DB Tweets 2.75M ED Units....

[Phoenix_Dfire]

ED got 25,681 backers on Kickstarter and even after Frontier inflated the Backers App number by dishonestly counting-in subsequent pre-orders, the number was nowhere near 1.7million.

Yup, I stand corrected. I got the Figures mixed up, £1.7 million was the amount raised in total after kickstarter and funding drive.

 

[Stachel]

2 Million sales of base game as you say.

Where the evidence that base game sales is as high as that?

I'm not sure if the Steam sales figure also covers the Steam Keys that FD gave out to backers or not.

The Steam figure is owners not sales and yes it does cover steam keys. Explained here.

http://steamspy.com/about

I'm also not sure if FD offers steam keys to people that buy via the store or not, that might also affect the steam figures.

FD does, but its public accounts shows once ED was available on Steam, FD sold so few copies of ED from its own store that these can be ignored.

 

[KING5TON]

Where the evidence that base game sales is as high as that?

I was using Mike's example. There's no evidence.

The Steam figure is owners not sales and yes it does cover steam keys. Explained here.

Cool, good to get clarification.

FD does, but its public accounts shows it sells so few copies of ED from its own store that these can be ignored.

Also good to know, thanks.

 

[KING5TON]

scored 6/10 at Official PlayStation Magazine.

Jeez, it must have been bad.
Aren't the official <insert console here> reviews always much higher than independent reviews? Since they want you to buy all the games?
Might not be the case nowadays but it used to be that you could always discount the Official whatever magazine reviews as shill pieces that glossed over any issues just to get you to buy the game.

Anyone trying to make a case that a unit produced and sold under the franchise (whether cosmetic or not) is not a "franchise unit" is simply being dishonest.

Not to mention unconvincing. Would Frontier really have needlessly and inaccurately underreported the franchise unit quantity to shareholders by secretly excluding cosmetics?? Of course not..

I've a vague recollection that someone from FD confirming it didn't cover cosmetics (could have been a dream though).
I wouldn't put it past FD to count a single skin sale as a "Unit".

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Anyone trying to make a case that a unit produced and sold under the franchise (whether cosmetic or not) is not a "franchise unit" is simply being dishonest.

Not to mention unconvincing. Would Frontier really have needlessly and inaccurately underreported the franchise unit quantity to shareholders by secretly excluding cosmetics?? Of course not.
.

Hang on.. so are you suggesting that ANY skin, bobblehead, name plate, decal or bodykit or mug or what ever and, each one is individually taken as a franchise unit sale AND the number is only 2.75 million?

if so i dont buy it...... hell i hope not at any rate!. i have bought in total, maybe 15 skins and what not.. A lot of folk here have bought way way more than me.

IF you are correct, then i can see why you think the game is doomed.

Whilst FD have said their next DLC wont be in the guise of a season, i think you are making it sound like their wont be another next large DLC fullstop....... AFAIK this is simply not the case.. for all we know (and I hope this is the case) DLC #2 is simply going to be a more traditional update with all the content made in advance. IF this is the case then it surely can only be a positive, and would explain why horizons is looking to have extended almost a full year past it initial expiry date.

I do wonder what would happen to all the £120 LTP owners however if indeed ED did go down the toilet with no more major releases?... Surely the point of the LTP was over the course of the life of the game was to significantly SAVE money over buying invididual DLCs? which would mean, at a launch price of £30 a pop mean needing FOUR full price DLCs to break even, and so therefore, a minimum of 5 major expansions.

Any less and surly that would hurt FD unless they give out mass refunds? (is this likely?)

PS strike me down and make me burn in hell for including a link to the site i loath -metacritic

but the critcs seem to rate ED pretty well for ps4 on the whole...

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/elite-dangerous

 

[KING5TON]

Hang on.. so are you suggesting that ANY skin, bobblehead, name plate, decal or bodykit or mug or what ever and, each one is individually taken as a franchise unit sale AND the number is only 2.75 million?

if so i dont buy it...... hell i hope not at any rate!. i have bought in total, maybe 15 skins and what not.. A lot of folk here have bought way way more than me.

