News Community Update (01/05)

Will Flanagan

Product Manager
Frontier
Greetings Commanders,

Today, we wanted to share an update with you all regarding the on-going development of Elite Dangerous.

Despite transitioning as a company to work from home during these challenging times, we're still committed to providing the best possible support, development and updates for the game and for our community. We've launched the first Fleet Carriers beta and are now busy working on the second installment coming in May. This second beta will be opening its hangars not only to PC Commanders, but also those on console for the first time! Everything is still on track to bring Fleet Carriers to the live servers in June.

However, during this uncertain period, we've also had to re-examine our longer term roadmap and make some adjustments. To ensure that we can bring you an incredible new Elite Dangerous experience without compromising the team who work at Frontier, the Next Era release date will move slightly from December 2020 to early 2021.

We haven't made this shift lightly, but it has been made with both the team and the game's best interest at heart. We know that many of you are eager to hear more about the Next Era of Elite Dangerous and, despite this shift in release date, our schedule to bring you news and details about the future hasn't changed, so keep an eye on all of our channels for more information in the coming months!

Thank you everyone for your patience, understanding and generally being an awesome and passionate community!

Stay safe and keep supporting each other,

o7
 

Taimaru

Taimaru
Thank you Will for the update and I fully understand the reasons for moving the date slightly. Working from home and therefore separately can and does affect productivity depending on the work one does so it is understandable.

Please pass on my thanks to everyone at Frontier who are working hard on Elite: Dangerous and in particular the new era.

Stay safe! o7
 

Night Parrot

Night Parrot
Hang on, since me and my colleges have been working from home productivity has been through the roof. Without the encumbrance of commuting and needless in-office discussions our company has 'seen the future' and are moving to making working from home the norm. I'd take a long hard look at anyone who works sedentary, but isn't 'producing' during this this COVID-19 pandemic... 🧐
Seriously FDev, give the workers the equipment and support to work from home and you'll see the rewards!
 
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-VR- Max Factor

-VR- Max Factor
Night Parrot said:
Hang on, since me and my colleges have been working from home productivity has been through the roof. Without the encumbrance of commuting and needless in-office discussions our company has 'seen the future' and are moving to making working from home the norm. I'd take a long hard look at anyone who works sedentary, but isn't 'producing' during this this COVID-19 pandemic... 🧐
Seriously FDev, give the workers the equipment and support to work from home and you'll see the rewards!
Click to expand...
Surely that's all dependent on they type of work you do.
 

Ian Phillips

Volunteer Moderator
Ian Phillips
Night Parrot said:
Ahhhhh, make games using computers!?!? That type of work can be done from home with the right support (equipment), right access to servers, but I must admit it would be limited by the internet and company security policies. With just a little enginuity, much can be achieved working from home...
Click to expand...
True, but to give an example that has literally 5 minutes ago occured in my work, the coordination of all the efforts is made much more difficult because everyone is working in separate physical locations. So yesterday 5 people were busy for some hours investigating and coming up with a solution to a problem. They have communicated the problem, and their solution yesterday afternoon in an email. I've just told them that they are busy solving something that will not happen in the new situation we are working towards, and that the process needs to be adjusted, not a technical solution created.

So, not particularly efficient, and directly down to the current work environment.
 

Cmdr Delmonte[VR]

Cmdr Delmonte[VR]
Why am I not surprised of more delays.... you have gone corporate. We dont even have Galnet anymore. A core feature that had an automatic reader added to it... which is now pretty pointless. I could rant on for page after page. But cant be bothered...... I still play, why ? Cos for now there is no other comparable game... For now..
 

Ralph Vargr

Ralph Vargr
Ian Phillips said:
True, but to give an example that has literally 5 minutes ago occured in my work, the coordination of all the efforts is made much more difficult because everyone is working in separate physical locations. So yesterday 5 people were busy for some hours investigating and coming up with a solution to a problem. They have communicated the problem, and their solution yesterday afternoon in an email. I've just told them that they are busy solving something that will not happen in the new situation we are working towards, and that the process needs to be adjusted, not a technical solution created.

So, not particularly efficient, and directly down to the current work environment.
Click to expand...
This is why military command centers have the staff together. Physical presence is needed.
 

Night Parrot

Night Parrot
Ian Phillips said:
True, but to give an example that has literally 5 minutes ago occured in my work, the coordination of all the efforts is made much more difficult because everyone is working in separate physical locations. So yesterday 5 people were busy for some hours investigating and coming up with a solution to a problem. They have communicated the problem, and their solution yesterday afternoon in an email. I've just told them that they are busy solving something that will not happen in the new situation we are working towards, and that the process needs to be adjusted, not a technical solution created.

So, not particularly efficient, and directly down to the current work environment.
Click to expand...
Yes, communication is King.
 

Javert

Volunteer Moderator
Javert
Not really unexpected. Hope it goes well for the rest of the year. From what I can tell, Frontier has deliberately operated in a very localised team environment in recent years. If I remember correctly they closed an office in the US or Canada (?) a few years back because they wanted everyone at the same location.

It's generally possible to work quite productively with remote teams but it requires a different approach and if the company is not used to it, it takes quite a long time to build up that approach.

Therefore this type of delay is probably inevitable in the current situation.
 
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