[Video] ObsidianAnt - Frontier's Financial Position and the Future of Elite Dangerous

[-VR- Max Factor]

You seem to think that the whole beyond-desaster - and I mean all 4 Patches - was an effort of a 100-man team?

To assume the whole 100 person team was working on beyond is rather silly.

As they have already said there has been pre production work going on with what's coming next and that went into full production a while ago.

So no I do not think it's the work of the hundred person team. But neither do I believe that it's in maintenance mode.

Also why is beyond a disaster. The game for. me at least is the best it's ever been.

Sure there are a few things I don't like much like the crime and punishment. But on the whole, it's been a great series of updates.

 

[TheMegaTurnip]

If theres a refresh of Elite that would be really cool. Then they really listened to the community, learned from their design fails and are absolutely doing the right thing.

Take my money. And remove Mode switch.

Actually removing mode switching is a solid thing. If you start in Open, you should be locked to that mode. The same for solo and PG. This is both good damage control where unwarranted PvP is concerned and also prevents slimy weasals from escaping paying that massive bounty they have aquired by killing things that can't fight back.

People can kill whomever and whatever they like, it's not my problem, but when those same muderers do everything in thier power to unbalance the situation (For instance killing a superior piiot when they are in something incapble of fighting back, then logging into solo when that person gets in something shooty) then there needs to be systems in place to prevent them for doing so.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

If theres a refresh of Elite that would be really cool. Then they really listened to the community, learned from their design fails and are absolutely doing the right thing.

Take my money. And remove Mode switch.

Yup, remove m9de switching. Make it open PvE with no player vs player combat.

 

[StuartGT]

I did check before posting. Liberum content isn't indexed, but thanks for the response. You'll have to excuse my curiosity..

No problem, not everyone is comfortable researching and finding things out for themselves.

I'll take it step-by-step to help you learn how to Google:

Most of those links are just summarising the financials FDev released on Wednesdy, but the Fairfield Current article says:

Research notes sound interesting, so we expand the search:

Research-tree.com is the website I found that provided the reports (see link in Obsidian Ant's video description and the OP of this thread). One 7-day free trial later and I was reading said reports, from both Liberum and FinnCap, and watching David Braben's mini interview videos.

Kinda simple really.

 

[The Lawful]

That enough evidence?

No. I knew this thing ofc. Zac was the messenger to bring the bad news, professionally wrapped up. Since last summer, they're working on another branch and current ED is more or less in maintenance mode. There will very likely not come anything to announce for let's say a year or two. Instead, they will start a new 'Era of Elite'. Mind the wording. But we all had this before. I'm definitely no doomsayer or somebody who thinks that plan is bad at all. All I want to keep is my CMDR and the things I've bought, plus VR support. If I can't have that, I'd rather stick with ED instead of the new thing. YMMV.

On the other hand, WoT did a major "refresh" last year and the game was completely overhauled, but you still kept all your assets. Lets hope for the best.

EDIT: And I want to keep the brilliant modes ofc. You can have Open PP for free in exchange.

O7,
[noob]

 

[Stigbob]

Actually removing mode switching is a solid thing. If you start in Open, you should be locked to that mode. The same for solo and PG. This is both good damage control where unwarranted PvP is concerned and also prevents slimy weasals from escaping paying that massive bounty they have aquired by killing things that can't fight back.

People can kill whomever and whatever they like, it's not my problem, but when those same muderers do everything in thier power to unbalance the situation (For instance killing a superior piiot when they are in something incapble of fighting back, then logging into solo when that person gets in something shooty) then there needs to be systems in place to prevent them for doing so.

You should have done some research before you bought the game, its four years to late now.

 

["Red" the Pirate]

Don't think I like the idea of an E: D 2. I've already invested so much into the current elite, having to grind all that back out again would be one hell of a pain.

Bungie did the same thing (more or less) to Destiny. Look how that turned out.

 

[thistle]

I expect if it's something more than a dlc to the existing version, it will be a rework of the code. Not a new game, not something you would need to restart from scratch. No way the codex/discoveries etc are being reset at this point in the plan.

 

["Red" the Pirate]

I expect if it's something more than a dlc to the existing version, it will be a rework of the code. Not a new game, not something you would need to restart from scratch. No way the codex/discoveries etc are being reset at this point in the plan.

I know, but ever since Destiny 2 I've been a bit skiddish about sequels to games that are suppposed to have a "long lifespan".

 

[Cheapchips]

Its good to see FDev being successful. Their switch to self publishing with ED was no small move. Five years ago, mid size developers were looking like an endangered species.

 

[iFred]

To assume the whole 100 person team was working on beyond is rather silly.

