There's elements of truth in both views. Sure, David Braben wouldn't risk the company for Elite and he's a business man, but it's also fair to say that as an ongoing development Elite will probably get a bit more slack cut when it comes to getting it 'finished' because it's obviously his life's passion. The game was a long time in even getting started due to the way David wanted it done and the fact he was by all accounts unwilling to compromise it for other publishers. Either way I'm sure the game will continue for a good while longer. Plenty of life in the old girl yet.
Does anyone else feel like Beyond is a graceful exit strategy ?
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There's elements of truth in both views. Sure, David Braben wouldn't risk the company for Elite and he's a business man, but it's also fair to say that as an ongoing development Elite will probably get a bit more slack cut when it comes to getting it 'finished' because it's obviously his life's passion. The game was a long time in even getting started due to the way David wanted it done and the fact he was by all accounts unwilling to compromise it for other publishers. Either way I'm sure the game will continue for a good while longer. Plenty of life in the old girl yet.
I think OP is probably right, how many games do you know that are still in active development and recieving expansion's after 7 years?
Not many, that's for sure!
And with ED being such a niche game, I can't see it going much past that. In fact when you think of it, it's done well to go this far.
They always said space legs and atmospheric landing were years away, I think they might have been taking about star citizen, since ED ain't never gonna get that.
I think EDs repetitive nature and RNG mechanics limit its possibilities.
People moan about star citizen taking forever to release, but when you look at ED you can see why. If they rushed it like ED was, it would be a big open world with nothing in it.
Slow and steady wins the race as they say.
Not many, that's for sure!
And with ED being such a niche game, I can't see it going much past that. In fact when you think of it, it's done well to go this far.
They always said space legs and atmospheric landing were years away, I think they might have been taking about star citizen, since ED ain't never gonna get that.
I think EDs repetitive nature and RNG mechanics limit its possibilities.
People moan about star citizen taking forever to release, but when you look at ED you can see why. If they rushed it like ED was, it would be a big open world with nothing in it.
Slow and steady wins the race as they say.
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This is my feeling as well, that they're just getting started. If we get the ever-requested 'Elite Feet' and atmospheric landings ever, great, if not, well, it won't make a difference to me either way. I love the game and will keep playing it as long as I can.
Elite has a history that SC doesn't even come close to (the whole reason I am now playing the latest iteration of the series), so while SC may well compete with Elite and take some numbers away, it will certainly not kill off the game.
The last set of financial results looked pretty good.
It is a bit shallow dive.
Yes, Frontier is an business. It's goal isn't however just to make money. If it would be, they would be in freemium games market. With their army of animators and artists they would make a killing.
In lot of cases passion for specific project drives business and that business gives back something (not all, not everything) to that specific passion project. For all companies there are such projects, and for FD it is Elite. It is their PR bull, it is their magnum opus. And they won't cut lose ED just because it might not bring in amount of cash let's say SP games Planet Coaster and JWE eventually will do.
However surprise, ED is doing really, really well. FD seem to have realized that cosmetics - if done right, marketed right and at right price tag - can partially sustain project on their own. That's why you see more discounts on game, that's why they cut cosmetics pricing year ago. That's how business goes with passion projects - they figure out how to keep them going.
So yes, FD is there to make money, but that money isn't just for David and other officers and shareholders to go home with. That money flows back into development, adding new things to add new life to ED. ED essentially is that loathed platform people seem to hate on these days. But huge game like this wouldn't come into life otherwise.
So basically they keep adding to ED and they will keep adding and improving ED because it will bring in sales and it will bring back players - and thus keep project and game alive.
Blackcompany
Banned
Fdev themselves admitted Horizons didn't sell well. And the numbers are out there. As are Fdev financials.
Not to mention, the games price has declined sharply over time...in line with it's popularity.
*cough cough* source? *cough*
Blackcompany
Banned
I would live for Elite to just be warming up. Really I would.
But I worry. It's a 3 year old game. With subpar sales. On steep discount. Development is lagging FAR behind plans. Reviews are mixed, at best. They've had to abandon one sales plan due to poor sales of Season 1, due in part to it's severe lack of content...
The arrow us frankly not pointing up. That's squarely fdevs own fault, but it's still true.
And where do the numbers say that Elite isn't making any money?
That's true for every single other game out there.
BTW Elite seems to be quite popular at the moment. In fact more popular than it used to be on release.
Professional reviews are actually quite good for a niche game. It gets 80/100 on metascore. Player reviews are not so good but most of them are from people who are too stupid to launch the game or played 1500 hours and are burned out. Reviews are even better than PUBG, which is the most successful game of all times.
