Are the dreams dying - interesting read and a lot of pretty good reasons and analysis but they missed the elephant in the room. Heres my view.
There is toxicity in SC. Caused by griefers taking over the discussions obviously but also by the fanbois who say things like 'We are paying for a game for our kids to play' or 'Its fine if it takes another 20 years'. In the middle is the average person who isnt happy with either of these propositions and positions and feels like its out of control.
Dreams have been fine for nearly a decade but reality has killed the dreams and meant that all topics and dreams.txt have already been discussed ad infinitum many times. Many people just want a game, any game, now and not more dreams.
In the UK many years ago, and Im sure its been mentioned already, was a High Street Jewellers that made good profits for years selling jewellery etc at reasonable prices. The business was worth £890m at its peak. When interviewed the owner said "People say, "How can you sell this for such a low price?", I say, "because it's total rubbish." except he didn't use the word 'rubbish' he said something worse. The business went bankrupt soon after. "It'll be done when its done" about a game that was ready for release in 2015 and will be released years before SC has had the same effect. People have lost confidence.
After all these years people are sick and tired of 'fighting the game'. Even streamers are looking elsewhere.
Other games NMS, Eve and yes even ED have improved and improved and the BDSSE is no longer, even in dreams, many many levels above what is available. If anything it is now low par.
Covid meant CitCon and dopamine hit didnt happen. No crowd mentality of people whooping and cheering and creating 'that feeling'. Just the Alpha and the feeling that 'this is all we have' after all this time and 'the game' is still a long way off with no release date.
Elephant in the room - CR himself. People are realising he is not a good Project Manager. Pillar Talk is full of hand wavium and head nodding. Other people say something and CR introduces a hundred things that need to happen first before that can be done. He just talks down the actual release and puts it further and further out of reach every time he speaks. He is losing / has lost the confidence of his audience / backers and they are slowly realising they know that and dont want to accept it. Its the last brick in the wall but the one that holds it all together and its working loose and about to fall.
Jesus tech is no longer the miracle solution - been there and seen that and heard that before too many times.
Macro transactions are no longer seen as backing the project and seen as holding up the actual release in the minds of long time fans and backers.
'FUDster / Its Alpha / We are backing him to build the game' he imagined have been the goto excuse for too long and no longer carry any weight
I could go on but time for the solutions.
Set a release date for SQ42 Episode 1, within 2 years and stick to it with regular updates not hot air talk and no ship sales and they'll get away with it, once it releases it needs to stand on its own 2 feet as the AAA game promised. Drop everything and just do this, its the proof of concept. Use the revenue to pay for development of SC and SQ42 Episode 2. This will buy time of 3-5 years from now to release SQ42 E2 or SC MVP and then build on it.
Needed but wont happen - Sack the Board of Directors and replace with people who can set targets, communicate them to staff and stick to them. CR becomes Creative Director at best but has a boss who says 'NO WAY! I want results in this timeframe!' The dreaded 'Publisher' who actually makes it happen.
Alternatively, set up a KS to fund the purchase of the rights to SC in a fire-sale, not to bail out CIG or CR but to actually own the rights once its all gone pear shaped. Most of the dreams promised now are backers ideas anyway. Then contract a games studio to build it as best they can and build on it. Accept its going to take a decade at least but backers are in control, no more featurecreep until after release.
Or watch it decline and slip away forever. Gamers will move to other games and always wish for what could have been. Thats the harsh reality.
robertsspaceindustries.com
