Fall DLC 2023 Speculation
- Thread starter Leaf Productions
- Start date
I would say it is much rather a temperate climate animal than a polar climate animal.
If 2023 is going to mimic 2021 and given the missing wood/log/totem scenery pieces, I believe a Woodlands Pack is likely.
Popular Animals that could be added (North America centric)
1) Wolverine
2) Coati
3) Ocelot
4) Tamandua
5) American Black Bear
6) Elk/Wapiti
Tree Kangaroo and Tasmanian Devil are possible but perhaps doesn't fit with the woodland theme and I expect they will be saved for another DLC.
Q4 will be Eurasian Highland animals, a mirror of the Europe pack.
And continuing this analogy further in 2024, perhaps an Islands/Oceania pack would be the complement of Q1 2022 Wetlands animal pack. I get this feeling that Farmlands/Children's Zoo could be the counterpoint for Q2 2022 Conservation Pack. Nocturnal fits with the Q3 Twilight Pack. A Cold Tundra Pack would pair up with the Grasslands Pack.
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I still think the woodland pack can give us animals not living in NA, since the tropical pack had SEA scenery but also animals from africa and SA, so the theme isnt linked to the animals per se. But I also think the highlands pack will be our last one. The signs for me are there that this year is our last
I really don't get what the evidence for this is. The interim report mentioned Planet Zoo four times.
"As expected, the strongest performers in FY23 to date from our existing portfolio are Jurassic World Evolution 2 and Planet Zoo, which continue to be supported with free updates and multiple PDLC packs"
"Planet Zoo, launched in November 2019, continues to contribute strong annual sales, with revenue in CY2022 at 82% of the revenue recorded in CY2021"
"During H1 FY23, free updates and content were developed and released for Jurassic World Evolution 2, Planet Zoo, and Elite Dangerous, often alongside chargeable content. Frontier's normal expectations for capitalisation is 70-90% of gross development spending."
Frontier seems pretty confident Planet Zoo will continue to be a moneymaker "as expected" and this hints at continued support. The cost of designing 26 animals per year, most of them clones, is minuscule, while sales revenue is only decreasing at less than 20% per year.
Even if PZ2 were in development, you ought to bet Frontier will keep releasing DLCs until the game is formally announced about a year before its launch. So unless PZ2 is announced, we should expect continued content and updates (though the latter will become less and less substantial over time.)
On the other side their last financial update doesnt mentions Planet Zoo at all. It talks about JWE2 being their current strongest selling game, also talks about F1 Manager, but no word about PZ, which could mean that PZ isnt their cash cow anymore. Also the last updates are more on the smaller side when it comes to new mechanics and such, more QoL Updates if anything. So there are strong indicators that they move on. Also PC2 is about to be announced sometime soon. PC1 ended and shortly after that, PZ was announced, so we could see the same cycle here again.
Which financial update? Please provide link.
Of course JWE2 is their strongest selling game, but as shown above they pair PZ in the same category as JWE2.
F1 Manager was a failure that sold only 600k copies. They are trying to reassure investors that they will increase sales in the future with annual instalments but I very much doubt this. Usually the first game sells the best unless it's seriously bad but F1 Manager was decent.
Smaller free updates is to be expected but that doesn't mean paid content is going to end.
Even if PC2 is announced, I wouldn't expect PZ to end. UNLESS, it's a combined theme park game with zoo animals. And IF Frontier are going to announce this by the end of the year, everyone should be celebrating a de facto new PZ game. In fact, it wouldn't be support is ending but rather development taken to the next level.
there you go: https://otp.tools.investis.com/clie...regulatory-story.aspx?cid=1725&newsid=1694912
And to be clear, I would love to see this game going on forever, I just see it realistically with the infos we have atm, no doom saying whatsoever. For the first time, they didnt said more support for PZ in FY23, in their last annual report, they said CY (calendar year), meaning until dezember 2023. Of course this could simply be a change of wording for whatever reason, but it is noticable. That together with the rest I mentioned, simply heavily implies the possibility that the game will end sooner than later. I know many people dont want to believe that, you seem to be one of them, but its something we all have to accept at one point. This game had 4 great years and more support than any other Frontier game before, so why not get comfortable with the fact that we see the end soon.
I looked back at the 2022 Annual Report and it stated new DLCs for FY2023, no mention of CY2023. It doesn't mean that support is ending now, but the annual report only covers what's to come in the next FY.
"Planet Zoo now has 11 PDLC packs (including a deluxe upgrade pack), with a total of four packs being released during FY22, and more planned for FY23."
Yes, the financial report doesn't mention PZ but it doesn't mention any legacy game other than JWE2 (best performer).
But it highlights the importance of existing games:
"Solid performance from existing portfolio of games, generating 72% of revenue"
"Revenue of around £104 million was delivered through a solid performance from the existing portfolio of games (released prior to 1 June 2022) which accounted for 72% of revenue during the period."
72 PERCENT of their total revenue comes from existing games and you are telling me they're about to throw the second most profitable one under the bus because they couldn't be bothered to mention it in a short financial report (which is focused on future performance and PZ is declining/expected to decline).
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I see your debate. There's no mention of Planet Zoo directly. But the it says and I quote:
"Frontier's existing game portfolio is expected to continue to deliver substantial on-going revenue contributions in FY24, supported by new content."
Wouldn't that include PZ as well. I mean sure, it could also suggest others and not PZ which would be odd.
Exactly, it can exclude PZ. Wouldnt you think they would mention it, if its on the same level as JWE2 regarding sales? It of course can still mean including PZ, its just odd not to mention it with a single word if its such a strong game for them
JWE2 is mentioned clearly as being the leader among legacy portfolio which is why it alone, warrants a mention and not PZ. Again, PZ is expected to decline and declining games aren't great to mention in Financial Reports which tend to focus on positive future developments...
You are right, it wasnt CY there, confused it with a different one.
I dont say they are throwing it under the bus, I say its highly possible that they slowely start to end support for it. And i dont know why so many people refuse to even think about that possibility, like if PZ will go on forever. I love the game as everyone else here, but im also see that more and more indicators show up that we get to an end or at least we start to see them slowely preparing for an end. And im not alone, Iben and many others think it too.
exactly, because it already shows heavily that PZ isnt their most selling game anymore. Performance (player base and overall sales) for the last two DLCs (including Arid DLC) was way lower than usual as well.
yep! only then we can savely say we get more DLCs in 2024.
Let's just say we keep this in hindsight, but keep our voices loud on our continual support, huh?
It's up to them whether they're ending or not, and most certainly not us based on assumptions.
Unless there's a new zoo game under development and about to be announced, they won't stop the paid DLCs which continue to be profitable and Frontier can continue to excite/engage with the fanbase to lockdown their current monopoly over animal/zoo simulation games.
Stop development, and a rival game studio will try to take this niche unless you have a new game in the works.
They also stopped support for PC all of the sudden, but hey we all were sure the game would get a lot more DLCs. And of course as soon as PZ ends, they will start developing on the next title. But its not like they support this game until said PZ2 will release. You cant seriously think that.
Do you have data on this to share? Preferably showing sales paired with time after release of the DLCs from 2022 compared to 2023?