Originally by: CCP Whisper

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I would love to own a 50cm long die-cast model Rifter that comes complete with a pod you can eject by pushing a button and several different autocannon and artillery guns that can be clicked into place on the model. It would be really cool and fun to own. But producing something like that just isn't worth the setup costs.

Currently, EVE Online has 220,000+ subscribers. When considering whether to offer ancillary products, we need to consider how many of our players will actually purchase something. Prudence dictates that we estimate conservatively. Then we need to consider the setup costs associated with production. In the case of ship models, these are considerable as you have to pay for the creation of the mould and the establishment of the production line for painting and such. The more detailed, the higher the cost. As people are probably not going to buy something non-detailed (otherwise we would be selling blocks of raw aluminium with "Rifter" scrawled on them in marker) we need to come to a compromise as far as that is concerned, balancing production cost versus potential income. The size of the production run, shipping and customs duty all come into the equation as well.

For Blizzard, who have millions of players, it makes sense to enter into a business partnership with someone who will take over the production of something like the Frostmourne sword as there are bound to be at least a couple of thousand WoW players who will buy one, easily covering setup costs and the like. For us it is a different issue. Any production run of EVE ships would have to be small, and that drives prices up. Which, in turn, lowers the pool of people who would be interested in purchasing one. Which increases the number of unsold ships and reduces our chances of covering production costs.

This isn't to say we will never produce any ship models. Every year sees a reduction in production costs and the development of better production methods which would fulfil our quality guidelines. At some point, we may find someone who is able to produce ship models which are affordable. I'll be amongst the first in line to buy one of the results.

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