Frontier's Player Retention Strategy

[Jukelo]

How many of those games you have are mmo games without updates? Multiplayer games without regular new content are mostly dead now.

I don't consider ED much of an MMO. It's an open-world single player game with some multiplayer functionality (some would say non-functionality) shoe-horned in to at least make the argument that it might, by arguing semantics, be called that and justify the MMO tag in the store.

At its core what ED is about, is flying spaceships, blowing stuff up, trading and exploring, like all other Elite games. You can do that with friends, with strangers or alone, but at its core this will alwyas be the heart of the game, and if you enjoy the game today for what it is, there's no reason you won't enjoy it later, even if you take a two years break and the game hasn't changed a bit.

But to answer your question more pointedly: I generally don't play MMOs since EVE has spoiled them all for me. But if I still had the time and energy for mischiefs, I could go back and gank miners in high sec and ignore all content updates EVE has received in the past 4 years, because there's no reason something that once was fun shouldn't be fun again, especially after a long break.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

I interpret the "(01/03)" as meaning this was an update dated on the first day of the third month, not that it was the first of three updates in that series.

Looking at the dates that makes more sense. I believe you’re right.

 

[Sirius Agent]

I don't consider ED much of an MMO. It's an open-world single player game with some multiplayer functionality (some would say non-functionality) shoe-horned in to at least make the argument that it might, by arguing semantics, be called that and justify the MMO tag in the store.

At its core what ED is about, is flying spaceships, blowing stuff up, trading and exploring. You can do that with friends, with strangers or alone, but at its core this will alwyas be the heart of the game, and if you enjoy the game today for what it is, there's no reason you won't enjoy it later, even if you take a two years break and the game hasn't changed a bit.

What you consider is not important really. Frontier saying it is mmo game in space and this is the main reason why many people including my self bought and supporting this game. Just read the words of the developer here https://www.elitedangerous.com/ from begining to the end. "Enter a massively-multiplayer full-scale recreation of the Milky Way..." To be honest there are even not many reasons to play with other people. So all this are just lies, right? That is why this game need new content year after year, not just fixes and new tools for old content like in last year. That's all I wanna say. Have a good day.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

Really? There's only about "The first two of these updates will primarily focus on new player and welcoming experiences, and we will also be introducing a number of quality of life improvements for the entire player base" -nothing like new tutorial I guess and fixes with changed tools for old content like in last year?
You are really that much deluded and naive to think, that in this year will be something really new to keep old players in game?

The point was that there’s not nothing. Ongoing BGS improvements, QoL improvements, bug fixes, a new player welcoming experience, periodic development supported events, and new feature and content additions in the third and fourth instalments of the announced regular updates is a great deal more than nothing.

 

[Whitehair]

Really? There's only about "The first two of these updates will primarily focus on new player and welcoming experiences, and we will also be introducing a number of quality of life improvements for the entire player base" -nothing like new tutorial I guess and fixes with changed tools for old content like in last year?
You are really that much deluded and naive to think, that in this year will be something really new to keep old players in game?

I was simply informing you of your error in assuming that there was to be no other releases this coming year, as you requested.

That you then proceed to try to label me as 'deluded and naive' is uncalled for and quite frankly obnoxious behaviour. Do you want information or not? Being insulting is not going to get you much more help!

 

[Sirius Agent]

I was simply informing you of your error in assuming that there was to be no other releases this coming year, as you requested.

That you then proceed to try to label me as 'deluded and naive' is uncalled for and quite frankly obnoxious behaviour. Do you want information or not? Being insulting is not going to get you much more help!

I was just asking not saying that you actually are deluded. And I don't need help, Frontier need it to keep this game alive after next two years.

 

[Whitehair]

I was just asking not saying that you actually are deluded.

Well, I'm sure that 'just asking' if you are a complete imbecile to not understand the basics of the situation is fine too? Just to clarify things you understand

 

[Sirius Agent]

Well, I'm sure that 'just asking' if you a complete imbecile to not undestand the basics of the situation is fine too?

Yeah yeah keep deluding... I have better things to do.

 

[Whitehair]

Yeah yeah keep deluding... I have better things to do.

OK. So now it is definely an insult. Understood.

 

[Troz]

You are really that much deluded and naive to think, that in this year will be something really new to keep old players in game?

I'm an old player, and I will stay in the game. But your several posts in this thread have given me cause to think deeply about this, and conclude that if certain old players leave the game, I'm OK with that.

 

[Sylow]

Lastly, of course, there's the people who simply don't need anything to retain their interest.
They're players who simply like flying about in pretend spaceships.
That is, to a greater or lesser extent, all of us.
Thing there is, we don't actually need any new baubles to retain our interest so FDev might as well simply not bother with them and, instead, commit fully (aside from whoever's responsible for bug-fixes, of course) to the 2020 update.

