Should ED be free to play in December 2016 ?

XYZ

XYZ
So should ED be free to play in December 2016 ? Why ? Its hard to imagine that FD could sell next expansion ( that will arrive in december 2016 ) for 45$ while Star Citizen and No Man Sky will be released by that time. New space sim games will draw a lot of attention from ED. So why not to make ED free to play from december 2016.

Free to play model should be made as it is in War Thunder or World of Warships (not World of Tanks coz premium ammo).

This will make massive boost in player base and give ED more live while income for FD will be secured.

What do you think ?

Edit: Please have in mind this is just casual discussion so no need for emotions :p

Edit 2 : World of Tanks has made $475m in the past year

http://archive.rusbase.com/news/auth...by/tank-power/

Edit 3 : Have in mind i am multiplayer guy so will love to see more players, again this could be some other "free to play" model - like Guild Wars 2. People posting here have really nice ideas.
 
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Speccy

Speccy
We've still got landing on atmospheric planets to come as an expansion, and all that entails. Weather, wild life, vegetation, cities, oceans, etc, etc.
 
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Nitek [pl]

Banned
N
I want ED to make money. They have financing so they can make the game better for us. For me new players are mostly solo so useless for the ingame experience.
 

XYZ

XYZ
Nitek [pl] Triadius said:
I want ED to make money. They have financing so they can make the game better for us. For me new players are mostly solo so useless for the ingame experience.
Click to expand...


This games give its developers hundrets of millions of $ so "free to play" income is quite nice there.
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Hey all, i can see this being a topic that might produce some strong responses, so remember, keep it on-topic, discuss the post, not the poster, etc.

OP - you might want to take a look at the long term plans for ED, and that the game still has a lot of content FD are planning on adding. Its probably going to be many many years before they will even consider such.
 

Muzz UK

Muzz UK
I'd be open to a 1 week free commander trial with limits of only buying one new ship then you pay option but Frontier need to make money!
 

tempusfugit84

T
From my own personal opinion hell no! i think that both No Man's Sky and Star Citizen will have unique selling points but i do not think that they will have the all roundness that ED will continue to have. And to clarify do you mean season 1 should then become free to play or all seasons.

i think you will find that alot of people will support ED as well as supporting one or if not both of the others. i know i do not limit myself just to one game and i do not expect to get it for free just because there is competition from other games.
 

Rojo Habe

Rojo Habe
It is free to play. If you bought the original game you can carry on playing it without spending a penny. You only have to pay if you want to access the new content, which, let's face it, is like a whole new game in itself.

EDIT
Ninja'd, by the guy in a jester's outfit :)
 
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Fyrd Judge

Fyrd Judge
XYZ said:
So should ED be free to play in December 2016 ? Why ? Its hard to imagine that FD could sell next expansion ( that will arrive in december 2016 ) for 45$ while Star Citizen and No Man Sky will be released by that time. New space sim games will draw a lot of attention from ED. So why not to make ED free to play from december 2016.

Free to play model should be made World of Warships (not World of Tanks coz premium ammo).

This will make massive boost in player base and give ED more live while income for FD will be secured.

What do you think ?
Click to expand...


Free game but they make you pay in other ways. Fact is people spend more on this game than they do on Elite Dangerous.

https://eu.wargaming.net/shop/wows/...content=premium-shop&utm_campaign=wows-portal
 
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xyphic

X
While the kneejerk reaction is one of "are you crazy?!", there's merit to this suggestion, though not necessarily in the way the OP suggests.

By the time season 3 starts, there will be a lot of content locked behind the season 2 paywall, and the likelihood is that the number of new players interested just in the base game will have dwindled significantly. By making just the base game free, it may bring an influx of new players who then might spend more on cosmetics, or upgrade to season 2 or 3. The balancing act is that the greater the number of players, the higher the infrastructure cost for Frontier so to do this they'd have to be confident that they can convert enough 'free' to 'paid' players to cover the increased costs. It might also be the case that players contemplating paying (say) £20 for S1+S2 would instead just pay £0 for S1 instead.

What I *think* will happen is that Frontier will continue to charge for the base game, but the 'base' point will effectively change. Right now that means S1. When S3 comes out I think they'll simply change it up so that 'base' means S1+S2, and you'll be able to get that on its own for a decent discount during sales and work in that way.
 

hunvagy

hunvagy
Wait, SC out in 2016? I thought only Squadron 42 might be done by then. I would like some sources on that release date, because uncle Roberts hasn't sent me emails about that.
 

steevaavoo

steevaavoo
I think it's an inappropriate business model for the type of game Elite is now and will become in future.

For games such as Clash Of Clans (which I do admit to playing!) it seems to work, but then I have infinite patience with it and don't feel any need to buy the required items with real currency in order to speed up my progress.

The danger I can see with Elite becoming "Free" to play (nothing ever is truly free) is that advertising will begin to appear, and people will either a) complain about having to pay to progress in a reasonable amount of time, or b) complain about the people who did pay and are suddenly flying Federal Corvettes with unlimited credits and all the best kit.

Or c) like me, people who refuse to pay to progress, and sit and wait patiently for 48 hours while an upgrade is fitted, only to inevitably give up out of boredom and walk away.

I'm no business expert though - if there's a great way to make it fit without putting people's noses out of joint it could be interesting to look at I guess.

Right now, I'm very happy to pay for expansions as they come. Or rather I would be, if I didn't have the lifetime expansion. £45 per year is not much to pay for a year of continuous entertainment. For me, obviously, I can't speak for anyone else. But I bought COD last year for £50, and I sold it for 1/10th that price 2 months later. The amount of hours I got out of COD vs. what I am still getting out of Elite makes me happy to continue to pay once a year for an expansion.

I probably haven't helped at all here - sorry!
 
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