DB interview in Variety.com from E3

[Iskariot]

I know some folk will defend anything DB says, but he clearly claimed the expansions were free, there is no amibiguity in that statement.

The ambiguity is in whether it was actually said that way and in that context.
An infinite number of things can go wrong when trying to translate a conversation into text.

Braben of course knows that Horizons is a paid expansion and that more of them are to be released, and it is nothing to be ashamed of either.
Lying about that makes no sense whatsoever, so there is most likely a simple explanation for that sentence in the interview.

 

[Vedmo]

The ambiguity is in whether it was actually said that way and in that context.
An infinite number of things can go wrong when trying to translate a conversation into text.

Braben of course knows that Horizons is a paid expansion and that more of them are to be released, and it is nothing to be ashamed of either.
Lying about that makes no sense whatsoever, so there is most likely a simple explanation for that sentence in the interview.

Great...now what am I supposed to do with this cross?

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

So what is logical to think is to miss some phrases, so I said before. That were edited out, not that the phrases that are in the interview, were fake, so they are almost surely correct. In my experience, and in my opinion.

"Our expansions have been free, and the things you pay for are just vanity items, which in a multiplayer game just makes sense." This phrase is so direct, assertive, overwhelming, simple...unless the media rectifies, It should be taken as truly said.

Believe whatever you want to. No skin off my back. And I am not going to get all hot and bothered by it.

Seems like a a such a minor thing to get hung up about.

 

[Stealthie]

"What I’m saying is that the changes that have happened over the last few years have mainly been for the better, the ability to go directly to customers, to respond quickly to complaints. When we were with big publishers, if there was a problem with a particular graphics card or some other issue, we couldn’t say “oh we’ll fix that.” It had to go through an approval process, with an answer taking two or three days, and people would be very angry. Whereas now we can respond within minutes, and say “oh, right, we’ll fix it."

So, Mr Braben, Dave, my old mate, can you explain why the Galmap in ED continues to cause CTDs 3 months after the problem was first noticed?

 

[SP_Predicador]

Believe whatever you want to. No skin off my back. And I am not going to get all hot and bothered by it.

Seems like a a such a minor thing to get hung up about.

Of course. What about I'm really care, is about the kind of future for Elite, beyond Beyond. This mistake in public relations, as usual, is surely a minor thing.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Of course. What about I'm really care, is about the kind of future for Elite, beyond Beyond. This mistake in public relations, as usual, is surely a minor thing.

Whether you think it is a mistake or not is down to you. I see nothing but a bunch of people reading too much into something that doesn't actually mean much. But welcome to the forums, they are what they are and people can't help be the people they are.

 

[Devari]

No its not too ludicrous to consider. He's talking to Variety magazine and doesn't care at all about this forum. He's bragging about his company to mainstream media and he knows no one cares enough to go back and fact check and write another story about how some random video game publisher fibbed and didn't fully describe the cost of landing on airless moons in a four+ year old game.

It's ludicrous to suggest he intentionally lied because the negative PR from lying about something as basic as whether an expansion is free or not can damage both Elite and FD's reputation far out of proportion compared to any potential "benefit" that such a lie might achieve. Saying "no one cares" is nonsensical because presumably the entire point of speaking to the magazine is to either encourage new players to become interested in the game or to convince new shareholders to look at investing in FD. Those individuals would immediately discover that the statement about Elite expansions being "free" to be untrue and would not buy the game or invest in the company at that point. They would also lose trust and confidence in Braben and FD as well which could readily damage the company's reputation.

It's also not a minor issue when a company describes or advertises a product and doesn't "fully describe the cost" of what they're selling. That is sort of essential when promoting your product to a potential consumer.

It's also not a "four+ year old game", it's 3.5 years old. That should still be well within the typical life cycle for active development of an online game or MMO.

Sorry but there are just so many things wrong with Braben's statement that it's not remotely logical that he would intentionally make that sort of mistake about Horizons expansions being free. I mean literally everything they've delivered up until the launch of Beyond was paid content that was paid for directly by customers buying the base game and the Horizons expansion. To intentionally claim otherwise is absurd.

 

[Lightspeed]

It's also not a "four+ year old game", it's 3.5 years old. That should still be well within the typical life cycle for active development of an online game or MMO.

It was very likely 4+ years ago when his team got to start on the game, so from his perspective he is right

 

[thistle]

I mean if your definition of innocuous is "I kick puppies in my spare time" then yeah. But its not like people here are going out of their way to find something to be upset about, this all started with someone pointing out an obviously factually incorrect statement.

Sure, but clearly the reference to puppies wasn't my invention, it was a reference to the post I was quoting.

I agree btw Braben mispoke - but he was obviously referring to the current 'season', free updates and cosmetic monetization. It's clearly not true that expansions have been free, as his quote suggests. I think we can take it as read that he knows that though, and wasn't actually trying to fool the readers of Variety ...

 

[thistle]

Braben of course knows that Horizons is a paid expansion and that more of them are to be released, and it is nothing to be ashamed of either.
Lying about that makes no sense whatsoever, so there is most likely a simple explanation for that sentence in the interview.

Exactly. Those attacking Braben over his interview can reasonably complain he mispoke, or didn't qualify his comments as referring to THIS 'season', but it makes no sense he was lying.

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

'He misspoke, he was taken out of context, he didn't say those things, he meant something else' I'm surprised no-body has claimed it's 'fake news'. It's getting like Trumps White House in here....

 

[Cocalarix]

Seems like the forums are running out of things to complain about.

 

[Flimley]

It is always good to hear from the leader. And the leader is good.

Flimley.

 

[Vedmo]

'He misspoke, he was taken out of context, he didn't say those things, he meant something else' I'm surprised no-body has claimed it's 'fake news'. It's getting like Trumps White House in here....

Fanatic naysayers losing any sense of objectivity while trying to make the worst out of anything a man does, hmm.


You might be on to something.

 

[Ambroza]

Nope, they are free expansions for the base game.

PS
Thinking about it, I believe multicrew and SLF are limited to Horizons. The rest are expansions to the base game.

Holo-me is also limited to Horizons owners, as is the majority of the alien content. Anyway, nobody is arguing that the game has never received free updates. The issue is that Braben claimed that all updates have been free.

 

[Patrick_68000]

The issue is that Braben claimed that all updates have been free.

Perhaps that the journalist had badly interpreted ?

 

[Ambroza]

Perhaps that the journalist had badly interpreted ?

Maybe. Either way, I don't think it's really that big of a deal.

 

[Ian Skippy]

This topic is an excellent example of why DB is willing to talk to pretty much everyone, including reddit, except for this pathetic excuse of a community. [haha]

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

This topic is an excellent example of why DB is willing to talk to pretty much everyone, including reddit, except for this pathetic excuse of a community. [haha]

Well if he's gonna just tell lies, probably for the best.

 

[Genus]

Can't find any mention of this elsewhere, but if it's a double posting, then I do apologise.

Anyway, here's the link to the article, a quite lengthy read, and very interesting, too!

o7

Of special popcorn choking note was this statement:

"there haven’t been any really big changes, outside of changes to the business model, which hasn’t been particularly disruptive to us"

No, Dave. Just disruptive to your hardcore players and anyone who had hoped for a real product at the end of all this.

Frontier Developments have done well out of screwing the model though, so who cares?



I think after reading that, it would only be pertinent to enquire as to the process for claiming a refund for an LEP.

Prior to any meaningful changes being made before christmas.