ObsidianAnt video about odyssey delay.

StuartGT

StuartGT
Northpin said:
Pretty much this.
I work in a software dev company and there was basically zero impact on development due to covid.
People are working from home just fine and they dont have to waste 2-3 hours per day commuting.
But as a company we were affected because we deliver b2b software and if our customers are affected, this is affecting us too.

This however is not the case for FDev or generaly speaking for gaming companies. The gaming industry seen a surge during last year because people turned more to gaming to combat the lockdowns.
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en.wikipedia.org

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the video game industry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
An estimated 1/3rd of developers surveyed by the Game Developers Conference stated that COVID-19 caused a delay of the games they were working on, a combination of the pandemic and the remote working conditions.[105]Some games that were delayed include:
The following were delayed to unspecified dates:
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StuartGT said:
this is the timeframe as i recall:
  • 10th Dec 2020 = London and surrounding areas including Cambridge are in Tier2 lockdown
  • 11th Dec 2020 = The Game Awards, during which new Odyssey trailer is released and PC pre-orders begin, including an Alpha option. Early 2021 launch window is given
  • 14th Dec 2020 = new more infectious variant of COVID19 is detected in UK which is spreading faster
  • 17th Dec 2020 = London and surrounding areas moved to Tier3 lockdown. Most FDev staff probably begin xmas & NY break?
  • 23rd Dec 2020 = most of the country moved to a new heavily restrictive Tier4 lockdown, effectively cancelling xmas for almost all families in an effort to safeguard lives
  • 3rd Jan 2021 = Most FDev staff return to dev work? Families make appropriate arrangements for Tier4 of work, education, care, etc
  • 4th Jan 2021 = a new new mega restrictive Tier 5 lockdown is being considered to safeguard human lives
  • 11th Jan 2021 = UK now has the highest number of infected per capita in the world, deaths continue rising
  • 13th Jan 2021 = Odyssey delayed, PC to May, consoles to Autumn, probably as a result of many meetings among devteams about their livelihoods, health, family arrangements etc, and what may happen under Tier5
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Northpin

Northpin
StuartGT said:
en.wikipedia.org

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the video game industry - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org


Important context surrounding FDev's decision to delay Odyssey - what's actually happening here in the UK

I've seen a bunch of misinformed commentary and complaints about the delay to Elite Dangerous Odyssey (PC to May, consoles to Autumn/Fall), where CMDRs are mixing up timelines, or thinking "FDev should have known about the delays", or even thinking "COVID is an excuse". So here's a timeframe of...
forums.frontier.co.uk forums.frontier.co.uk
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Yea, i know what you mean.
But i see this as a systemic symptom of an industry that year by year has more and more delays and more bugged releases. Now they have something tangible to set the blame.
Lets see the first title on that list - unless the game was ported in Wuhan, at the beginning of the February 2020 there were hardly any lockdowns. And they announced the delay on February 7th
 
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SCiARA

SCiARA
it is what it is, if a delay is the only grumble I'll have in life for 2021 I'll be content with that

There's a few on these forums that still believe something sinister is happening, that it's all lies, that this was all planned and they knew about it (in fairness that Epic page release of April fuels that), covid is an excuse....so what?

I'll point out the obvious
  • neither of us have the full facts and never will so lets keep the accusations to a minimum and try not to post your assumptions as the gods truth aye
  • no one is forcing you to play this game, if you are a console player then you haven't even paid any money towards it so again, lets keep the self righteousness out of it aye, you are not entitled to this game or it's DLC's
  • @StuartGT time frames post is an accurate line of info, it's fact, its not lies or speculation or assumptions, stone cold facts
  • yes we are customers, no that does not entitle us to anything, there is no rights of info, customers are not shareholders/directors/managers
Does this mean that FDev are 100% with the info they have given, who knows, PC release is a small delay and will be all the better for it, console delay is huge and could be for any number of reasons from getting release authentication to realising they may have dropped the next (current) gen ball but again, who knows, we don't and again, we are not entitled to know

so I ask those who seem to come on these forums to throw baseless accusations to take a chill pill, read the facts (it's not hard to find when you have @StuartGT to hand) and if you don't agree then back up with your own researched facts rather than shouting lies lies lies

Please?

