their cash position EVE as it is is still making a profit. More than half their company is not working on EVE and so if they really wanted to they could lay half the company off and just develop EVE.

EVE is beyond a cash cow for them, its the money they're dropping on Dust and WoD that are eating up their profits. If they end that they go positive immediately.

[tgr]

I would actually happily go along with an increase in monthly sub fees to $20 or something to keep up with inflation if it meant that they wouldn't fuck up EVE.

[Comstar]

30% of the company is owned by the Icelandic bankrupt, and another 30% by an American Venture Capital corporation. Why the Icelandic convicted criminal is trying to save his house and yet NOT sell his CCP stake must be a very interesting reason. If CCP promised the VC's their money back based on DUST AND WoD coming out AND an X level of money from Eve, and now X is dropping rapidly, the VC's may have given CCP no option but to try to gain as much money from their...customers...as they can.

The Mittani on Eve Radio sounded mystified why Himlar and CCP Zulu was acting the way they were. Perhaps they are acting that way because they have a metaphorical gun to head - Increase their cash flows by a massive amount in 4 months, or company goes bankrupt, and their jobs and positions with it. Desperate times have called for desperate measures, and paying for the CSM to fly to Iceland, rather than just fold to the player demands like they did not 2 weeks ago, is a sign of that.

Friday's meeting is going to be VERY interesting. The Mittani now has their financial records to look at for a day beforehand and may have to make a choice- does he do what his players want, or does he allow CCP to survive?

Someone should get John Grisham to write this as a novel.