What's happening to Elite? Powerplay, and now CQC. Both are fine really. I don't mind, especially CQC. Unlike powerplay I really can ignore it. It's a good thing. But... why? Why do this? Where are we headed?
You're at E3. Go out and try some other games. To play the new Mad Max game, or Assassins Creed, or For Honor, or Uncharted 4.
Have a look, have a go. Please. Not because those games are better (although they might well be), but because they're different. Go try something completely different to Elite. Look at the car chase battles in Mad Max. Or at that new AC: Syndicate trailer, I can't stop watching it.
They have the adrenaline pumping heroic action game completely covered. You're NEVER going to be able to compete with them on that front. NEVER. And Mad Max and AC: Syndicate are also sandboxes, which they do pretty well. Mad Max in particular looks to be Elite: Desert, only with something Elite doesn't have a lot of; character.
Do you know who likes your games? People like us. People who want to shuttle around goods in a living universe. People who don't mind quietly exploring the deep and vast unknown. People who find a peculiar alure in being a thousand light-years from anyone, finding a black hole for the first time. People who like to pop out on unsuspecting others and pirate them in a ship 12x more powerful.
People who enjoy the cold, dark, emptiness of space. Not people who enjoy the warm, colourful, and noisy world of one thrill after another.
Of course there is an overlap. I LOVE the Assassins Creed games (Unity aside). I have put 841 hours into Skyrim and 179 hours into Farcry 3, somehow. So yes, it doesn't necessarily follow that because we'll like Assassins Creed we wouldn't like Elite. But that's not the point.
The point is that if I want to roleplay as a space captain, moving through uncharted territory, carefully selecting the best outfit for my rickety old space ship, I have Elite. But increasingly it looks like, at some point soon, I won't. You're saying "Come play this with your mates! Come have a blast! Engage in an exhilarating rush through space in the best fighty fights of fights ever held outside of an atmosphere!"
Maybe this will work? Who really knows? But I know one thing. Right now, we are your market. We are the ones who are buying paint jobs and (maybe) expansions. No, I am not saying you are beholden to us or that you owe us anything. This isn't a thread of entitlement.
This is a thread of warning: If you think you're going to draw people away from those other games to play Elite, by emulating the excitement you can get from those games, you're sadly mistaken, and you may lose us in the attempt to do this.
I'm not asking you to believe me because I've said this. I don't even know if this is true myself to be honest. I am a random internet commenter, and I could well be a homeless person with an enormous beard posting from a public library for all you know. So take my warning with a pinch of salt...
...I am just asking you to go play those other games, go enjoy the rest of E3. Then come back to your desks, and decide how you're going to compete with those games. The ONLY realistic way, in my opinion - don't be like them.
You're at E3. Go out and try some other games. To play the new Mad Max game, or Assassins Creed, or For Honor, or Uncharted 4.
Have a look, have a go. Please. Not because those games are better (although they might well be), but because they're different. Go try something completely different to Elite. Look at the car chase battles in Mad Max. Or at that new AC: Syndicate trailer, I can't stop watching it.
They have the adrenaline pumping heroic action game completely covered. You're NEVER going to be able to compete with them on that front. NEVER. And Mad Max and AC: Syndicate are also sandboxes, which they do pretty well. Mad Max in particular looks to be Elite: Desert, only with something Elite doesn't have a lot of; character.
Do you know who likes your games? People like us. People who want to shuttle around goods in a living universe. People who don't mind quietly exploring the deep and vast unknown. People who find a peculiar alure in being a thousand light-years from anyone, finding a black hole for the first time. People who like to pop out on unsuspecting others and pirate them in a ship 12x more powerful.
People who enjoy the cold, dark, emptiness of space. Not people who enjoy the warm, colourful, and noisy world of one thrill after another.
Of course there is an overlap. I LOVE the Assassins Creed games (Unity aside). I have put 841 hours into Skyrim and 179 hours into Farcry 3, somehow. So yes, it doesn't necessarily follow that because we'll like Assassins Creed we wouldn't like Elite. But that's not the point.
The point is that if I want to roleplay as a space captain, moving through uncharted territory, carefully selecting the best outfit for my rickety old space ship, I have Elite. But increasingly it looks like, at some point soon, I won't. You're saying "Come play this with your mates! Come have a blast! Engage in an exhilarating rush through space in the best fighty fights of fights ever held outside of an atmosphere!"
Maybe this will work? Who really knows? But I know one thing. Right now, we are your market. We are the ones who are buying paint jobs and (maybe) expansions. No, I am not saying you are beholden to us or that you owe us anything. This isn't a thread of entitlement.
This is a thread of warning: If you think you're going to draw people away from those other games to play Elite, by emulating the excitement you can get from those games, you're sadly mistaken, and you may lose us in the attempt to do this.
I'm not asking you to believe me because I've said this. I don't even know if this is true myself to be honest. I am a random internet commenter, and I could well be a homeless person with an enormous beard posting from a public library for all you know. So take my warning with a pinch of salt...
...I am just asking you to go play those other games, go enjoy the rest of E3. Then come back to your desks, and decide how you're going to compete with those games. The ONLY realistic way, in my opinion - don't be like them.
