Horizons price discussion

[Rubbernuke]

Development is on track, as far as I'm concerned.

Horizons, if done well will add a significant amount of things to look at, and bring a whole new level of exploration.

People are just addicted to cheap stuff these days. Perhaps if something is expensive, they should save up for one rather than expect everything to be cheap, just for them.

 

[smiths121]

Interesting poll,

I would imagine, as they have product managers that FD will have performed market research (what does everyone else charge), cost analysis and good old price-positioning. The fact they have bee measuring play time average would seem to suggest it.

Lets see if the forum figures tie in with the internal figures FD have. We'll know if they cave!

I think a "too early to tell do not know content" is a good option to add. FD do play things close to their chest, and there are some (not sure how many people), that are waiting for more info before deciding - needs to be captured. Hey anything to get a roadmap!

Simon

Simon

 

[CMDR Ramsgate]

Not at all and it's surprising you can't work it out.

People complain on forums when they see an obvious ripoff is an obvious ripoff. Because we're good people, we feel in necessary to point this out to the people who may not know what is going on. Until this thread, I was in the dark and now, afaic, FD can go....

Of course, there will always be the...what do they call them...cows? The people you get in MMO's that just spend spend spend because they're basically addicts that need a fix. These people who question nothing and give their money eagerly are the freaks of the gaming world and cannot be trusted for an opinion. Would you trust a heroine addict recommending heroine to you? No, of course you wouldn't!

So, let me get this straight. Anyone who did purchase the expansion is an ignorant freak. That right?

 

[CaptainKremmen]

There is no mystery here, folks. Frontier are lizard people, controlling our brains until they can harvest our underarm hair... a delicacy in their dimension.

What? At least mine is plausible!

 

[Bobbydylan]

How anyone could answer this poll?

We have no idea about the effective content and value of the Horizons season (and we won't have it until the end of that season).

So this is a poll with just random answers.

Buying Horizons is a leap of fate.

The fact that the content is rather nebulous doesn't make the expansion cost feel any less heavy. In fact, arguably, it makes it feel more expensive. All I can compare it against is season 1, which, bar the optimisations, UI changes and new ships, I got nothing out of the last updates.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love this game, I'm not but-sore about the MP focus or anything. I just think that to the people who bought ED on a whim, and were put off by the "shallowness" of the game, asking for another £30 isn't going to temp them back. In fact, it comes across as cheeky.

 

[smiths121]

Not sure I agree development is off track.

Given subscription and micro-payment were rejected by the community (Well the forum members, well at least the DDF), the season mode I suspect was a given. FD actually upped their forecast of income for this half, number of players is better than the average model they published to shareholders, I am not seeing this financing crisis.

Simon

 

[Bran Tse Mallory]

The financial future of Elite: Dangerous is not looking good from Frontier's perspective.

Your comment is not backed up by the last report to the LSE they had to give. Seed capital paid back to investment bank, strong return on sales and work for M$ has them £10.2 million in the black.

I'd be pretty happy with that kind of performance as will long term investment shareholders. Like any company they rely on cash flow. The model of paid expansions gives them that or would you prefer that they try to support the game for 10 years based on the sales so far?





People thinking Horizons is to high... get saving, you have time and if you can't save £30 in several months, you shouldn't be playing games.

People not understanding what the seasons are... Honestly? The same model is being used as has been around since the dawn of television.

Over pricing the expansions... Have you seen how much expansions cost that actually add content to the game instead of just adding quests in already seen areas? WoW expansions cost the same and that's not even accounting for the monthly sub cost.

 

[John Stoutbeard]

The development plan along with the pricing of expansions means that FD is struggling to produce the game they promised. ...
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What can FD do to both keep you happy and increase their income to get the development back on track?

Struggling? Speculation .. unless you have some data to back it up. No?
Not delivering what they promised? Sorry, but they are delivering. Thats exactly what they are doing.
According to their promise on kickstarter and those who bought in on that plan, they are getting what they bought in for. For that price.

Someone is making up accusations it seems. Sad to see all this nonse on the forums now.

 

[Bobbydylan]

Presumably the reason for ripping off existing players is because they don't have a market for new players - why else would you sell it this way?

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Think about how much DayZ was when it came out, $20? How long has that been in development and how big is their team - bigger than FD? They bought a whole dev team from the sales to work on the AI and got another team working on other aspects of the game. ED doesn't cost any more to make than DayZ but DayZ does have full server support and far larger players with no instancing.

Um... I thought. DAYZ was Server based, like Battlefield was. You can treat each server as a separate instance... .

 

[ZeeWolf]

Presumably the reason for ripping off existing players is because they don't have a market for new players - why else would you sell it this way?

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Think about how much DayZ was when it came out, $20? How long has that been in development and how big is their team - bigger than FD? They bought a whole dev team from the sales to work on the AI and got another team working on other aspects of the game. ED doesn't cost any more to make than DayZ but DayZ does have full server support and far larger players with no instancing.

