Now, now, the reasons for the demise of the macOS client is immaterial, I'm just using it to illustrate the point that the money put in for that version was a risk that did not pay off.
Player numbers dropped?
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Now, now, the reasons for the demise of the macOS client is immaterial, I'm just using it to illustrate the point that the money put in for that version was a risk that did not pay off.
I have no idea which point you are trying to make.
They usually just go with the most successful genre on the market. Ever wondered where all the WoW
Well I for one would not want to be on for an 18 month unbroken stint!
Saying that Frontier is incompetent and the game being a scam doesn't help anyone. Crying about unfulfilled wishes from 5 years ago doesn't either. If you want to help I'd suggest to stop calling everyone a white knight who doesn't share the idea of the game being doomed. Then continue with constructive criticism, and no, 'all your updates sucked' is not constructive criticism.
Which is fine - or do you think that 'taking a risk' is equivalent to 'I will win and always get what I want' ?
Viajero
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If I remember correctly the 2013 IPO happened after the Kickstarter was completed.
Just a question, has anyone actually said that they consider the game is flawless, or is your last paragraph just a slight exaggeration?
The outcome of the risk is immaterial to the main argument, the point is that Frontier shifted the risk that had traditionally been carried by the developer to the customer and did it under false pretences.
Still it's obvious that some think it's a clever business move, which I guess it is, but it's not one I intend to fall for again.
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Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
That is fine, but I think you are still missing the idea that without you, among others, committing to the Kickstarter the game may have not been funded with new equity issuing. The criticality of the Kickstarter, to all accounts, seems indeed to be as high as you would like it to be for Elite to see the light of day.
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Indeed, and then it got shut down (if you were a macOS user)
Apple not supporting gaming as they can't really compete isn't FDEV's fault.
Mac is like Betamax arguably superior but just not popular enough to be a realistic runner.
Source the false pretenses.
The mistake was that Frontier intended to support Mac in the first place. They are clearly to blame for that and should've known better.
A different perspective is that, ironically, it was because Apple were supporting gaming, but taking a long view rather than a short one. They got rid of a crusty old graphics API that wasn't tuned for their machines and wasn't under their control, and replaced it with one that was.
But that's all water under the bridge now.
That's certainly what Frontier said at the time, but subsequently, it's been described as a marketing exercise.
If Frontier wanted to know if there was demand, did we really need 1.25m and an interview with Chris Roberts to convince them that their game was great?
Mac gaming was killed by more players using things like bootcamp as the performance is much better. Why would Mac continue full on support under those circumstances, they just followed the market and piggybacked on windows exactly as gamers did.
Which also negates the dropped Mac support argument preventing access to the game.
A consumer trend changed Apples approach to gaming, FDEV could never have predicted or altered that and they moved with the times. Always a sensible option.
1) I repeatedly said that the game is NOT doomed. The game is doing fine, and will keep doing fine.
2) I never really talked about broken promises or unfulfilled wishes, I prefer to talk about what we've actually seen and played.
3) There is a LONG history of "constructive criticism" on this forum. Making a list of all the game design mistakes that were done over the last 5 years and all the many, many suggestions coming from the community that fell on deaf ears would take days of researching on this forum, and I really don't have that time. Besides "the game is not designed by committee". Very true. So since we are powerless all that is left to us is point out, one by one, all the mistakes that were done. You don't see them? Good for you, you must have different standards of quality than mine.
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
Hard to know for sure what was going on through the minds of the FDEV leadership team at the time but according to most statements in the press and interviews FDEV needed to understand well if there was enough demand in the first place. That is something much more substantial than just a mere marketing exercise. And Kickstarter allowed that nicely. Remember that if the Kickstarter had not been successful you would have gotten your money back. And its success binded FDEV legally to deliver, with or without investors.
Yup - it's a well known fact that if you ask people if they want a product they will tend to say 'yes please', but that won't necessarily translate to sales. Pledging to a kickstarter is saying 'there is a real market, take my money'.