Game's future

[CMDR Sheehy]

Hi OP. The increase in negativity is nothing to do with the game. It's to do with the internet. It's happening everywhere. It's called people.

It is because people have discovered that they can in fact bully other people on the internet and generally get away with it if they present well enough. People have forgotten the wonderful effect of kind comments, compliments, manners and getting a beer in after the argument is done, and remembering that we all share the same small blue dot. (Which means we should learn to get on with one another one way or another.)

I enjoy the game as an occasional player. It's all the time I have to play. I'm twice your age and I can tell you that at your age I thought a lot of things were certain that I later found out to be not. I only hope you spend less time getting there - or even my age. So many don't because they take the same rage to the street and die. Sorry.

Hockey sticks are fun to discuss but being rude to one another. Life's too short and precious. Be nice once in a while: You might get to like the results.

You think the game is dying? Cool. I'll play it until they switch the servers off and then find something else.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Still, FD could be doing good and ED not and I'm not saying ED is in an emergency state at all but I do trust steamcharts.

You shouldn't, because ED is not exclusive to Steam, Steam privacy settings make basically those numbers even less trustworthy than before and as some people pointed out Steam charts doesn't show ED doing bad.

 

[Kubicide]

It is their biggest money maker, even with increased PC and JWE popularity.

Ergo ED is doing good money wise. Which means there's actualky lots of players enjoying it.

Stop trying to make state of ED an emergency. Game is doing good.

It doesn't say anything about improving it. But sorry it has never been a tosh you guys trying to paint it.

Again, more nonsense. This poster has no idea which product gives the greatest return for FDev especially today. It's a fan's opinion and nothing more but posted as if there's some sort of authenticity to it which there isn't.

This thread is about a 4-year old game dying which it is. Elite is on the backend of its lifecycle with the customer base tapering off. This is backed up by the few bits of public info that is available such as the steam charts showing player activity, new sales, etc. This thread isn't about the game being dead but that will happen one day as happens with all games.

OP: FDev could have certainly changed the current status and future of this game by investing in more development than what they did. They could have prolonged the life and retained more customers which would have been a greater win for everyone.

 

[Darth Ender]

i have steam, if a game is available outside of steam, i buy it outside of steam. I dont want the overhead of steam if i can avoid it. I dont use the social aspects of it, so it is nothing more than a distribution channel for me.

that being said, this game has the staying power to go 10+ years in the same sense that any game that doesn't get physically shut down on the server-side can last a decade plus if there's a dozen or so players still playing it. Even garbage games can manage that.

I dont see myself getting back into it ...putting 4 hours a day every single day + more on weekends like i did the first two years. Playing elite has you doing one of two things most of your gametime. You're traveling from one system to another. Or, you're fighting npcs. Everything else takes up only a tiny fraction of your time relatively or you're afk in stations.

Fdev has never addressed making traveling a viable game mechanic. Instead, it's treated as a means to an end. This is a massive _MASSIVE_ mistake. You're making one of the largest activities you're forcing your players to experience (jumping to other systems) and religating it to a hassle. Something players have to deal with to do something interesting. Whoever decided that doesn't know what they're doing. Plain and simple. This necessary activity needs to be made into a game mechanic that engages the player. This is the single biggest miss other than trying to market the same game to casual/hardcore /single/mmo players and failing to deliver one that actually works for them all.

Then you have npc combat. Almost no effort seems to have been put into making this more entertaining and innovative since year 1.5 or so. It's at the point where unless you're seriously drunk, anyone not a newbie barely has to think to beat any enemy in the game - almost regardless of ship choice. The only scaling of difficulty / challenge there is is adding overwhelming numbers or cheating.

a space combat game where traveling in space is boring and combat is like shooting fish in a barrel is destined to underwhelm and only remain relevant while it's the only current option. Maybe that's good enough for Fdev. It's worked in their favor for almost half a decade now. Probably plenty good ROI for a video game. At this point, the players are an ignorable annoyance.

 

[Stigbob]

Again, more nonsense. This poster has no idea which product gives the greatest return for FDev especially today. It's a fan's opinion and nothing more but posted as if there's some sort of authenticity to it which there isn't.

Your opinions no more or less accurate on this than his.

This thread is about a 4-year old game dying which it is. Elite is on the backend of its lifecycle with the customer base tapering off. This is backed up by the few bits of public info that is available such as the steam charts showing player activity, new sales, etc. This thread isn't about the game being dead but that will happen one day as happens with all games.

Not according to DBOBE. According to the doomsayers it's been dying since prerelease, this time it's no more true than last week or next week will be. Doom seems to be a constant.

OP: FDev could have certainly changed the current status and future of this game by investing in more development than what they did. They could have prolonged the life and retained more customers which would have been a greater win for everyone.

We are in the middle of a free season of updates and QOL improvements, and there's more paid content on the way towards the end of the year. How have you missed this ?.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Again, more nonsense. This poster has no idea which product gives the greatest return for FDev especially today. It's a fan's opinion and nothing more but posted as if there's some sort of authenticity to it which there isn't.

Shareholder reports.

This thread is about a 4-year old game dying which it is. Elite is on the backend of its lifecycle with the customer base tapering off. This is backed up by the few bits of public info that is available such as the steam charts showing player activity, new sales, etc. This thread isn't about the game being dead but that will happen one day as happens with all games.