Is that really what you want? Galaxies split up into servers with 100 players on each one? I don't think it's workable myself. Doesn't evechron mercenary do that?

 

[Jex =TE=]

To be fair planetary landings were always listed as a paid expansion and while I agree the price is a little high this will add a huge amount of content. As far as people not buying it, the fact that the store crashed yesterday due to all the people pre-ordering (myself included) would indicate the take up will be pretty good

How do you know it's going to add a HUGE amount of content when the game with the HUGE galaxy has practically zero content in it.


Another point that should be mentioned as people seem to be missing it. Yes there are people here who will buy it whatever, like I said a few posts back but the amount of people saying they won't buy it is the real issue here. How many other publishers are releasing expansions with so much negativity and that, ultimately, is going to massively hurt their sales and that will also affect the future design of the game.

We'll see what content it actually brings when it launches and whether or not they deserve our money.

 

[Haleks]

Is that really what you want? Galaxies split up into servers with 100 players on each one?

Where does he say that??

 

[Windscreen Smudge]

Development hasn't been on track since the Beta, but alright. Apparently no one is willing to look past the immediate news releases so suit yourself.

Your comment is not backed up by the last report to the LSE they had to give. Seed capital paid back to investment bank, strong return on sales and work for M$ has them £10.2 million in the black.

I'd be pretty happy with that kind of performance as will long term investment shareholders. Like any company they rely on cash flow. The model of paid expansions gives them that or would you prefer that they try to support the game for 10 years based on the sales so far?





People thinking Horizons is to high... get saving, you have time and if you can't save £30 in several months, you shouldn't be playing games.

People not understanding what the seasons are... Honestly? The same model is being used as has been around since the dawn of television.

Over pricing the expansions... Have you seen how much expansions cost that actually add content to the game instead of just adding quests in already seen areas? WoW expansions cost the same and that's not even accounting for the monthly sub cost.

Frontier Dev's financial situation != Elite: Dangerous' financial situation.
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I've already pre-ordered it. I don't care about the price. I would like to see the game finished, and that is looking less and less likely the more that FD keep screwing around with non-standard pricing models. This has been a problem for them since Beta, when people were being put off by the premium price for beta access. Of course the majority of you don't see it as a problem. That's why you're still here.

 

[Jex =TE=]

I agree with much of what you said, but the timing of PL is no surprise to me.

From the start, Frontier said it would be delivered 1 year after launch, and here we are, looking at the release date - exactly when Frontier said it would be, containing exactly what David Braben always said would be included in the initial PL release.

Yes but the issue here is it's obvious they're doing a naff job! Yeah, speed through development and worry about all the bugs AFTER release. The speed of development should be a warning - FDEV are no better than any other dev team so maybe the question we should be asking is, what corners are they cutting or how complex is ED really?

 

[ZeeWolf]

Where does he say that??

I thought it was implied by the direct comparison to DayZ. I wondered why make that comparison if it can't be applied to this game?

 

[ROSS-128]

My main question is what am I supposed to do with that extra copy of Elite: Dangerous that comes bundled with Horizons? Am I allowed to give that one to my friends?

But then how will they get the expansion? If I give them my extra copy of Elite, then if they buy the expansion bundle they'd end up with an extra copy of Elite that they don't know what to do with... so that's kind of kicking the can down the road. >_>

 

[SpitTheDog]

Development hasn't been on track since the Beta, but alright. Apparently no one is willing to look past the immediate news releases so suit yourself.

Exactly which sticker electrocuted you? Since you obviously survived you need to report this immediately because, in the purest form of the phrase, that's just downright (Elite) Dangerous!

 

[Errant]

FD, this pricing baffles me. I think the simple truth is 10quid doesn't seem to be the right number for valued customers, e.g. like myself who has spent 50quid on beta plus mercenary edition. please reconsider the existing-customer discount: 10quid is too low

 

[Haleks]

I thought it was implied by the direct comparison to DayZ. I wondered why make that comparison if it can't be applied to this game?

I think you missed the point of the comparison. The point is that BI is achieving something solid without feeling the need to rip off their customers so badly.

 

[GormDeGamle]

Of course, there will always be the...what do they call them...cows? The people you get in MMO's that just spend spend spend because they're basically addicts that need a fix. These people who question nothing and give their money eagerly are the freaks of the gaming world and cannot be trusted for an opinion. Would you trust a heroine addict recommending heroine to you? No, of course you wouldn't!

Well, I won't trust anyone trying to sell heroine to me ;-)

But beeing a "freak of the gaming world" (feels very strange typing this, since I only play a couple of hours a week) I will happily pay the price - even if it's a little more than many of us expected.
The good thing is that there seems to be a plan for years (or seasons ) to come - including a plan on how to get the money to keep things running for such a long time.
In fact I'd rather buy something every now and then than to pay a monthly subscription or having to buy each and every game item through micro transactions with real money.
I'm fine with FDs plans and I'm looking forward to the things that are still to come