*shrug* All in all, i think i am in this group. I enjoy the base game. The last important upgrades for me were being able to land on planets and being able to shoot at Thargoids. FD could remove CQC and i wouldn't know. They could remove PP and i wouldn't really notice. They could burn engineers in hell and i would cheer for a little, but wouldn't bother much more.

As long as they don't break the base game, so as long as flying pretend spaceships itself is fun, i am fine here. And honestly, anybody who doesn't enjoy this activity is well advised to look at another game.

 

[Jukelo]

What you consider is not important really. Frontier saying it is mmo game in space and this is the main reason why many people including my self bought and supporting this game. Just read the words of the developer here https://www.elitedangerous.com/ from begining to the end. "Enter a massively-multiplayer full-scale recreation of the Milky Way..." To be honest there are even not many reasons to play with other people. So all this are just lies, right? That is why this game need new content year after year, not just fixes and new tools for old content like in last year. That's all I wanna say. Have a good day.

You asked a specific question regarding my library of games, you asked how many of those games are MMOs, to counter my assertion that there's no reason you can't come back later to a game you enjoy. How, then is what I think not important in the context you defined for that question?

But yes, I think the claims regarding ED being an MMO are a bit wonky and misleading, and I believe the people who were looking for a proper MMO have either left in frustration already, or have changed their expectations like I did.

And the idea that MMOs require constant content updates is only true of MMOs that can only survive by keeping the player engaged all year-long so they may pay their subscription (in one form or another). There are no subscriptions in ED, after you've bought the game you are a net loss for Frontier, and the money a player is likely to spend on cosmetics is nothing compared to what other MMOs will make off their whales. Frontier doesn't rely on player retention to stay in the black every month, but sales of the base game and Horizons to make a profit at the end of the fiscal year. And apparently they expect these sales will keep them afloat until the big release of 2020, so clearly they aren't too worried about (inevitably) losing players until then. They know everybody will be back if what they have to sell sounds exciting.

 

[ChrisF0001]

You know, I remember when games just didn't get content updates, and we still played them. Also, dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Anyway, I'll take Space Legs in 2020 over, gosh, I don't know, some Multicrew thing or BGS thing or Powerplay thing next month. I can wait for good things, I don't feel the need to threaten to quit if I don't get candy right away.

And how about FD spend the next few months *fixing bugs* instead of rushing new content for the impatient people and accidentally breaking more stuff? Wouldn't *that* be a good thing?

 

[Lazuras Poe]

Nice post OP. Thank you. Measured and sensible.

I lean towards your view mostly.
Ive enjoyed the game from day 1, still enjoy it now, 2 accounts of which neither have any Elite rank, and Im happy to wait. Why? Because I enjoy the game that came out, not potential, not expectation, not the future, just what they released. And everything since then has been cool, mostly, what I havent liked hasnt detracted from the heart of the game.
I dont understand what all the fuss is about. People talk about investment and promises and this and that making predictions based on their own presuppositions and then arguing till theyre blue in the backside. Meh.
I remember the good old days when you saved up your newspaper round money, bought a cassette tape with a game on it, played it till you got bored, and then got into something else.
I swear that gamers these days are worse than crack addicts. Find some fun people.

Personally, I wonder if maybe FD had some big plans for this year, maybe locked in with games as a service and then realised, after watching recent games flop and fail and cause uproar by chasing money and not gameplay (even RDR2 online coming under fire) they've gone, "er Guys n Gals, this is totally not going to work, we might have to rethink this." And perhaps, what they are working on is going to be pretty cool. Not awesome, not mind blowing, not game changing, not awe inspiring, not mind expanding, and certainly not omg I demand more for my initial investment and financial outlay than just flying spaceships in your really lame flying spaceships game FD! Gorrammit! Just, maybe, something pretty cool.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

Nice post OP. Thank you. Measured and sensible.

I lean towards your view mostly.
Ive enjoyed the game from day 1, still enjoy it now, 2 accounts of which neither have any Elite rank, and Im happy to wait. Why? Because I enjoy the game that came out, not potential, not expectation, not the future, just what they released. And everything since then has been cool, mostly, what I havent liked hasnt detracted from the heart of the game.
I dont understand what all the fuss is about. People talk about investment and promises and this and that making predictions based on their own presuppositions and then arguing till theyre blue in the backside. Meh.
I remember the good old days when you saved up your newspaper round money, bought a cassette tape with a game on it, played it till you got bored, and then got into something else.
I swear that gamers these days are worse than crack addicts. Find some fun people.