As they have already said there has been pre production work going on with what's coming next and that went into full production a while ago.

So no I do not think it's the work of the hundred person team. But neither do I believe that it's in maintenance mode.

Also why is beyond a disaster. The game for. me at least is the best it's ever been.

Sure there are a few things I don't like much like the crime and punishment. But on the whole, it's been a great series of updates.

I think its more silly to defend the virtual stop of development with every single post. We should Refrain form speculating. FD has announced exactly nothing since BEYOND and also FD has not revealed any plans for Elite. These are the facts and here´s the end.

Everything else is pure speculation.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Don't think I like the idea of an E: D 2. I've already invested so much into the current elite, having to grind all that back out again would be one hell of a pain.

Bungie did the same thing (more or less) to Destiny. Look how that turned out.

David has clearly said that Elite Dangerous will be the last game in the Elite series.

 

[VR Golgot]

David has clearly said that Elite Dangerous will be the last game in the Elite series.

According to PCGamesN FDev are open to sequels, but down the road.

It's a bit wooly, as they only provide little pull quotes, but they have been a go-to site for FDev many times, so probably broadly accurate.

---

Personally I don't buy the sequel theory. The word scramble Brett poured out on the DLC contained some fairly specific wording like 'the next era for Elite Dangerous', as well as references to the new DLC being 'much like Horizons was and like Beyond was/is.

---

Engine revamp? Sure, possibly, but not as a selling point in itself. Most of it points to something sexy that could change ED's public profile and attract more attention than free updates like Beyond. (Which for me suggests Legs, but everything suggests Legs to me )

 

[jasonbarron]

David has clearly said that Elite Dangerous will be the last game in the Elite series.

Hence the phrase "refresh."

 

[WorldsGreatestForumDad]

Given the age of the game and the use of the word "refresh" I'm going with option #3, if not in a literal sense, then at least in the sense that the game is completely revamped.

This got me thinking.

There were some interviews a while back talking about space legs and so on. They said they built all the assets in mind like ships and stations with the intentions of us walking around.

BUT! They would have to do a huge overhaul on the graphics engine itself in order for it to work.

In my mind, Thats when Elite Dangerous gets flipped upside down from what we see today.

Plus a Revamp means after all that time they can probably change some kickstarter "rules". Since it was there to get the game off the ground anyways.

This will allow them to make the game we currently see in other aspects as well. Thats fine, I just wish we wouldnt have to investigate to tell us these things. They could save a lot of heartache by being up front with this stuff. Maybe thats what we will hear about this year and the rest of Beyond 2.0 which I assume will be a little bit more tidying up before the refresh.

They should be able to keep those same assets they created from the beginning and move them to the revamped engine they spoke about long long ago.

This game is awesome. Cant wait to see it all come together. 1 more year I guess.

With all this im not really worried about what happens in the modes anymore either. Its common sense where the PVP belongs in this game. I get it now, their hands were tied. But they laid the foundation anyways.

 

[Devari]

£100m is a beautiful sum of money, and finances the development.

It finances the development of roller coasters and dinosaurs, and whatever other IPs FD has shifted their focus to next. It most certainly has not been used to develop Elite beyond the minimum viable product that it still remains over 4 years after launch.

 

[thistle]

David has clearly said that Elite Dangerous will be the last game in the Elite series.

No he hasn't. He didnt rule it out, but it was a long way off, ED has lots of time left.

 

[StuartGT]

It finances the development of roller coasters and dinosaurs, and whatever other IPs FD has shifted their focus to next. It most certainly has not been used to develop Elite beyond the minimum viable product that it still remains over 4 years after launch.

 

[dannysquid]

Engine revamp? Sure, possibly, but not as a selling point in itself. Most of it points to something sexy that could change ED's public profile and attract more attention than free updates like Beyond. (Which for me suggests Legs, but everything suggests Legs to me )

I can see why they might want to take the game apart and put it back together again. There are no doubt loads of things they'd do differently if they could start from scratch. The interface springs to mind. Maybe the time to do this would be when next gen consoles are appearing.

 

[Devari]

In case anyone is wondering when FD stated we would see new LEP content, this is a quote from Zac from 2017: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...-LEP-musings?p=6020972&viewfull=1#post6020972

In addition to all the content talked about at Frontier Expo, we also have some pretty cool things in the works which will be available to purchase. We're not ready to talk about them just yet so we can't give you any details but rest assured that the lifetime expansion pass owners will be looked after and will be getting their hands on premium content as part of their lifetime expansion pass before the end of 2018 and the Beyond series of updates.

I hope that helps,


Zac

Still waiting and now it's Q1 2019.