ANNOUNCEMENT Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Announcement

[The Chairmaker]

been looking at how Frontier built up the hype by reveals of Planet Zoo as a guide to how the publicity timeline may work with Odyssey.

24th April 2019 was the announcement trailer
mid May saw the start of Developer Journals and releases of a few in game screen shots.
June saw the first gameplay video at E3 and the launch date announcement.
July more screenshots and dev journals.
August more screenshots and dev journals showing things like scenarios, also beta date announcement
September detailed gameplay reveal, beta trailer and beta launch.
October more dev Journals
November game launch.

So far with Odyssey we have had
3rd June Announcement trailer.

 

[Mogen Teras]

been looking at how Frontier built up the hype by reveals of Planet Zoo as a guide to how the publicity timeline may work with Odyssey.

24th April 2019 was the announcement trailer
mid May saw the start of Developer Journals and releases of a few in game screen shots.
June saw the first gameplay video at E3 and the launch date announcement.
July more screenshots and dev journals.
August more screenshots and dev journals showing things like scenarios, also beta date announcement
September detailed gameplay reveal, beta trailer and beta launch.
October more dev Journals
November game launch.

So far with Odyssey we have had
3rd June Announcement trailer.

Which isn't following Planet Zoo at all. It's already been more than a month since the Odyssey reveal trailer and we haven't even received a single dev blog that they claimed they would be doing for Odyssey. We've had utter radio silence.

 

[zimms]

But the silence is to be expected. As they say: In space no one can hear you.

 

[thistle]

Which isn't following Planet Zoo at all. It's already been more than a month since the Odyssey reveal trailer and we haven't even received a single dev blog that they claimed they would be doing for Odyssey. We've had utter radio silence.

We're at most a couple of weeks off the same trajectory. I'd just calm down if I were you.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

and I think they're not saying anything because they're not sure if they can implement anything out of the plan and they don't want to upset the community, most likely more information will appear closer to the release, 2 or 3 months before it

I doubt that at all. I suspect most of the work would be done already and it would be on the testing phase by now and bug quashing for a large expansion as this.

 

[The Chairmaker]

Which isn't following Planet Zoo at all. It's already been more than a month since the Odyssey reveal trailer and we haven't even received a single dev blog that they claimed they would be doing for Odyssey. We've had utter radio silence.

You are correct in all respects. My post was merely to point out that we will possibly get information soon, if they follow the same publicity plan.

Bare in mind though that 2019 also didnt have the disruption of corona virus to deal with, or for Frontier to have a significant overhaul in community managers at that time. People forget that Bruce started March, Tim started around April and Arthur in i believe May. They barely have their feet in the door, and i dont believe they have actually spent time working at Frontier HQ yet.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

what they've got ready, they showed on June 3rd. About everything else, I really think they'll show more as soon as it's ready to show.
have patience.

Really? You got evidence of that? Are you really thinking they've only just started developing it now? So what have the dedicated 100 team ED Devs been doing for the last two years, just twiddling their thumbs.

Of course it isn't all they have done. There is no way in hell that they could produce a whole expansions worth of material in 6 months and also go through the testing.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

fdev always shows only what they're really willing to show.
why are you so impatient?
Relax, there's plenty of time before the release.

I'm not being impatient. I have no issues waiting, but personally, I will want to see what I'm getting if I'm going to pre-order.

I suspect they have got plenty done and they are just following a marketing plan.

We may find out a bit more tonight.

 

[Plaid_unicorn]

be patient, it's too early to reveal the details.

It really isn't too early. There are games that have been doing weekly dev diaries for a release that was 7+ months away.

 

[vinnieboJ]

I'm not being impatient. I have no issues waiting, but personally, I will want to see what I'm getting if I'm going to pre-order.

I suspect they have got plenty done and they are just following a marketing plan.

We may find out a bit more tonight.

is there a stream on tonight then?

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

is there a stream on tonight then?

The usual twitch stream I think.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

be patient, it's too early to reveal the details.

Not really. Most features should be finished by now. But I'll leave it to Fdev to decide when to show them off.

Please stop asking me to be patient when I'm being patient. I'm not the one asking for information all the time.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

I'm sure they'll tell you what's in the odyssey as soon as they think they're ready to show it to us.
because the silence while it's done is a damn bad marketing plan, the only thing left is that they don't have the details for us at the moment.
in the end, 7+ months is a huge time span, in which time things can still change.