Personally, I wonder if maybe FD had some big plans for this year, maybe locked in with games as a service and then realised, after watching recent games flop and fail and cause uproar by chasing money and not gameplay (even RDR2 online coming under fire) they've gone, "er Guys n Gals, this is totally not going to work, we might have to rethink this." And perhaps, what they are working on is going to be pretty cool. Not awesome, not mind blowing, not game changing, not awe inspiring, not mind expanding, and certainly not omg I demand more for my initial investment and financial outlay than just flying spaceships in your really lame flying spaceships game FD! Gorrammit! Just, maybe, something pretty cool.

That’s the best attitude to have towards it in my view. Enjoy what’s there, appreciate what comes or play around it. If you can’t do that then you might be happier moving on. Getting upset and railing on the developers for not designing the game as you’d prefer it is not going to have any productive result.

 

[Franc Kaos]

...
Once you're able to get past that initial disappointment about the wait, it's clear that there's a lot going on with Elite in the short and longer term. Once that starts to sink in for more players, and once it becomes the focus as updates start rolling in, I don't foresee problems with player retention spelling the doom of Elite.

So, nearly a hundred fdev employee's have been working this humungous update since August<?> of last year but the chances of them not being able to actually produce the huge New Era of Elite content is so big they would rather not say (or even give a hint as to) what area the gigantic game changing improvement is focusing on, that even saying, 'We're working on atmospherics' or 'Space Legs' or 'Dino hunting' in case it breaks their ability to actually produce this behemoth of ultimate DLC is why they've given us nothing as to what content is slowly incoming - is that what is being said here?

If I knew atmospheric landings were coming in 2020 I would keep the game installed. If I knew it was going to be First Person Shooter* I would know the game is no longer being designed for me, uninstall and never darken their doorsteps again, so they say nothing, thinking the player base will hang on with hope in their hearts but actually, in my case, it's simply breeding utter distrust (bordering on hatred) of the company and wishing there were some real competition out there (for flying a spaceship in VR that isn't just a corridor shooter).

Plus the quarterly updates sound like not much more than bug fixing, tinkering, some tutorials and extra text on CGs (skeleton staff) - and don't forget, Distant Worlds 2 and Salome were both created not by Fdev but external peoples, the only <non> story they did was the alien invasion (lol) and Guardian reveal at a glacial pace, they don't know how to do community stuff, they don't even know how to talk to their player base, couching their language in politic speak, saying nothing in overlong flowery paragraphs of semantically null content...

IMHO.

* I'm not opposed to EVA gameplay as such but they forgot to finish the space sim portion first.

 

[VR CMDR Novindus]

So, nearly a hundred fdev employee's have been working this humungous update since August<?> of last year but the chances of them not being able to actually produce the huge New Era of Elite content is so big they would rather not say (or even give a hint as to) what area the gigantic game changing improvement is focusing on, that even saying, 'We're working on atmospherics' or 'Space Legs' or 'Dino hunting' in case it breaks their ability to actually produce this behemoth of ultimate DLC is why they've given us nothing as to what content is slowly incoming - is that what is being said here?

It seems more likely that development plans have changed since last August, and may continue to change, and quite possibly a major expansion in the scope of the release has occurred which will invariably feed back into the scoping and details of individual development items, which would need to then be reviewed. I’ve been through such before in my own development work.

I don’t see the the relationship between divulging development plans ahead of time and the issue of trust. Theirs may not be a model of communication you like, but the impact of their developments is the real measure as I see it, regardless of when they decided to tell us about them.

 

[babelfisch]

The best way to release the news would have been a simultaneous forum post, stream/video, and 2019 road map.

This “silence gives us flexibility” approach is making the community crazy. Even the LEP holders are at this point. That is the community that has stood by Fdev FOREVER.

Again, they give us this news via a forum post right before the weekend.

The community also goes crazy when they change some minor things on such a road map.

 

[babelfisch]

Where do you see sentence of new content update in this year? Please show me. It's just fixes like in last year. Copy-pasted ships are not new gameplay content, because they don't bring nothing new to gameplay. Especially worst tier ships than ships we have (people who play this game since the begining) .

That was easy:

In the subsequent updates we will be focusing on bringing in new features, perks and content, including a range of exciting new additions to the game that will build up to this new era.

 

[babelfisch]

Really? There's only about "The first two of these updates will primarily focus on new player and welcoming experiences, and we will also be introducing a number of quality of life improvements for the entire player base" -nothing like new tutorial I guess and fixes with changed tools for old content like in last year?
You are really that much deluded and naive to think, that in this year will be something really new to keep old players in game?

Read the whole quote.