David Braben on free & paid-for content after Beyond (from PC Gamer interview)

[Barking_Mad]

Original Reddit post

From a substantial interview David gave to PC Gamer published in this month's issue:

Bonus:

Good to hear if no surprise - providing doom, gloom and neighsaying isn't your thing. Clearly more than one DLC (or whatever it's going to be called) on the way.

Proof of the pudding is in the eating, but I'll wager the next 12 months or so will move the game on considerably.

 

[Old Duck]

Dead! I tell you!

Indeed. It's all a fancy plot for some inside trading, at which time Braben will cash out and move to that wonderful island he's got off of the coast of Cape Cod. I'm guessing he'll keep Sandro as his butler.

Spoiler

 

[StuartGT]

FD is trying to put out fires in the worst way possible, by paying a journalist keyboard jockey to write about it.

I'm not sure what fires you're referring to; the interview was conducted at least 5 weeks ago, most likely at E3:

Q: Does that mean you see Jurassic World Evolution as an ongoing project, like Elite and Planet Coaster?

DB: Yes. We've already said there's an update coming on June 22 with some of the things from the film

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

Maybe you are right, but there are also reasons to do it much earlier too... I could ask why should they put so much effort into the game, at the end of the line? It would make more sence to do it earlier and not at the end of the games "lifecircle"! I'm not saying it will come now, but even if they start without life on the planet and then add it later.. more and more, I wouldn't be angry about it!

Thats a fair point,who's to say they won't start with earth likes.
They could conceivably roll them out in stages until city generation is ready.
Plus it would make fleshing out the rest of the galaxy a breeze in comparison,it's the way i go about work,get the tricky stuff out of the way first.

 

[VR Golgot]

Some more text here:

What happened is we’ve become more visible, we’ve taken on around 50 people a year for the last few years, and that’s been really good for us. We’re in the new office which is really nice.

What it’s meant is we’ve continued to support and nurture the existing franchises. Elite Dangerous has continued to grow, the team size is actually getting bigger. Planet Coaster has continued to be supported. We’ve got the Adventure Pack, the Spooky Pack, the Studios Pack, there’s another one to come which we’ll be announcing shortly and then there will be more after that… Each of these things has some free stuff in and some paid stuff. And I personally don’t feel like there’s any issue with that. With the paid stuff, you’re getting a lot of new things. The Studios Pack also adds hotels and lots of other mechanics to do with that. We would do something similar with Jurassic World Evolution as well – continue to support it over time.

And then, of course, we’re hard at work on the fourth game. We’re not saying what that is yet, but we’ll say when it’s the right time, which will be a way off – probably either at the back end of the year or early next year. But obviously we’re excited about that as well, and with Jurassic World Evolution finishing, we’ll be kicking off other projects. We’ve already got a small team on the fifth game, we’re looking at it… so we have a nice flow-through.

From a staff point of view as well it’s also really good too because people who have been on Elite for five or six years now might want to change and we can offer that change inside the studio. And what’s good for Elite is it brings in a lot of fresh blood and fresh ideas, which is always good for a game. It keeps it alive and keeps it positive. The plan was – beyond the current season for Elite, which is mostly announced – there are a lot of things that we will be announcing that are really exciting, some of which will be free, some of which will be paid. So it’s that quite healthy mix that is very good for the studio and is really good for the game.

 

[thistle]

Indeed. It's all a fancy plot for some inside trading, at which time Braben will cash out and move to that wonderful island he's got off of the coast of Cape Cod. I'm guessing he'll keep Sandro as his butler.

Wrong way round. Sandro has more of a resemblance to R.Montalbán, don't you think? And there's a definite similarity between Tattoo and Da...

never mind.

 

[DeathStroke]

I'm not sure what fires you're referring to; the interview was conducted at least 5 weeks ago, most likely at E3:

The 'LEP owners get the shaft' fire, the 'leaving elite with a skeleton crew to develop PC/JW' fire, the 'DB lied/doesn't know his own game' fire, the '3.0 is arguably worse than 2.4' fire. Take your blinders off, and you'll see 'em.

 

[thistle]

This isn't news. "Some stuff will be free. Some stuff will be paid." This is what FD has done since launch. Paid expansions, and free expansions. Free ships (eagle at launch) and paid ships (cobra Mk IV). Free pain-jobs, and paid paint-jobs. Free decals, and paid decals. What DB FAILED to mention was anything specific. FD is trying to put out fires in the worst way possible, by paying a journalist keyboard jockey to write about it.

