News David Braben Guest Blog - on Xbox One and CQC

Sanderson · Jun 15, 2015

Jezzah said:
Yet another fantastic FD marketing and comms success!!! They just keep coming these communications and ideas with much success attached to them :/

Jeezus what's the matter with you lot at FD towers? Alpha player 300 quid paid into development here...put yourselves in our shoes maybe? You know the shoes that followed you and paid money to you to all that time ago when the nasty publishers might have told you what to do with your game? Beginning to think the nasty publisher man is getting things right over you lot especially in marketing and comms.

Sad.

Hate to say it but, FD has done everything right.........on the path to becoming one of those publishers.

Distance · Jun 15, 2015

I was expecting some xbox exclusive stuff. Access to an xbox beta, exclusive ship skins and decals and maybe test a new ship but testing a pvp mode when the current pvp community already feels marginalized and not taken seriously is a step too far.

Ten points to the first xbox player to work out how to pull their ethernet out when losing and then say it's intended gameplay though.

SlackR · Jun 15, 2015

Sanderson said:
I usually don't disagree with you Slack but, this is not the game we all backed. Not even close.

That was kind of my point

Ian Phillips · Jun 15, 2015

jabokai said:
No, cool would have been the DDA proposals being made reality rather than chasing money.

I disagree - I think it looks cool. Might even get me to play some PvP.

Tinman · Jun 15, 2015

Edward Lewis said:
Absolutely not. Please read the blog again if you're unsure, and try to be reasonable. I know this is great for Elite: Dangerous and the team who have worked so hard on making the game an amazing experience. It will only improve the support we can offer to our existing playerbase.

"Being reasonable" was thrown under the bus a long time ago in this forum...in case you haven't noticed.

"The world is ending and we are all going to die!" is more what people seem to be going for!

Harbinger · Jun 15, 2015

Philip Coutts said:
Hold on, am I reading this correctly. You are giving first access of this combat thing to Xbone users? What about your Alpha backers who paid to get the game made during the Kickstarter? Surely they should have got this first?

It's not like it's a major surprise, they were literally taunting PC users about a timed exclusive feature in the Official Xbox One magazine story 2 months ago:

The Xbox One version was still at an early stage when I went down to Frontier, but I glimpsed some new content coming to Xbox One at launch that will make the PC crowd jealous, even though it's only a timed exclusive.

Most people had already jumped to the conclusion that this was referring to the references to Arena modes that were found in the 1.2 beta files in March. Microsoft obviously paid Frontier to develop CQC as it is something that will appeal to the console's core demographic bringing in sales.

amigacooke · Jun 15, 2015

I wonder if the new PC game will be available for Mac?

Hmmm ..

Sanderson · Jun 15, 2015

I should log out of the forum now before I get banned and try to cheer myself up.

All I can say is I liken this to being at a restaurant and the waiter comes over and says "Good news! The table next to you will be served the food you paid for ahead of you!" and then have the nerve to stand there and expect me to thank him.

- - - Updated - - -

SlackR said:
That was kind of my point

Ahhh......thank goodness

jabokai · Jun 15, 2015

Ian Phillips said:
I disagree - I think it looks cool. Might even get me to play some PvP.

Fair enough. Eve Valkyrie looks way cooler, if you're into that sort of game (and have/are getting a VR headset) though.

Soopyyy · Jun 15, 2015

I'm not too bothered about Xbox getting this expansion first. It would be good if Frontier could tell us what we can expect next on PC though.

DarkseeD · Jun 15, 2015

Well at least they're not punishing xbox one users with powerplay

Philip Coutts · Jun 15, 2015

Tinman said:
"Being reasonable" was thrown under the bus a long time ago in this forum...in case you haven't noticed.

"The world is ending and we are all going to die!" is more what people seem to be going for!

Tinman I like you, but is really the vision you had for Elite Dangerous, really? Power-ups, trophies, arena combat? This stuff is so far away from the core vision of Elite it's not even related. Yet again we have another new feature that wasn't run past the DDF, yet again it's another kick in the teeth for the people who paid to fund the kickstarter. This is such poor marketing it beggars belief. Then again, they already have our money so we are worthless to them.