IF you are correct, then i can see why you think the game is doomed.

Whilst FD have said their next DLC wont be in the guise of a season, i think you are making it sound like their wont be another next large DLC fullstop....... AFAIK this is simply not the case.. for all we know (and I hope this is the case) DLC #2 is simply going to be a more traditional update with all the content made in advance. IF this is the case then it surely can only be a positive, and would explain why horizons is looking to have extended almost a full year past it initial expiry date.

I do wonder what would happen to all the £120 LTP owners however if indeed ED did go down the toilet with no more major releases?... Surely the point of the LTP was over the course of the life of the game was to significantly SAVE money over buying invididual DLCs? which would mean, at a launch price of £30 a pop mean needing FOUR full price DLCs to break even, and so therefore, a minimum of 5 major expansions.

Any less and surly that would hurt FD unless they give out mass refunds? (is this likely?)

PS strike me down and make me burn in hell for including a link to the site i loath -metacritic

but the critcs seem to rate ED pretty well for ps4 on the whole...

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/elite-dangerous

I think "Cumulative unit sales" or "Franchise Unit sales" makes it hard to tell what is actually being talked about. Kind of a weasily way of wording it. I suppose shareholders don't really care that much.

It certainly could include cosmetics (I assumed it did when I first saw that figure) as I don't think they are that popular with people that aren't fans of the game. They're really expensive for cosmetics. So I can see that people on the forums will lap them up but generally I think they're maligned.

I wouldn't automatically assume anything about the game either way regards future content. FD are a business and you have to always remember that. DB is not your friend. If it makes business sense to stop any further work on ED then it will stop no matter what we think.

Re LTEP I think that if FD stopped all work on ED then the people that paid £120 would get a £80 refund (maybe, offlinegate refunds were a kerfuffle at the time) while people that bought it when it was £35 will be told to swivel, Horizons cost £40 and you got that free. Again they're a business, so will act like a business not a friend. If it makes business sense to try to get out of refunds (and to be honest there won't be that many people that bought the £120 LTEP) and eat the negative rep from it then they will.

 

[Stachel]

I was using Mike's example. There's no evidence.

OK, clear. The only numbers evidence we've got says 1.1m to 1.5m base game sales. That's 1.1m from Steam, plus whatever of the Frontier store 400K-odd were not registered on Steam, plus 8000 PS4 and 1000 Xbox from the UK retail charts.

There are definitely console download sales to add, but we don't know how many.

Jeez, it must have been bad.
Aren't the official <insert console here> reviews always much higher than independent reviews? Since they want you to buy all the games?
Might not be the case nowadays but it used to be that you could always discount the Official whatever magazine reviews as shill pieces that glossed over any issues just to get you to buy the game.

 

[Phoenix_Dfire]

Hang on.. so are you suggesting that ANY skin, bobblehead, name plate, decal or bodykit or mug or what ever and, each one is individually taken as a franchise unit sale AND the number is only 2.75

I do wonder what would happen to all the £120 LTP owners however if indeed ED did go down the toilet with no more major releases?... Surely the point of the LTP was over the course of the life of the game was to significantly SAVE money over buying invididual DLCs?

Hell no, if they were including every decal and ship pack, then it would be a lot higher just 2.75 million. Dunno about you Mike, but I backed at a level higher than the LTP, we know there's continued plans which are going to be announced at the expo so that will be included with the LTP at least.

The season pass idea of give us money in advance and we'll provide the content hasn't seemed to work in Frontier's favor. Even though I'm mostly happy with horizons, I don't think the new content (and their relevant fixes) came quick enough for some people. Next season (as I'm going to continue to call it) will probably consist of paid dlc packs (similar to D. C. universe online), using the more traditional method of create content first and hope people buy it.

Mind you, that's all speculation and we won't find out more until October.

 

[Stachel]

Hang on.. so are you suggesting that ANY skin, bobblehead, name plate, decal or bodykit or mug or what ever and, each one is individually taken as a franchise unit sale

Yes. That's what "franchise" means. Plus it includes the ED franchise stuff FD licenced out to other companies such as books, 3D ship models etc.