It didn't sell well at the beginning of 2016, because FD wanted to sell ED + EDH together, but players said no. After FD decided to split it off Horizons sells improved. FD financials didn't suffer, in fact, 2016 was incredibly good for them.
As explained it is with line of FD figuring out cosmetics sustain part of price tag they aimed for. Popularity is higher than ever, if we judge by forum and reddit activity.
well, our ships have doors and fly in populated space [blah]
Chinese company will pay £17.7 million for newly issued shares, Frontier's market cap now above £200 million
Frontier said that the £17.7 million would be used to augment its existing cash reserves, which stood at £12.6 million at the end of May 2017.
"This strategic investment will both help drive our scale up, and improve access and accelerate our growth into the key Chinese market. Tencent will be a powerful partner for Frontier, in what will soon be the world's largest market for entertainment."
Yeah , things are looking very,very,very bad for them
I wonder what it looks like when things look good for them?http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-07-28-tencent-buys-9-percent-of-frontier-developments
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Chinese company will pay £17.7 million for newly issued shares, Frontier's market cap now above £200 million
Frontier said that the £17.7 million would be used to augment its existing cash reserves, which stood at £12.6 million at the end of May 2017.
"This strategic investment will both help drive our scale up, and improve access and accelerate our growth into the key Chinese market. Tencent will be a powerful partner for Frontier, in what will soon be the world's largest market for entertainment."
Yeah , things are looking very,very,very bad for them
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-07-28-tencent-buys-9-percent-of-frontier-developments
Just wait until some self-proclaimed financial experts tell you that this is a sign for Frontier failing financially...
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Yes, Frontier is almost dead now. It's just a matter of days or hours...
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/...ry/company-summary/GB00BBT32N39GBGBXAMSM.html
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/...ry/company-summary/GB00BBT32N39GBGBXAMSM.html
I started giving up hope for anything more than simplistic bolt on gameplay about 2 years ago, and over those past two years that's all we've generally had at best. Indeed some of it's been all but wasted development IMHO (The Engineers, Generation Ships, Multi-Crew etc etc).
However, FD now have a clean slate and a year to change ethos. I didn't expect The Beyond Q1 to offer anything significant, and basically it didn't. In truth, even the new mega ship gameplay is slightly worrying - more simplistic mini-games bolted in with little thought to purpose/outcome/balance... And I don't expect Q2 or Q3 to offer anything significant either...
HOWEVER, Q4 is going to me basically make or break for me I feel. FD will demonstrate how deep they intend their mechanics to become with their visit to exploration and mining, and also with a payable DLC too... If all we get is yet more simpistic bolt ons? Oh well... I think I'll lose all hope! But if FD can finally actually raise thie bar and add in some truly impressive gameplay depth/content (thinks back to planetary landings!), then thank God! About time!
Personally? Given we have basically the same people doing the same stuff and making the same choices? I'm preparing for the worst in Q4... I'm at least hoping for some significant exploration content/visuals and an atmospheric landings DLC. In that way, at least I suspect I can get some game hours of entertainment from exploration again if nothing else...
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I said it before and I'll say it again: If you didn't like Elite at 1.0 you will not like it in version 3.4 or 42. Every update will be more of the same, no amount of work and time will make the core of the game any different. Yes, they will adress and rework some of the core features, but that just means that they will be more polished and the old ugly placeholders will be replaced with shiny new looks. But at it's core it will still be the same old mechanic. The BGS will not suddenly become completely dynamic and full of life. NPCs will not suddenly become completely realistic and persistent, each and everyone of them with their own job and going to sleep. You will not be able to walk around space stations any time soon (and if it will be possible sooner than I expect it will probably disappoint a lot of people). Exploration will not be changed into something completely different. They will add some stuff to find and a few new scanners, but that will just be more of the stuff what we already have. Since NPCs will never be completely persistent there will never be true bounty hunting. They will not add an epic stroy line. And Elite will also never be Eve. Prepare to get disappointed.
Now for me the good thing is, since I already like the game it can only get better.
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To play devil's advocate here, I doubt Tencent did invest in FD for it's Elite franchise. However it is a good point that FD isn't in dire need of money and in fact investment is there not to keep lights on but push into new markets with their existing franchises and upcoming IPs.
Please provide links of sale figures to back up your assertion of poor sales.
thank you.
Abandoning the season model was also about realizing that they ( FD ) could not deliver software updates in a timely manner - that’s the impression I got.
thank you.
Abandoning the season model was also about realizing that they ( FD ) could not deliver software updates in a timely manner - that’s the impression I got.
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More of the same? Like 2.1 that utterly destroyed the pretty sound vanilla experience?