Nothing better will ever come along. You really need a persone like David Braben to sit at the top, and put his foot down to make this vision come true. With out that kind of support from the top, no chance a complicated game like ED will ever see the green light.
No, this is as far as we go. There will never be anything better than Elite Dangerous.
Eh, that's too much of an
ipse dixit argument for me. Given enough time, something better will always comes along. Who knows:
Starfield might be just that (I am always bullish on Bethesda projects - they often stumble in the launch with copious bugs, but over the long term they usually hit a home run). And let's be honest: Braben's influence on Elite hasn't been the masterstroke some have made it out to be. He certainly deserves credit for launching a new Elite title, but his influence over the on-going development seems to be minor at best, and negligent at worst.
Be that as it may, I do agree that
Elite Dangerous (with Odyssey), warts and all, still scratches my space game itch better than any other title I have tried.
NMS has its charms, and Hello Games certainly puts FDev to shame on the development side, but it doesn't have that gritty "working galaxy" feel that I so love (I always say
NMS is more
"Rick and Morty" while
Elite is more
"The Expanse"). CCP's
Eve Online does have that noir-ish charm as well, but the forced PvP ruins the game for many (not to mention the new $20 monthly sub fee - yeah, not going to happen with me).
X4 has a lot to offer as well, but I find it to be an even more infuriatingly buggy experience than
Odyssey, and the UI is just utilitarian atrocious.
Space Engine is actually
better in the simulation department than
Elite, but I realize a lot of people need more explicit game mechanics to enjoy the title. Then you have a bunch of also-rans that while fun and interesting, simply don't measure up.
It's the old argument:
Elite is a frustratingly undeveloped/misdeveloped title...but it still is the best spaceship title out there (which is why despite the Odyssey fiasco, the game still pulls in thousands of players daily). But its reign balances on the edge of a knife. Sooner or later, it
will be bested.
As for
Elite being with us until 2030...who knows? It all depends on server populations and ARX transactions. If by 2030 we don't have a true successor title, than I believe that there is a good chance that Frontier will still keep the servers running by then even if the game drifts into maintenance mode because the player population will still be there. However, if a successor title arrives before then and
Elite players move on to that next title that scratches the immersive spaceship game itch, then I doubt it. But if that happens, no one will be around to care anyway so....
As Sheldon Kopp was fond of saying, "Be. Here. Now."
.