Thanks
 

StuartGT

StuartGT
Northpin said:
Yea, i know what you mean.
But i see this a systemic symptom of an industry that year by year has more and more delays and more bugged releases. Now they have something tangible to set the blame.
Lets see the first title on that list - unless the game was ported in Wuhan, at the beginning of the February 2020 there were hardly any lockdowns. And they announced the delay on February 7th
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The first game on the list, The Outer Worlds, that you refer to:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1225526314188386304
Source: https://twitter.com/PrivateDivision/status/1225526314188386304
 

zarrazee

zarrazee
Rat Catcher said:
Unless all of the staff had synchronous very high speed fibre connection to the internet they would have been taking an instant 'hit' in performance to their normal working environment
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Or they could just save it on their local drives and upload their work at the end of the day, or earlier if required. Works well.
 

SCiARA

SCiARA
zarrazee said:
Or they could just save it on their local drives and upload their work at the end of the day, or earlier if required. Works well.
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there's all kinds of challenges that could prevent this, if they are remote accessing into the office they would be relying on internet speeds and wouldn't have the option of saving locally, which in itself would probably be a data protection issue
 

amigacooke

amigacooke
Northpin said:
Well, i do believe that Covid is just the perfect scapegoat to blame the delays onto.
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It's also a valid reason for delay.

However, Frontier still seem to take the best case scenario and present that and annoy customers when, for whatever reason, the best case scenario doesn't come off.

To miss the 'target' is understandable, to miss it twice is unfortunate, to miss a third time (if that happens) is worth at least an 'I say, bad show'.
 
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Taimaru

Taimaru
We know nothing about how Frontier develop their games and how they collaborate. So comparing your own company's effect to Covid isn't really valid. For example there is a big difference to saying to someone sitting next to you "hey, can you have a quick look at this code" to sending a colleague a message, waitng for them to reply and them possibly scheduling in a time later in the day when they can look at your code.

I know that where I work, whilst working from home due to Covid has had some positive effects it has also had some negative effects which have delayed projects.

Just as an example, do all the sound engineers (which we all know are very good at their job) have a fully working sound studio with all the required equipment in their homes? I don't think so and whilst the sound engineers were probably allowed to go into the office when lockdown wasn't so severe I really doubt they're able to go into the office right at this moment in time.

Not everything in the world is a conspiracy. :)
 

skananote

S
SCiARA said:
data protection issue
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I am either thinking different data protection issue or you need to elaborate. Data protection issue is when you store user/customer data in insecure way enabling additional vector for data leak/loss, or we talking different data???
 

Winterwalker

Winterwalker
Covid ...

Co-Video ...

Company Video .. !!

Company Video Working !!!



khaaan.jpg
 

SCiARA

SCiARA
skananote said:
I am either thinking different data protection issue or you need to elaborate. Data protection issue is when you store user/customer data in insecure way enabling additional vector for data leak/loss, or we talking different data???
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I'm talking literally the protection of its own data (ip) not as in GDPR (if you are in the uk)
can you imagine the security risk of having 75 (low estimate) staff working on versions of that code on home pc's, the chances of it getting out into the open increases to unacceptable levels
 

Ydiss

Ydiss
Unless any of you actually work for a game software developer, better yet actually work for fdev, I don't agree that our experiences of wfm mean much.

I'm a developer working from home. Currently I'd say we're fully adapted and productivity is fine. But I'm not developing elite. So it's of limited relevance.

Also, the Pandemic has an impact in more ways than just logistical challenges of wfm. And I'm in the NHS developing business intelligence so you can take that statement with some authority.
 
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amigacooke

amigacooke
Ydiss said:
Unless any of you actually work for a game software developer, better yet actually work for fdev, I don't agree that our experiences of wfm mean anything.

I'm a developer working from home. Currently I'd say we're fully adapted and productivity is fine. But I'm not developing elite. So it's irrelevant.

The Pandemic has an impact in more ways than just logistical challenges of wfm. And I'm in the NHS business intelligence so you can take that statement with some authority.
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Are you sure there is absolutely no comparison between you working from home developing software and Frontier employees working from home developing software?

Sure, it's not a complete comparison, but no insight at all?
 

zimms

zimms
These threads feel pointless. People will smother any kind of discussion with their Covid cudgel.

Of course Covid is a reason, and a good one, for a delay. Nobody who's arguing in good faith would deny that, but that's not the point. It should still be allowed to discuss the delay without getting insulted.

I don't think it's completely out of the question that Frontier may have run into some problems with the console version even if there was no pandemic.

And I agree with people who say Frontier isn't completely straight with us. Sure, there are reasons why companies aren't completely transparent to their customers. But it doesn't create a great image when now, mere days/weeks before the supposed release, apparently to everyone's surprise, the release has to be pushed to the other end of the year in case of consoles.

I'm sure some people will point out that autumn isn't the other end of the year, but these same people will chastise others for asking about news regarding the release before December 22nd.
 
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