CCP Games has announced a price increase for Omega subscriptions and Plex for Eve Online, starting 17 May. The developer explained that this has been done in order to maintain the continual growth of the MMO.
"To continue investing in EVE Online’s evolution and growth, and to realize our mission of Eve Forever, we are updating the price of all existing Omega and Plex," says the game's website.
"This adjustment reflects global trends impacting general production costs and accounts for years of inflation, amending the 1-month USD subscription rate for the first time since 2004. These adjustments will have an impact on other currencies."
Keeping this in mind, the monthly subscription rate will go up, resulting in an increase in the bundled subscriptions as well. Currently, the rate for a month's subscription is $14.95 – this will be increased to $19.99. This in turn increased the monthly bundles to $35.98 for two months, $47.98 for three months, and so on till $270.99 for 24 months.
Plex is Eve Online's premium currency which can be used to purchase the in-game ISK currency or be traded in for time on the game's Omega subscription service. The changes have seen the cost of 50 Plex rise to $2.49, 100 to $4.99, 250 to $12.49, and so on. You can check out all the new prices on the game's website.
"The new prices on Omega include all upcoming content releases for the game and have been structured to offer substantial savings when you purchase larger amounts of PLEX and Omega time," continued the announcement by CCP. "Players benefit from even bigger monthly savings between lower and upper Omega time tiers, and more PLEX options to choose from, right down to the economical 50 PLEX offering."
The players however, aren't too happy with these changes, with numerous negative comments on the game's forum. One comment questioned the amount at which the subscription rate was increased: "Was there other plans in consideration, other than the immediate hike, such as small increment raises in omega over the next few years?" While another stated that the high subscription fee keeps new players away: "I wonder which other game has a 20$ sub price… Oh yeah none, good job CCP on gatekeeping your game even more".