Anything else would have been hiding sales from the stockmarket, which is seriously not kosher, especially with so many FD managers/directors trading private shares recently.

AND the number is only 2.75 million?

Yes. That's why Steam shows so few game sales and FD accounts show so few $$$. A lot of those unit sales are paint jobs and $1 cosmetics bought on the dozens by ED hard-core fans.

if so i dont buy it......

Well please let's see any numbers/facts to show me otherwise! I'd love to believe ED has sold more. Just that I'm going to be convinced only by numbers, not anecdotes.

hell i hope not at any rate!. i have bought in total, maybe 15 skins and what not.. A lot of folk here have bought way way more than me.

There you go.

Whilst FD have said their next DLC wont be in the guise of a season, i think you are making it sound like their wont be another next large DLC fullstop....... AFAIK this is simply not the case..

Yes I think there will not be another large DLC. There's no money to fund it, and going by the last ones, almost no-one would buy it. Tell me why you think there will be one.

I do wonder what would happen to all the £120 LTP owners however if indeed ED did go down the toilet with no more major releases?

FD never promised LTP buyers would get any more major releases. They promised only updates. Majors like space legs, atmospheric landing was Braben wishful thinking that could have happened had ED sold big time, nearer the top of the 2m - 30m range he projected. Since Ed sold below the bottom, they aren't going to happen.

Surely the point of the LTP was over the course of the life of the game was to significantly SAVE money over buying invididual DLCs?

Wishful thinking. FD never promised.

 

[Jools]

FD are a business and you have to always remember that. DB is not your friend. If it makes business sense to stop any further work on ED then it will stop no matter what we think.

WOW

A voice of reason, here on the forums... who would have thought.

i wish more people understood this

 

[Para Handy]

So let me get this right - The Braben makes a tweetie thingie saying that 1 million copies of Planet Coaster and 2.75 million of Elite Dangerous have been sold and people on here are now saying - "what a load of things in ums, he is lying, he is counting all the paintjobs, Elite is DOOMED, F D are lying swindling toe-rags". Or have I read things wrong?


purleasssssseeeeeeeeeeee ...

 

[Stachel]

So let me get this right - The Braben makes a tweetie thingie saying that 1 million copies of Planet Coaster and 2.75 million of Elite Dangerous have been sold

You misread it. He didn't say sold. Braben dropped the word "sold" from his ED numbers a while back. That way he gets to big up the number by including the 250K+ Arena copies he gave out free on Steam and in Xbox bundles.

Hell no, if they were including every decal and ship pack, then it would be a lot higher just 2.75 million.

Let's see the numbers to back up that claim.

Until then, 2.75m genuine franchise units total is completely covered by the 1.1m-1.5m known game sales, plus average one Horizons/decal/book/whatever per player. And the significance of that is almost all ED franchise's sales since 2016 have been low-value cosmetics DLC etc. with actual game sales down to the trickle seen on the Steam graph.

 

[FrogsFriend]

So let me get this right - The Braben makes a tweetie thingie saying that 1 million copies of Planet Coaster and 2.75 million of Elite Dangerous have been sold and people on here are now saying - "what a load of things in ums, he is lying, he is counting all the paintjobs, Elite is DOOMED, F D are lying swindling toe-rags". Or have I read things wrong?


purleasssssseeeeeeeeeeee ...

It's just an oldtime EVE troll winding people up for the laughs, he'll get bored of it eventually... when people stop biting

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

So let me get this right - The Braben makes a tweetie thingie saying that 1 million copies of Planet Coaster and 2.75 million of Elite Dangerous have been sold and people on here are now saying - "what a load of things in ums, he is lying, he is counting all the paintjobs, Elite is DOOMED, F D are lying swindling toe-rags". Or have I read things wrong?


purleasssssseeeeeeeeeeee ...

People jump to conclusions all the time. People still don't know what term 'units' mean, despite it being clarified that it is ED base game and Horizons combined copies.

Also add justified questions about future of ED and slow release cycle of Horizons - so scepticism is understandable.