Best attempt to be angry over good news so far. Good effort.

Free pain-jobs

Tell me about it.

The 'LEP owners get the shaft' fire, the 'leaving elite with a skeleton crew to develop PC/JW' fire, the 'DB lied/doesn't know his own game' fire, the '3.0 is arguably worse than 2.4' fire. Take your blinders off, and you'll see 'em.

So these "fires" are "things that aren't true"?

 

[VR Golgot]

just a giant ad. i've really come to terms with the game and frontier, but hearing them boasting about how wonderful everything is and how great they are is still sickening.

Game continues. Man annoyed. Very odd.

That's not how companies work. When a product stops making them money (games with no new features stop making money), they drop it like a hot sack of . Companies are out to make money, not be 'nice guys'(TM), that's why they're called "companies", and not "charities".

Sure. And they say they're making money. Off the franchise specifically. And putting more resources into it as a result. Maybe chill a touch?

 

[Vardaugas]

My take would be atmospherics gets added to horizons, life bearing planets are their own dlc as will be legs and ELWs with cities are 'free' for people that have all horizons, life and legs.

And once that is don maybe LEP owners will be happy with their investment, lol.

 

[thistle]

Some more text here:

What it’s meant is we’ve continued to support and nurture the existing franchises. Elite Dangerous has continued to grow, the team size is actually getting bigger.

Whaaaaaat? That can't be true, I read the opposite on the forum! From some guy. Some guy wouldn't be wrong ... [where is it]

 

[VR Golgot]

Good to hear if no surprise - providing doom, gloom and neighsaying isn't your thing. Clearly more than one DLC (or whatever it's going to be called) on the way.

Proof of the pudding is in the eating, but I'll wager the next 12 months or so will move the game on considerably.

Dogs don't wear socks. This wager is unfair!

 

[Space Dandy]

As long as the paid content isn't ships and SRV variants.

LEP owners deserve more for their commitment.

Um pretty sure LEP owners will get the paid content free?

Some stuff will be free for everyone and some stuff non LEP owners will have to pay for. At least that what I got out of the quote in OP.

 

[BoggiBlanko]

I'm quite sure they were working on atmospheric planets since 2014/2015, but they desided to stay silent! Who knows what they were doing over the years? I'm a optimist and say: Something big is coming... and this time it won't be just a moon!

 

[Enderby]

No more ships for a while please, something, ya know, better.

Sounds promising though.

 

[Leo Sagan]

Yeah, the next obvious candidate for paid DLC is atmospherics.

Agreed. They said space legs are still very far.

 

[William J Smith]

Heres the simple line

We're making some free stuff and looking at some paid stuff for elite

The answer I give to Fdev

I have £50 with your name on ....... get on with it!

Bill

This game aint dead until every last thargoid has been shot

 

[DeathStroke]

Um pretty sure LEP owners will get the paid content free?

Some stuff will be free for everyone and some stuff non LEP owners will have to pay for. At least that what I got out of the quote in OP.

The only thing LEP owners have ever gotten for 'free', is horizons. So until FD say specifically what LEP owners will be getting, it's a safe bet that they will have to pay like everyone else. Why you ask? Because the upcoming paid 'content' is most likely kits and paint, which FD decided LEP owners have to pay for.

 

[bitstorm]

It's hard to be sure, really having to read between the lines on Braben's statement, but it does feel like no paid content for 2018.

The wording is :

"The plan was - beyond the [current] season for Elite, which is mostly announced - there are a lot of things that we will be announcing that are really exciting, some of with will be free, some of which will be paid."

I'm reading that as :

"The plan was <is about to say we were going to have some paid some free for Beyond>"

But then checks himself after the "was"...

Putting his communication/marketing head on he switches then into selling what's past the current season, presumably adjusting the previous train of thought slightly from :

We did have paid/free content for the current season but etc.. etc..

To:

We will have paid/free for the next.

Which clearly has a more positive spin to it.

Can be interpreted in other ways of course, but I read that as a negative on the premium this year for LEPs.

 

[Leadfoot]

Let's see how people are turning that one into a doom and gloom scenario. I'll start with 'David Braben lied to us before!' and 'How can he dare to announce an announcement!'

/s

PS
He also said 'the plan was...'
Plans clearly changed and the game is abandoned. Doooooom!!!

As I recently read in a sci-fi novel: "No plan survives contact with the enemy."