You don't have neither number of new sales, or you know actual player activity, considering ED is not distributed via Steam. You have nothing to backup your claims. And yes, one day ED will end, but that day is far away.

OP: FDev could have certainly changed the current status and future of this game by investing in more development than what they did. They could have prolonged the life and retained more customers which would have been a greater win for everyone.

I will take FD actual industry know how how to make games over suggestion that they have to push pedal to medal regarding development. And ED life doesn't need to be prolonged, it is 'alive'.

Sorry ED isn't for you. But that doesn't mean it is not for others. Just let it go and stop expecting world turning around you. It simply doesn't.

 

[Mengy]

Shareholder reports.

Frontier financial reports do not disclose a breakdown of how successful each of their franchises are financially. All of their revenue and profit numbers are for the overall business as a whole. So unless you have some insider information which the public nor the shareholders (of which I am one) are not privy to, then you should really stop spreading misinformation and lies.

Do you have insider information showing that Elite Dangerous is Frontier's most profitable franchise?

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Frontier financial reports do not disclose a breakdown of how successful each of their franchises are financially. All of their revenue and profit numbers are for the overall business as a whole. So unless you have some insider information which the public nor the shareholders (of which I am one) are not privy to, then you should really stop spreading misinformation and lies.

Do you have insider information showing that Elite Dangerous is Frontier's most profitable franchise?

This isn't lies and past shareholder reports have such information. Additionally I know several shareholders who get detailed report and information. FD have also said themselves several times ED is still most profitable game (considering amount of cosmetics that shouldn't be surprise).

But as I find such discussions pointless of people just wanting to confirm their own worries / fears / dogmas, I find looking for any sources a waste of time. It is always about moving goal posts. In the end result is the same - ED is bad, because you don't like it at this stage. You don't care about truth at all. It is all about feeling.

 

[StuartGT]

I agree with the premise that we have zero sales-financials breakdowns of FDev's various franchises. My best guess is currently Elite > JWE > PlanCo, but JWE will leapfrog Elite later this year - due to its high take-up and AAA pricing.

 

[The Lawful]

Don't forget ED is tied to David Braben's life in the first place. It's what he is primarily known for (among Raspberry Pi) and the Elite series will be regarded as his lifetime achievement. That's something you can't measure in dollars, and as long as it doesn't kill FD entirely, ED will stay just because of this.

Ah, and for me, the Steam clock for ED suddenly stopped at 2.2k hours. May Steam think I left the game in 2017 and only casually look into it again (during holidays where I only got the notebook with me), but actually, I simply switched to Oculus and play the same amount of hours as before.

O7,
[noob]

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I agree with the premise that we have zero sales-financials breakdowns of FDev's various franchises. My best guess is currently Elite > JWE > PlanCo, but JWE will leapfrog Elite later this year - due to its high take-up and AAA pricing.

Majority of ED income is now from cosmetics. JWE has no cosmetics source, so I doubt it is even close at the moment.

 

[Riverside]

Majority of ED income is now from cosmetics. JWE has no cosmetics source, so I doubt it is even close at the moment.

Can you provide a reference for those figures please?

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Can you provide a reference for those figures please?

Again, David interviews mentions this fact multiple times.

Seriously, you don't believe me, you don't. I am not here to argue or convince someone.

 

[Darth Ender]

Again, David interviews mentions this fact multiple times.

Seriously, you don't believe me, you don't. I am not here to argue or convince someone.

They could make a pretty penny licensing their 3d models out to normal 3d printing agencies rather than only opt for some niche printing outfit that goes belly up and then give up on it altogether.

 

[StuartGT]

They could make a pretty penny licensing their 3d models out to normal 3d printing agencies

They did.

Rather than only opt for some niche printing outfit that goes belly up and then give up on it altogether.

That they did.

Other 3D printing companies are welcome to contact FDev for licencing too

 

[verminstar]

For someone who isn't going to write a salty goodbye thread,you seem to have created a pretty salty goodbye post.

That wasnt a goodbye post...that was a wait and see post. If Q4 delivers what was promised, then by all means, lets all sing their praises once more...thats not a goodbye post, thats an ¨Im waiting to see if they as good as I hope they could be¨

Im having a mental image of Homer Simpson and his trademark ¨DOH!¨ in me head right about now...fer someone without a point to make, ye certainly make enough noise trying to sound smarter than ye really are, but yer makin progress kiddo ^

 

[RymdLazer]

Jebus help me. FDev aren't paying my undercover cultist shill job enough to deal with these pigheaded grind threads!...
Oops! I meant to say: Shut up! Elite rules!
/White Knight Club Member 206

 

[robbyp]

Can I join the club?

 

[Capt. Hook]

The future of game is secured once hutton orbital mug can be bought as micro transaction for ship ( once proven player has made the journey)

 

[Shinji Ikari]

You shouldn't, because ED is not exclusive to Steam, Steam privacy settings make basically those numbers even less trustworthy than before and as some people pointed out Steam charts doesn't show ED doing bad.

Still, Steam represent a significant sample size of the whole community.

Here, I think you guys should read about sample size.