However they go with most extreme scenario, ignoring more trivial ones. But that's internet for you.

 

[Stewart_]

ObsidianAnt confirmed the unit numbers includes only the Game. No cosmetic stuff - just the game - i.e., Elite, Horizons etc.

I think "Cumulative unit sales" or "Franchise Unit sales" makes it hard to tell what is actually being talked about. Kind of a weasily way of wording it. I suppose shareholders don't really care that much.

It certainly could include cosmetics (I assumed it did when I first saw that figure) as I don't think they are that popular with people that aren't fans of the game. They're really expensive for cosmetics. So I can see that people on the forums will lap them up but generally I think they're maligned.

I wouldn't automatically assume anything about the game either way regards future content. FD are a business and you have to always remember that. DB is not your friend. If it makes business sense to stop any further work on ED then it will stop no matter what we think.

Re LTEP I think that if FD stopped all work on ED then the people that paid £120 would get a £80 refund (maybe, offlinegate refunds were a kerfuffle at the time) while people that bought it when it was £35 will be told to swivel, Horizons cost £40 and you got that free. Again they're a business, so will act like a business not a friend. If it makes business sense to try to get out of refunds (and to be honest there won't be that many people that bought the £120 LTEP) and eat the negative rep from it then they will.

 

[Stachel]

ObsidianAnt confirmed the unit numbers includes only the Game. No cosmetic stuff - just the game - i.e., Elite, Horizons etc.

So David Braben says one thing to the stock exchange and a YouTuber who doesn't even work for the company says a different thing on an internet forum.

Absolutely got it!

 

[Obsidian Ant]

I think "Cumulative unit sales" or "Franchise Unit sales" makes it hard to tell what is actually being talked about. Kind of a weasily way of wording it. I suppose shareholders don't really care that much.

It certainly could include cosmetics (I assumed it did when I first saw that figure) as I don't think they are that popular with people that aren't fans of the game. They're really expensive for cosmetics. So I can see that people on the forums will lap them up but generally I think they're maligned.

I wouldn't automatically assume anything about the game either way regards future content. FD are a business and you have to always remember that. DB is not your friend. If it makes business sense to stop any further work on ED then it will stop no matter what we think.

Re LTEP I think that if FD stopped all work on ED then the people that paid £120 would get a £80 refund (maybe, offlinegate refunds were a kerfuffle at the time) while people that bought it when it was £35 will be told to swivel, Horizons cost £40 and you got that free. Again they're a business, so will act like a business not a friend. If it makes business sense to try to get out of refunds (and to be honest there won't be that many people that bought the £120 LTEP) and eat the negative rep from it then they will.

Franchise Units does not include the extras brought from the store. I have clarified this with Zac.

If Stachel thinks Frontier are lying about that, then that really is up to him. I appreciate his dedication to this though.

 

[Zac Antonaci]

Franchise Units does not include the extras brought from the store. I have clarified this with Zac.

If Stachel thinks Frontier are lying about that, then that really is up to him. I appreciate his dedication to this though.

Hey guys,

Just to confirm, as Obsidian Ant just mentioned, paint jobs and cosmetic sales are not included in "Franchise units". As you can see from this tweet from the Frontier verified Twitter account, 2.75m refers to sales of Elite Dangerous and Horizons combined.

https://twitter.com/frontierdev/status/897397463958552576

Hope that helps.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Hey guys,

Just to confirm, as Obsidian Ant just mentioned, paint jobs and cosmetic sales are not included in "Franchise units". As you can see from this tweet from the Frontier verified Twitter account, 2.75m refers to sales of Elite Dangerous and Horizons combined.

https://twitter.com/frontierdev/status/897397463958552576

Hope that helps.

Hope knowing how many are alt accounts, for one reason or another (we know some forum members have at least three) would help too...

 

[Kaa Mchorror]

Hope knowing how many are alt accounts, for one reason or another (we know some forum members have at least three) would help too...

If you want to split hairs why don't we ask for the numbers of accounts that where bought and played for less than say 30 hours? This has pretty much turned into a stupid argument between fans and nay-sayers.