I doubt that is the case at all as I've stated. There will be months of bug testing before it goes live, before the is even a beta. All aspects would have to be ready by then. They won't be putting in features at the last moment. As I said, it's very likely that most has been done already and they are gearing up to the testing phase. They will already know exactly what is going in the expansion at this point in time.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

anyway, you have to understand that keeping quiet about what you've done is a very, very bad marketing move.
like I said, they will talk about the work done when they are ready to do it and they are sure that it will work.

Not at all in fact. You release the details too early, by the time pre-order or release comes, the excitement has gone and they get less sells.

I have to assume you don't work in marketing. I do, and know that what you said is completely wrong.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

you may be in marketing, but let me be honest. "you're not much of a specialist."
A good specialist, a good marketing specialist understands that telling what is not ready is a very bad marketing move, because you can tell the community about something and you can't cope to realize it.
and then you will be forced to take a huge amount of hate into your own hands and you will have to apologize and get your money back because people will say that you cheated them.
I think people seem to understand that.
and, yes. like I said, to keep quiet about the work done is a very bad marketing idea, so it's different, they're just not ready to give us their creation.

I'm sorry but what? None of that makes any sense. None of us have paid for it yet (apart from LEP owners) so there is no money to give back.

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Do you honestly think they will show us literally weeks before pre-order? I suggest you look at every game launch ever done to realise you are 100% wrong.

Look, this late into the development, they will already now what is exactly going into the next expansion. If they don't, then don't expect the expansion to this time next year. All features will be mapped out virtually complete and ready for alpha testing which takes months. Then after that there will be beta testing for a couple of months too.

Of course they can show us stuff now, but they don't want to, as it is far too early to start showing stuff and it will be a drip feed to keep us interested until preorder hits. Maybe in a few weeks time they will start and by preorder starts (probably around November time) we will have all the info we need to make an informed decision on whether to preorder or not.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

I gave you this as an example of what would happen if you told me you never got a chance to do it.
Strangely, I thought it was obvious enough not to explain it further, but, okay.
what do we have in the end?
silence when it's done is a very bad marketing strategy. someone who can offer such a solution can be safely left without a bonus or even a job.
telling people what isn't really done is also a very bad strategy. because if you can't implement anything but tell them about it, people will talk about the fact that you cheated them.
In summary, the only true strategy left is to talk about what's ready when it's ready to talk about it.
For example, fdev said "we will have legs, but we will not build bases" and "vr will not be at the start" means they were sure of it. they were sure of it, they said it.

I'm sorry but what you are saying is not making any sense.

I'll repeat above:

Look, this late into the development, they will already now what is exactly going into the next expansion. If they don't, then don't expect the expansion to this time next year. All features will be mapped out virtually complete and ready for alpha testing which takes months. Then after that there will be beta testing for a couple of months too.

Of course they can show us stuff now, but they don't want to, as it is far too early to start showing stuff and it will be a drip feed to keep us interested until preorder hits. Maybe in a few weeks time they will start and when preorder starts (probably around November time) we will have all the info we need to make an informed decision on whether to preorder or not.

That is how it works, that is how they have always disliked me their launches and how every other gaming company works.

Saying I'm not a specialist when I have worked in the industry for over 20 years is really silly.

They have marketing plan to slowly release information over time keep us interested. They know exactly what is coming in the expansion, they are just waiting for the right time to pull he plug on when to start releasing information.

 

[Straha Yeagar]

Yeah, roughly seven months out, Odyssey is feature complete. No time to do anything other than tweak and test things.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

and, yes, I don't know what makes you think that the development of the odyssey is nearing completion.
The fdev themselves didn't say anything about it.

I have never said it was complete. Stop putting words in my mouth.

I have said that they will now or very soon be going into alpha and then the beta phase, and those phases take many months. That is part of development. Now what the features are and the design of those features are very likely already done, from now on or very soon it will be testing before release. That is how computer games are made. Or do thing they do a couple of days of testing before hand?

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

as I've told you repeatedly, you don't even seem to listen.
This may be tomorrow, in a few weeks or months, but this is how successful companies are made, like fdev, whether you like it or not.

I have no idea what you are talking about. All you have said in complete nonsense and doesn't seem to make any sense. I have no actual idea what you are trying to say, so I give up.

 

[amigacooke]

It's now over a month since the original post and Frontier have not added any further information on the largest DLC for ED. Are Frontier going to time all the information drops similarly, so pretty much all momentum is lost between each?

I'm still pretty convinced that there was a mistake made, and the initial trailer drop was weeks before its intended date. Evidence for the prosecution: why overshadow the release of Fleet Carriers intentionally by a planned release of a trailer for Odyssey 3 days before and why then wait for a month (and counting) before releasing anything more?