in 2017 2.75 million sales, more then $82 million and still things are coming out at snail speed.

Valorin

Valorin
Nejamai said:
Ok, I have a question to Frontier about Elite Dangerous slow development, and it’s the following, Why is it that in 2017 you have passed 2.75 million sales (source: http://massivelyop.com/2017/08/15/elite-dangerous-has-passed-2-75-million-sales/ and your Twitter https://twitter.com/frontierdev/sta...lite-dangerous-has-passed-2-75-million-sales/) (more even in 2018) x $29.99 which is a total of $ $82.472.500 that things still are being developed so super slow. I just have that question and I’m sure many other customers also would like to know, the money is there to expand your dev team to release content faster not to mention the promised content like space legs, planetary atmospheric landings and all the other things PROMISED (back in the beginning when you were still in the crowd funding stage) id really like an answer to this as it should not be possible at this stage of development and earnings by your company.

so yea thx to the people here on the forum that information is clear now and i for sure did not know that was available
https://www.frontier.co.uk/investors/annual-and-interim-reports
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So that the developer of a game has more money now means that the game should develop faster? Hm. And it didn't occur to you to think about what YOU paid for all the updates you receive? I can tell you: you paid for the main game and the Horizons update if you are a regular buyer.

In my book you got a lot for your money. We have to agree to disagree if you think different about that, and then you perhaps should play something else.
 

Cmdr Eagleboy

Cmdr Eagleboy
Phazon Xenomorph said:
This right here is the cancer plaguing the game industry, everything from EA and Activision to Frontier.
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That's a bit nonsense though. I know people love to parrot lines they have heard onlines but way some pundits use this word as it is something bad is a bit one sided.

MMORPGs are games as services. Are they plague? Not really. Is DOTA2, or LoL plague? Not really.

Fact big AAA companies look for more constant money stream is nothing new, it is how business have tried to position themselves for ages.

So coming back to FD....again, it is nonsense.

ED is online game, always have been. Original pitch was for MP, they worked primarly for multiplayer and yes, offline got dropped for well explained reasons.

So is ED is more of ongoing service? Yes. Because it is ever evolving, ever changing massive online space game.

As for EA going nuts with lootboxes - it has almost zero to do with 'games as services'. It is just tried to name that way to avoid toxicity of 'microtransactions'. Basically they want us to pay voluntary sub for their single player games. They want predictable income. All of them do.

So calling it a cancer is really just positioning yourself in discussion - it does not bring anything interesting to discuss on table.

Some games can be and will be services, especially those with big plans of evolving further. Some games will keep their normal 'play as you get it' format. And yes, there will be cash grabs, money squeezes, and so on and so forth. But not all those situations will ever be equal.
 

Vandaahl

Vandaahl
Nejamai said:
Ok, I have a question to Frontier about Elite Dangerous slow development, and it’s the following, Why is it that in 2017 you have passed 2.75 million sales (source: http://massivelyop.com/2017/08/15/elite-dangerous-has-passed-2-75-million-sales/ and your Twitter https://twitter.com/frontierdev/sta...lite-dangerous-has-passed-2-75-million-sales/) (more even in 2018) x $29.99 which is a total of $ $82.472.500 that things still are being developed so super slow. I just have that question and I’m sure many other customers also would like to know, the money is there to expand your dev team to release content faster not to mention the promised content like space legs, planetary atmospheric landings and all the other things PROMISED (back in the beginning when you were still in the crowd funding stage) id really like an answer to this as it should not be possible at this stage of development and earnings by your company.

so yea thx to the people here on the forum that information is clear now and i for sure did not know that was available
https://www.frontier.co.uk/investors/annual-and-interim-reports
Click to expand...

They are saving up to be able to pay for the 3d models they promised to high tire kickstarter backers.
 

Lanceor

Lanceor
amigacooke said:
It seems those who claimed that FD are in financial trouble, having been proved conclusively wrong, have gone looking for another line of speculation.
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No, this snail's pace development is proof beyond doubt that Frontier is in financial trouble and the game is dying and losing players by the thousands and that 3.0 Beyond is already epic fail. :D
 

Deleted member 38366

D
Max Factor said:
I think you talk rubbish mate. FDev had no reason to actually invite obsidian ant and the others to the office in the first place, so I see no reason why they would delude us. Just doesn't make any sense. Was it marketing, sure, but I see no reason why they would try to trick us as they have no reason to.

As to the development, I have already said, we don't know it has slowed down as we do not know what they are working on. For all we know there could be teams working on long term projects such as atmospheric planets, earthlikes and space legs. But we won't see some of those for some time. Just because they are not releasing stuff every month or even twice a year doesn't mean that development has slowed down.
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Hmm... I take it you didn't follow the discussions around that very topic preluding that time?
Oh, and they did announce what they were working on. It even got a well-received Trailer. So yes, we pretty much knew back then already what happened and why.

As a shareholder company, there's a few trends you simply have to react to. Negative viral / PR / Social Media Trends exceeding a certain threshold and highlighting something undesired. And that's what they did and still do.
Back then it was the snail-paced updates and mini-content that was the hot topic, forcing their hands (Obsidian PR move).
There's plenty of other examples, which I don't even want to dig into (that'd possibly just pour salt into Frontier's old wounds, no point in that).

Whenever you see a sudden spike in Communication in a Company that otherwise is known to operate "closed doors", you just know they're doing it. Right there ;)
 
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Riverside

Riverside
sleutelbos said:
No, with a lep you buy a discount if there is future content. Its a gamble that may save or cost you money, nothing more.
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amigacooke said:
It wasn't sold as a gamble, it's an implied discount for paying upfront and early.
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I agree it wasn't sold as a gamble, and I didn't buy it on that basis. I bought it effectively as a 3 for 2 deal. I accept your point (Sleutelbos) that I was naive in assuming the whole 'one season per year' thing, I also accept force majeure means plans can change, and that if the company had gone belly up my money would be gone. That last part is/was a gamble, yes.

