NVIDIA and CCP Games team up for an unprecedented new gaming venture

Bobby Miller 26 Mar, 2012 at 3:14pm ET Article published in Gaming

CCP Games, developer of the player-driven sci-fi MMO EVE Online, announced on Saturday an exciting new partnership with NVIDIA—the likes o f which the industry has never seen. CCP Games will be facilitating the sale of real-world high-end GPUs from NVIDIA via EVE Online’s virtual currency known as PLEX. Not only is the sale of such valuable real world goods through a video game a unique value proposition, but it is an unprecedented move in the MMO world.

To clarify: You can buy hardware with in-game currency.

The video cards for sale through EVE will be NVIDIA’s mid-range GeForce 560GTX cards. Initially, 100 graphics cards will be available, and sales will be limited to one GPU per EVE account. The success of this initial sale will determine the future course of action between NVIDIA and CCP Games.

EVE Online is largely known for its player-driven open economy. PLEX, which stands for “Pilot License EXtension”, is an in-game item that can be spent on EVE Online subscriptions. Skilled players can earn PLEX and spend it to renew their EVE subscription each month, essentially allowing them to play continually for free. To purchase PLEX, players earn EVE Online’s primary in-game currency known as ISK. ISK is either earned through in-game means, or can be acquired by converting real-world currency.

Buying and selling goods and services is a huge part of the gameplay, therefore real-world economic effects tend to have repercussions on the in-game economics. As a result of CCP Games’ announcement to sell GeForce boards through the game, the value of PLEX in-game has jumped significantly. Players seem to be ready to accept this new deal with NVIDIA, and if the enthusiasm is any indication, the first 100 GPUs will sell out rapidly.

Comments

26 Mar 2012 ~ 3:26pm midga Neat. I wish I could envision it doing anything but failing miserably at CCP's hands...
26 Mar 2012 ~ 3:30pm BuddyJ As I understand, the price of PLEX jumped in preparation of the announcement, but gamers were discouraged to find only 100 cards would be available. The market then dropped when people realized you were spending $300 in PLEX to get a sub-$200 card. The US players weren't thrilled, to say the least.

The idea is cool but it only appeals to people who haven't heard of Newegg.
26 Mar 2012 ~ 3:36pm PirateNinja Wow that was really smart. Eve online pays Nvidia for 100 cards, so $20,000?
ROI = Eve's in game currency value goes up and they get a bigger player base. So more people will buy the in game currency, and more people will spend more real life $ (dollars) to do it.

I love complicated monetization strategy like this, well played whether it works or not. Cool to see companies trying new things.
26 Mar 2012 ~ 3:38pm Thrax
As I understand, the price of PLEX jumped in preparation of the announcement, but gamers were discouraged to find only 100 cards would be available. The market then dropped when people realized you were spending $300 in PLEX to get a sub-$200 card. The US players weren't thrilled, to say the least.

The idea is cool but it only appeals to people who haven't heard of Newegg.
Isn't 1xPLEX worth about half a billion ISK these days?
26 Mar 2012 ~ 3:47pm BuddyJ yeah, just under that.

20 PLEX = 9.7bil ISK = $320 +/- USD
26 Mar 2012 ~ 4:00pm PirateNinja How hard is it to "earn" 10 billion ISK in that game? I know nothing about it, but would that take years of play or something?
26 Mar 2012 ~ 4:27pm midga With smart macros and a few high-skill toons you can make enough to pay for the game and eat.
26 Mar 2012 ~ 4:31pm BuddyJ To earn 10bil ISK you'd need to work a lot. My mining ship pulls in 8mil/hour. 7.5 weeks mining by yourself round the clock.

Mining isn't very profitable in EVE compared to mission running and Incursions. But, for your average player 10bil ISK is still way out of their league. That's a lot of space ships they could buy and blow up.
26 Mar 2012 ~ 4:49pm PirateNinja "Michael Wilson" ?!?!?1111oneone
26 Mar 2012 ~ 4:56pm drasnor On a good day, you can make 60M - 100M per hour in shiny incursion fleets.
26 Mar 2012 ~ 5:10pm sharkydart screw mining, there are better ways to make isk.
Also, since this is actually a way to convert isk back into something valued in the real-world (not counting game time), the sub-optimal conversion rate of plex-to-videocard is still awesome. (The short supply is not awesome.)
26 Mar 2012 ~ 6:44pm drasnor That's still 10 - 14 days of playtime grinding incursions at the optimistic rate I posted. I have a full-time student job and make that much money in 2-3 days. Seriously, get a job :P.
26 Mar 2012 ~ 7:16pm Bozenski I make about 2 billion daily in market transactions profit. So no, it's not a lot. There are people out there, who own and earn numbers far beyond your comprehension.
26 Mar 2012 ~ 8:22pm midga
That's still 10 - 14 days of playtime grinding incursions at the optimistic rate I posted. I have a full-time student job and make that much money in 2-3 days. Seriously, get a job :P.
A wild dras has appeared.

