Are release dates still relevant?

[Krait_79]

Given that gaming is so fluid these days with continuing patches, improvements and DLC is there much point at all to having a release date?

More and more you see early access for games. Will we reach a point where the gamer will chose at what stage of development they join at and the traditional release date becomes consigned to history?

Given that this game seems to have followed that model and development will continue going forwards what exactly is this release date for?

 

[Coilbone]

As far as I see it, the official release date is the time when the game loses it's Beta title and becomes a full-fledged, new game on the market.

One of the reasons the companies do the whole "early-access" thingy is 1) give the consumers an opportunity to try out their product and give our feedback (after all, we are the source of great ideas and who knows gaming better than the gamers themselves- and 2) it's a great way to raise money for a grand project being developed by a non-gigantic developer. Ofcourse there is Kickstarter and such, but people want a bang for their buck so the company creates early access to soothe those guys.

But I do understand your concern, being the fact that the difference between early access and a full game is very, very small these days. Look at Minecraft for example. It stayed in Alpha stage for god knows how long and when it finally got released, we didn't get to see anything fancy or new. Perhaps FD will do it differently, having some surprises up their sleeves, but that's just a speculation.

Cheers,

Coilbone

 

[Milky82]

I think you have a good point Krait and it really doesn't matter as long ED carries on developing, they can call it any letter in the Greek alphabet, except pi, pi will make me hungry.

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

Its in the main for marketing purposes and probably to provide boosted revenue, regardless of where the game is in terms of feature set.

When you look at the choices FDev had, they either released in 2014 when the Christmas period can give 30% or more additional sales over other times of the year, or wait until this time next year (2015). Provided the initial release is largely stable and FDev are committed to providing fairly regular content/functional updates, then they'll have benefitted from an initial acceleration in revenue/sales and can then concentrate on a more sustainable growth pattern over the next say 3-5 years and onwards (something Eve Online got right in the main).
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The main reason there is still the Christmas release period is due to the business model in game publishing being closely aligned with the music and film industry. There have been some changes such as Steam and other more independent retail channels, but the old publishing adage "never underestimate the power of retail" is still largely true. Just look at COD each year.
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Personally I would much rather see the model you describe, where there is far less "hype" and spectacle about releases and people join when they feel comfortable in doing so at some point in development, but games are a mass market retail product and I'm not sure that approach would be financially compatible with the costs of development.
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One area I will be interested in is how FDev handle the transition between development and service provider, as that is something that most games developers (including the big boys) are woeful at historically.

 

[KING5TON]

I think the issue is that they are releasing it.
They're not continuing the early access until it's ready like minecraft or KSP did.
Once release it's out there for people to review.
If it's not ready and a shell of a game it will get bad reviews and will be a silly short term move by FD which will hurt them in the long run.
If it truly is ready and the people concerned about it are wrong then great, should get decent reviews and do well enough that we get all the promised expansions and the servers stay up.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Its in the main for marketing purposes and probably to provide boosted revenue, regardless of where the game is in terms of feature set.

When you look at the choices FDev had, they either released in 2014 when the Christmas period can give 30% or more additional sales over other times of the year, or wait until this time next year (2015). Provided the initial release is largely stable and FDev are committed to providing fairly regular content/functional updates, then they'll have benefitted from an initial acceleration in revenue/sales and can then concentrate on a more sustainable growth pattern over the next say 3-5 years and onwards (something Eve Online got right in the main).
.
The main reason there is still the Christmas release period is due to the business model in game publishing being closely aligned with the music and film industry. There have been some changes such as Steam and other more independent retail channels, but the old publishing adage "never underestimate the power of retail" is still largely true. Just look at COD each year.
.
Personally I would much rather see the model you describe, where there is far less "hype" and spectacle about releases and people join when they feel comfortable in doing so at some point in development, but games are a mass market retail product and I'm not sure that approach would be financially compatible with the costs of development.
.
One area I will be interested in is how FDev handle the transition between development and service provider, as that is something that most games developers (including the big boys) are woeful at historically.

The thing is though that Xmas release doesn't make sense for a digital only game. There's no physical product to wrap up and give to someone. You can't even buy the game on the store for someone else at the minute (I think).
The release date will either be because they're running out of money for the project or they have to realize some money to appease shareholders/investors or it really is ready.

 

[Hawkmoon]

The big difference is once the game is 'released' it has to perform and live up to people's expectations so far we have just been testing those features of the game the FD want tested we have not see the final build with all the mechanics working as planed. Once the 22nd December arrives I will expect a complete game that can be played as promised, there will be extra content to come that will add features but the basic space sim side of the game should be all there for the 22nd.

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

I think the issue is that they are releasing it.
They're not continuing the early access until it's ready like minecraft or KSP did.
Once release it's out there for people to review.
If it's not ready and a shell of a game it will get bad reviews and will be a silly short term move by FD which will hurt them in the long run.
If it truly is ready and the people concerned about it are wrong then great, should get decent reviews and do well enough that we get all the promised expansions and the servers stay up.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -



The thing is though that Xmas release doesn't make sense for a digital only game. There's no physical product to wrap up and give to someone. You can't even buy the game on the store for someone else at the minute (I think).
The release date will either be because they're running out of money for the project or they have to realize some money to appease shareholders/investors or it really is ready.

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The style of retail outlet is not as relevant as the time it becomes available sadly, as the western world has become largely conditioned to spend in Nov/Dec regardless of whether that means going to a bricks and mortar shop or doing the same thing at a PC/Tablet etc.
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Development budget recoupment, or at least providing a mitigation to it, is the most likely decision factor for a "release" date, as will be maximising revenue, which in the games industry relies almost exclusively on Christmas.
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From what I have seen of the share ownership distribution, that is less of a concern for FDev, as most of them (i.e. the controlling majority) are held "in house" and shareholders only really get a say once a year at the AGM and have limited powers anyway (in fact in a worst case scenario, its the shareholders that hold the liability to the extent of their investment, not the directors - within certain boundaries of course).
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[CMDR Hixx]

In this case once the game is officially launched there will be no more wipes, so any progress you make stays. For me that's a big deal because I like to progress in a game and keep that progress.