However the game is a success, the company has prospered, yet still I have that nagging doubt that I made the wrong choice when deciding whether to just buy the first expansion, or the LEP. It seems to me that it would not be that difficult to allay that nagging doubt.
 

Jaggedmallard

Jaggedmallard
Riverside said:
I agree it wasn't sold as a gamble, and I didn't buy it on that basis. I bought it effectively as a 3 for 2 deal. I accept your point (Sleutelbos) that I was naive in assuming the whole 'one season per year' thing, I also accept force majeure means plans can change, and that if the company had gone belly up my money would be gone. That last part is/was a gamble, yes.

However the game is a success, the company has prospered, yet still I have that nagging doubt that I made the wrong choice when deciding whether to just buy the first expansion, or the LEP. It seems to me that it would not be that difficult to allay that nagging doubt.
Click to expand...
They really should give you lot all of the buyable cosmetics as part of the pass, you paid enough and its a fairly easy token of goodwill.
T
 

Genus

Genus
Riverside said:
I agree it wasn't sold as a gamble, and I didn't buy it on that basis. I bought it effectively as a 3 for 2 deal. I accept your point (Sleutelbos) that I was naive in assuming the whole 'one season per year' thing, I also accept force majeure means plans can change, and that if the company had gone belly up my money would be gone. That last part is/was a gamble, yes.

However the game is a success, the company has prospered, yet still I have that nagging doubt that I made the wrong choice when deciding whether to just buy the first expansion, or the LEP. It seems to me that it would not be that difficult to allay that nagging doubt.
Click to expand...


Completely agree.
 

Bomba Luigi

Bomba Luigi
Depending on what a company wants to do with a game just throwing money at it wont magicly make it happen. I could see FD may have run into some trouble trying to do certain things in a way thats good enough and so it takes some more time trying to figure out how to do it.
 

Non Grata

Non Grata
Wylie28 said:
Money doesn't increase the speed a product is developed, only how long it can be developed. No matter how much money i pay i will never get anyone to build me a mansion in an hour.
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You kind of can - prefabricated houses. David Braben's got one!
 

OnePercent

OnePercent
It's quite obvious, all their resources aren't into Elite Dangerous atm, this was painfully clear that they made this decision after their business model regarding "Seasons" didn't go as planned.

So they changed directions and have now divided their resources to other priorities, one of their highest priorities is getting Jurassic World into a polished and solid game, and they're working on other projects as well as working on what they are promising for the 2018 content for elite dangerous. Naturally, progress is going to slow down. It isn't just a monetary foundation they are building by developing other games, rather they are developing the key technology required for elite dangerous and applying them in other genres, like Jurassic World for instance with its atmospheric, Earth like terrain generation and accurate genetic simulation of plants and animals, all the way to huge dinosaurs.
 

varonica

varonica
taotoo said:
You kind of can - prefabricated houses. David Braben's got one!
Click to expand...

So ignoring all the construction work that actually went into building the house and just counting the amount of time it takes to plonk down on the block?

See currently that's SC's strategy, they are currently in the construction phase, which could take ten more years, and then they figuratively plonk it down on the block finished and you can move in/buy it and play it.

Whereas FDEV's strategy is, we'll build your house for you, it will take ten years, but we'll do it in modules and you can pay for and occupy the bits as we finish them.

So, been playing SC lately?
 

GraXXoR

GraXXoR
Riverside said:
I agree the general message seems to be that ED is a sales success which begs the question why has development apparently slowed rather than increased in pace?
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You do realise that they have three major titles on four platforms PC, XBOX, PS4, Mac (well, 3.5 since Mac release died in childhood) to handle and that ED itself is split between two versions Horizons and Vanilla Dangerous.

If you've seen the pace at which Planet Coaster moved from concept to full product, you'll realise where all the dev effort went for a year and a half... Now, I'm quite certain that that same amount of effort is now being channeled into bringing Jurassic World to life.

And since so many players have already purchased ED and many purchased LTSP there is far less incentive for them to spend the majority of their dev hours on a game that has already seen Peak Profit.

Companies owe it to their shareholders to chase the biggest profits and a massive title like Jurassic World is likely the biggest income driver for them in the two to three years once they open the Alpha, Premium Alpha, Beta, Premium Beta, Gamma, Life Time Pass, T-Rex Edition, Brontosaurus Package... etc...

TLDR

I'm disappointed, but not surprised at the rate of dev work considering the self imposed complexity FDEV have placed upon themselves and the likelyhood that JW will become their primary income driving franchise.
 

GraXXoR

GraXXoR
%OnePercent% said:
It's quite obvious, all their resources aren't into Elite Dangerous atm, this was painfully clear that they made this decision after their business model regarding "Seasons" didn't go as planned.

So they changed directions and have now divided their resources to other priorities, one of their highest priorities is getting Jurassic World into a polished and solid game, and they're working on other projects as well as working on what they are promising for the 2018 content for elite dangerous. Naturally, progress is going to slow down. It isn't just a monetary foundation they are building by developing other games, rather they are developing the key technology required for elite dangerous and applying them in other genres, like Jurassic World for instance with its atmospheric, Earth like terrain generation and accurate genetic simulation of plants and animals, all the way to huge dinosaurs.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't think that there will be much overlap between the different games.

FDEV have shown by having three different systems within the same game, which they have barely managed to make interact at all (BGS, PP, Galnet "storyline") that the chance of them managing to leverage tech from three entirely different franchises and rolling it into ED is even more unlikely than them integrating Powerplay in the BGS in any meaningful fashion.
 
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