Srsly, from what I can tell you hadn't posted in almost a year XD
26 Mar 2012 ~ 8:43pm _k
27 Mar 2012 ~ 5:45pm Harudath I dunno, I can make 160m an hour doing incursions. You can pay for the card with PLEX, true, but you don't necessarily pay for the PLEX with cash. If I make 15bn isk a month I won't need to spend $300 on PLEX.
I also heard CCP are setting up "EVE Central Bank" to regulate the price and sale of PLEX. Was second if not third hand rumour though.
28 Mar 2012 ~ 12:03am Bandrik Congrats to nVidia and the EVE guys for finding a brilliant way to further monetize their game and community.

Personally, I'm a little disgusted by the idea of grinding/farming/mining/questing for those hours just to earn a middle-class graphics card... which almost anyone playing a game like EVE will already have or surpass in their rig.

It's a nifty idea, but I don't see the appeal. But then again, EVE itself is a giant list of chores. So ultimately, I'd rather pay nothing and go fast.
28 Mar 2012 ~ 4:41pm Tushon
Personally, I'm a little disgusted by the idea of grinding/farming/mining/questing for those hours just to earn a middle-class graphics card... which almost anyone playing a game like EVE will already have or surpass in their rig.
Gonna go out on a limb and say this is a cheap experiment.
28 Mar 2012 ~ 10:02pm midga I'd venture to say that not everyone who plays EVE has a graphics card that doesn't just barely scrape by. Hell, they've released updates that have caused people I know to have to either upgrade or quit playing. This might be exactly what some people need to get out of the "oh gods I turn off the stars and can barely moooooooove!" and into the "Yay, full speed Accountants In Space!"
28 Mar 2012 ~ 10:10pm Harudath I'd guess its a cheap experiment and also because they've made a point of mentioning that the 560 is the most common graphics card in EVE Online when showcasing the new technology they're planning on implementing in the future. They showed this video at FanFest and it looks freaking sick - they worked on it with NVIDIA.

http://youtu.be/8k7oaz8mWug

This doesn't appear to be too far removed from Blizzard's Diablo 3 auction house strategy, though, where loot is bought and sold (using real world currency) from and to other players. Making a living, or at least making money (as a start) from gaming is going to be the future, hands down.
28 Mar 2012 ~ 10:52pm midga
Making a living, or at least making money (as a start) from gaming is going to be the future, hands down.
I'll keep my day job.
29 Mar 2012 ~ 3:34am Tushon
Making a living, or at least making money (as a start) from gaming is going to be the future, hands down.
I'll keep my day job.

Me too. I do not see gaming as a lifestyle becoming anything "common place" (i.e. ehh, should I major in accounting or go professional gaming?). It may become slightly less niche, but give that the (highly unprofessional, but taking into account the major competitive games) total of 2011 prizes, at $6.5 million, up from ~$1.4 (non-scientific totally random google search source), pro-gaming is going to remain niche. If you are referring to gold sellers/auction house, etc ... if farming CONSTANTLY is your kinda gaming experience ... I guess that will work, but I would be unable to enjoy that game :/ Maybe that is just me, but working for 8-10 hours a day farming in whatever manner, then playing for a few hours with friends doing "fun stuff" just wouldn't work.
29 Mar 2012 ~ 6:55am midga Actually, if you're going to play EVE, I'd recommend majoring in accounting anyway.
29 Mar 2012 ~ 7:14am Harudath
Actually, if you're going to play EVE, I'd recommend majoring in accounting anyway.
Did.

And perhaps, Tushon, but say an alliance leader makes £10,000 a month selling rare or valuable items (presumably a large alliance where real money can be used on the market) then it stands to reason there would be systems in place where alliance members which contribute are rewarded or contracted. Or players help make the money to buy that shipment of ten graphics cards and gets their share once they've been sold. Stuff like that seems more than possible to me in later years.
29 Mar 2012 ~ 7:20am Harudath *Dis.
29 Mar 2012 ~ 8:04am midga @harudath
you can edit your post with the little gear in the upper-right corner of it
29 Mar 2012 ~ 9:00am Harudath I was going to blame writing it on my phone then trying to edit it on my computer, but now I see it.

*shakes fist at the sky*
29 Mar 2012 ~ 6:25pm Tushon Within the realm of possibility, surely.