Imperium Server

[Lalo Scalf]

WelcomeThis is an Everquest private server designed for the solo type of adventurer, with content tuned for one to two players to go through, then growing into more difficult customized content towards the end-game. With a 2 box limit and scrupulous attention to balance, content remains fair and challenging from beginning to end.

This wiki has been created by fans of the Imperium Everquest server and is not maintained by any of the server staff. Any references to copyrighted material on this wiki is FanFaire and not a claim of ownership.

This server consists of some of the best roleplayers that I've ever met throughout the years on various different games. If you're like me and you've been searching for a good Ark RP server to get back into, this is it. But even if it's your first time, I couldn't think of a better server with better people to learn from.

Imperium is a progression server. This means that your characters will need to obtain keys to unlock specific zones. Some key fragments can be purchased from Zulu in the Guild Lobby. Talk to Vinz Clortho in the Guild Lobby for information on how to obtain the keys.

In keeping with previous years and our inclusive and open policy of informing our community of how we are spending the hard-earned money they commit to the games and universe we are building; I update our accounting for the 2022 year. For consistency it is in the same format as prior years and follows the same simple cost accounting rules, without prescribed formats, disclosures and other treatments required for our financial statements. So as usual, no revenue recognition adjustments, intellectual property amortization, software capitalization or other accounting alterations that would depart from the more simple and understandable cost entries that this update aims to deliver.

As usual, we aim to give more relevant details regarding how the income and costs are classified compared to what we would be required to do in published financial statements. The basis of this analysis remains the management accounts numbers that underpin the financial statements we provide to our auditors, upon which they perform their work for the annual audit.

Costs, including capex, also increased by 29%, although excluding capex, principally focused upon the new Rest of World offices, trading costs rose moderately (compared to income) by 18% in 2022. Nearly all cost categories were up on the previous year but overheads, external game development, and publishing operations, including customer servicing costs, were the main drivers for this increase in costs. Salaries and related costs for game development and support remained the highest spend category accounting for almost half of the total operational spend in 2022, and almost 60% when factoring in the growth in external game development costs, managed mainly through the US.

2022 continued the trend of record-breaking growth with revenue up 32% to $114M. This was fueled by a growth in player numbers and increased player time arising from regular content delivery early in the year and improved game stability throughout the full year. Subscriptions were up 6% to $5.3M and other income increased 21% to $11.4M, driven in part by the growth in UK development and the associated credits arising thereof.

The other income line represents partnership income with various hardware and software vendors, sponsorship income, and various local incentives based upon the nature and location of our development and production activities. It also includes any exchange differences as referred to above.

With much still to do, Cloud Imperium pushed forward with its objectives and the commensurate growth in its cost base accordingly. Costs increased by 18% over 2021 to $116.5M and capital expenditure, primarily for the flagship offices in Manchester, England, and the new facilities in Frankfurt, Germany, rose to $12.9M, compared to only $2.0M in 2021. The breakdown of the expenditure is commented upon in more detail below.

The US operations grew slightly in 2022, although like the previous year there was a continued shift in the mix of personnel as publishing, community, and marketing teams grew whilst internal development contracted in the US, although with a rise in management of more external development resource, mainly from our associated entity Turbulent, which is based in Montreal.

All cost areas except General and Admin (G&A) increased in 2022 although the growth in Publishing Operations was not as significant as in the previous year, which had set the groundwork for the projected growth in customer numbers and playtime, which trended upward toward the end of 2021 and continued on an even greater trajectory upward into 2022.

This shows that salary costs increased in both territories: 6% up in the Rest of World and 16% up in the US. Development and G&A headcount increased in the Rest of the World by 18%, although a lot of that was at entry-level positions in G&A and Quality Assurance, required as Star Citizen progresses with added features, content, playability, and players. Also, performance-related bonuses in 2022 were not as high as in 2021 and thus the increase in Rest of World salaries did not match the increase in people, despite generous pay awards designed to help cope with the rising inflationary pressures felt throughout the economy.

In contrast, the US salary costs increased by 16% despite a reduction in development headcount and a moderate increase in G&A headcount, but additions were at the opposite end of the staff seniority spectrum with highly experienced personnel in each discipline being added to the group, and regarding development with senior experienced people often replacing the more junior roles that were vacated. Also, cost and wage inflation levels were high in both US office locations, which we aimed to keep pace with.

These represent the costs of contracted services supporting game development work. For 2022 this increased by 24% to $10.8M. External services used by the Rest of the World reduced for the third year running to $1.3M, down 48% on 2021, as more work continued to be taken internally. However, the US continued in the opposite direction with a 54% increase in external development costs principally through the growth in services provided by our associated Canadian entity, Turbulent, which expanded its development resource considerably in 2022 in response to our growing requirements. External development managed through the US increased by $3.3M to $9.5M but this was more cost effective than growing our internal development teams in the high-cost locations housing our US offices.

These costs are associated with running the game, deploying online services, and providing customer support. It also includes the costs of running our platform, publishing, data hosting, and server costs. It includes revenue collection, customer liaison costs, and the costs of our marketing and community events. This cost line correlates closely with income and user engagement, and the growth experienced in 2021 continued into 2022, rising 18% to $29.9M.

The bulk of publishing and marketing operations run through the US (Austin and Los Angeles respectively), which accounted for 71% of spend in this cost category. Those departments grew again in 2022 with the US adding 28 people (29%) to its headcount and the Rest of the World also adding ten people (21%). This represents the increased costs and demands associated with operating what is effectively a live game, albeit an early access one that is not yet out of its alpha phase. But nevertheless, it is vital to support our growing community and customer base and ensure the engagement of our players in the rich environment we have created. Thus, we continue to spend money on our servers, platform, and community tools to make the Star Citizen experience as comprehensive, safe, and enjoyable as possible.

These costs represent insurance, accountancy, and other professional and legal fees not apportioned directly into the cost areas identified previously. Other factors outside of headcount and operational growth can impact these costs and in 2022 they reduced slightly to $1.4M.

This represents capital expenditure in areas such as hardware and software, fixtures, fittings, and on offices. Whilst it trends with staff numbers, it is also impacted by hardware renewals, server upgrades, and other security and infrastructure purchases.

It is included in this accounting as it represents an outlay for the materials required to develop and publish the games. Since the total capital expenditure amount is included here, we do not list the depreciation portion of such expenditure subsequently in the cost analysis.

Employee numbers increased by 112 (15%) to 860 worldwide by the end of 2022. The US headcount increased by 16 with a continuing rise in publishing, marketing, and community staff (+28) surpassing the reduction in development headcount (-15) as the US focused on certain development activities and managing more external development through Turbulent in Montreal. The Rest of the World headcount grew by 96 (18%) mainly in development with a focus upon Quality Assurance. Ten publishing, marketing, and community roles were also added and unsurprisingly the G&A support staff numbers increased commensurately in 2022. By the end of the year the Rest of the World represented 73% of the Global headcount (up from 70% last year) although the US now also managed over 150 dedicated people working with our internal development, publishing, and marketing teams through Turbulent.

Consequently, the funds on the balance sheet moved little in 2022 despite a very successful year, and they remain earmarked for the future activities planned and required to push the games forward to the commercial launch and the ongoing evolution of the underlying technology and Intellectual Property being developed.

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