Janichsan · Jun 15, 2015

jabokai said:
No, cool would have been the DDA proposals being made reality rather than chasing money.

What if they are chasing money to make the DDF proposals reality?

Manfriest · Jun 15, 2015

I'm a Beta backer and I'm not that bothered about this Xbox exclusive. It will come to PC this year anyway. Pure guess but it was probably easier to develop this cqc thing for one system at a time. if they're releasing ED on Xbox today, then makes sense to put cqc out on Xbox first as its more "pick up and play". Ultimately widening the player base will ensure FD have the finances to keep developing the game.
However, what I think everyone would benefit from is a clearer picture of what features are and are not being prioritised for the future. What's next for ED is a real unknown quantity. Many features remain underdeveloped and powerplay needs a lot of work.

Janichsan · Jun 15, 2015

Philip Coutts said:
Tinman I like you, but is really the vision you had for Elite Dangerous, really? Power-ups, trophies, arena combat? This stuff is so far away from the core vision of Elite it's not even related. Yet again we have another new feature that wasn'r run past the DDF, yet again it's another kick in the teeth for the people who paid to fund the kickstarter. This is such poor marketing it beggars belief. Then again, tehy already have our money so we are worthless to them.

Have you actually spent some time on these forums? There have been enough people clamouring exactly for stuff like this. FD is simply going to the extent to please their customers. Not all of them – I also couldn't care less about CQC – but there are enough people who will be very happy about this.

Remember: they are not making the game just for you.

DJ · Jun 15, 2015

DarkseeD said:
Well at least they're not punishing xbox one users with powerplay

Haha, and the touchpaper is now well and truely lit

Philip Coutts · Jun 15, 2015

Janichsan said:
Have you actually spent some time on these forums? There have been enough people clamouring exactly for stuff like this. FD is simply going to the extent to please their customers. Not all of them – I also couldn't care less about CQC – but there are enough people who will be very happy about this.

Remember: they are not making the game just for you.

Erm, I've posted over 5000 times so yes I've spent a fair bit of time on these forums. It's not just the combat thing, it's a whole pile of stuff from the cancellation of the promised off-line mode, the fact that so much of the DDF stuff never found it into the game, the fact that Frontier are forging ahead with yet another "new " feature when the PC version is badly bugged and sadly lacking in content. So yes I agree, some people will be happy, unfortunately an awful lot of people won't be happy for the reasons I've listed and many others.

popuptoaster · Jun 15, 2015

I has a sad, I walked to work for a month to back Elite on Kickstarter and it turns out I was also subsidising some of the Elite developers building a console racing game.

quasar_ · Jun 15, 2015

Manfriest said:
I'm a Beta backer and I'm not that bothered about this Xbox exclusive. It will come to PC this year anyway. Pure guess but it was probably easier to develop this cqc thing for one system at a time. if they're releasing ED on Xbox today, then makes sense to put cqc out on Xbox first as its more "pick up and play". Ultimately widening the player base will ensure FD have the finances to keep developing the game.
However, what I think everyone would benefit from is a clearer picture of what features are and are not being prioritised for the future. What's next for ED is a real unknown quantity. Many features remain underdeveloped and powerplay needs a lot of work.

This year... could be tomorrow or December 31st

Skizomeuh · Jun 15, 2015

I don't what's really wrong with this. Xone player having to playtest a feature we never have heard of, which sounds like an Arena (commander) mode, which sounds like a portion scaled down for consoles limitations? No big deal...

Elite Dangerous needs a lot more content, true. Truer is that expansions should be their main focus. Now, embracing other platforms is a good and natural move in game development to gather more money that would allow more devtime safer to these.

It's always the same down here: FDEV opens mouth, raging customers make a mountain out of a molehill. Boredom. But yeah, keep whinning like whimsical kids, keep sending the same "you're treacheous scammers FDEV!", keep trying hard enough to incept in FDEV brains the idea that "after all, why should we keep trying to make a game they stopped trusting a long time ago, let's focus on a less toxic target". So, you could finally say "told ya!".

When customers behave worse than the most greedy publisher. Shame on you.