DB interview in Variety.com from E3

[Devari]

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

Sorry, but that's not how age works. A game's age is counted after launch. A baby isn't considered 9 months old when it's born just because it spent 9 months developing in utero.

 

[Devari]

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.

You can't reasonably claim he "misspoke" when it was a direct quote from a journalist in a magazine article. Unless the journalist is lying, which makes even less sense than Braben lying as there would be no conceivable benefit for the journalist to do so.

It's not any more reasonable to assume that he "missspoke" or was "misquoted" than to assume he lied. It's entirely unnecessary to try to make any other excuses to pretend he didn't say exactly what he said. If it is in fact the case that he was misquoted then he should request an official correction to the article, which any journalist will immediately do if notified of an error, otherwise the statements stand and should be taken at face value.

The only relevant issue is to consider why he said it. If he wasn't lying, which would make no sense, then the only other reasonable explanation would simply reflect a complete and utter disconnection with the progress of Elite development. That is entirely in keeping with the videos he's made and his lack of any apparent direct involvement in Elite development since the kickstarter.

 

[Marc_Hicks]

Compared to Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous expansions have been "free". I bought the base game in 2014 & Horizons in 2015. Since December 2015 I have not had to fork out a single penny, yet the game has been updated on a semi regular basis since then, at no additional cost to me. So his claim is not entirely without merit.....but the haters still gonna hate, no matter what Braben says.

 

[Devari]

Compared to Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous expansions have been "free". I bought the base game in 2014 & Horizons in 2015. Since December 2015 I have not had to fork out a single penny, yet the game has been updated on a semi regular basis since then, at no additional cost to me. So his claim is not entirely without merit.....but the haters still gonna hate, no matter what Braben says.

Sorry but what you've said is 100% incorrect. How does paying for the base game and then paying an additional cost for Horizons equate to "free" expansions? They took 2 years to deliver Horizons as a minimum viable product, it can't possibly be "free" if they already took your money and then dramatically underdelivered the content they originally sold you. Not charging you for that content again when the content is eventually delivered does not make it "free" if you already paid for it. If anything you effectively pre-ordered the minimum viable content for Horizons because it took twice as long as expected to develop it despite producing it at a far lower quality than they originally described. Not only was it not free it was something you paid for literally years before you got the actual sub-par content delivered.

That is literally the exact opposite of free. I don't even need to post a meme to illustrate how wrong your statement is.

 

[Devari]

Of that ~ 1000 hours, how many were spent staring at loading screens? How many spent counting down time in supercruise? How many spent WATCHING NETFLIX because what you're doing is mind numbingly boring?
If you took out all the time sinks, I think I'd have about 5-10 hours in the game. Having spent ~$140 on the game and add-ons, that is the single worst game value of any game I have ever bought... By a factor of 10...

This is the exact issue I have with people equating "time spent doing something" with "value".

It would be like claiming a boring movie provided twice as much entertainment "value" simply because it was 3 hours long compared to an excellent movie that was 1.5 hours. Or that someone couldn't complain about the movie after watching it because "you obviously enjoyed it if you spent 3 hours watching it" or claiming "maybe you just don't like movies" or other similar nonsense that we keep seeing on the forums in response to legitimate criticisms of the underdeveloped and shallow gameplay we still have in Elite 3.5 years after launch.

 

[GraXXoR]

Being first was good, we have a very loyal following, we’ve added new content to the game continuously since it shipped. Our expansions have been free, and the things you pay for are just vanity items, which in a multiplayer game just makes sense.

I feel that it is likely a mistake in the transcription of the interview.
I, personally, find it very unlikely that DB Is unaware of his own funding model considering that for a couple of years, elite dangerous was their main focus.

It’s far more likely that the interviewer made a mistake.

I think it’s a bit sad that people would rather assume that the CEO was lying rather than the magazine making simple mistake translating his interview to the written word.

 

[Schmack]

The irony of a futuristic space game being archaic due to focus on a jurassic period game.

Perhaps Raxxla is in the jurassic game.

 

[Devari]

The irony of a futuristic space game being archaic due to focus on a jurassic period game.

Perhaps Raxxla is in the jurassic game.

 

[Devari]

I feel that it is likely a mistake in the transcription of the interview.
I, personally, find it very unlikely that DB Is unaware of his own funding model considering that for a couple of years, elite dangerous was their main focus.

It’s far more likely that the interviewer made a mistake.

I think it’s a bit sad that people would rather assume that the CEO was lying rather than the magazine making simple mistake translating his interview to the written word.

Sorry but when something that someone says during an interview is put into quotation marks by a professional magazine that is a direct quote and should be accepted as such. Assuming there "must be some mistake" is just as ludicrous as assuming Braben is intentionally lying. Either of those options assumes either reckless behavior on the part of Braben or incompetence on the part of the magazine and either of those extreme positions are not reasonable.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only issue worth discussing is why Braben apparently does not know that players paid $45 USD for Horizons when it was sold. Pretending he didn't say what he said however is not a reasonable claim to make here.

 

[Schmack]

Morrisette: She ought to know.

 

[Schmack]

Sorry but when something that someone says during an interview is put into quotation marks by a professional magazine that is a direct quote and should be accepted as such. Assuming there "must be some mistake" is just as ludicrous as assuming Braben is intentionally lying. Either of those options assumes either reckless behavior on the part of Braben or incompetence on the part of the magazine and either of those extreme positions are not reasonable.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only issue worth discussing is why Braben apparently does not know that players paid $45 USD for Horizons when it was sold. Pretending he didn't say what he said however is not a reasonable claim to make here.

I wouldn't assume lying. DB has no reason to lie and every reason not to. If anything, he's misinformed and/or referring to things many here do not consider to be expansions (probably because they aren't).

 

[Stealthie]

I feel that it is likely a mistake in the transcription of the interview.
I, personally, find it very unlikely that DB Is unaware of his own funding model considering that for a couple of years, elite dangerous was their main focus.

It’s far more likely that the interviewer made a mistake.

Gotta say, at worst it seems like it's just "spin" to me, so it seems a bit daft for anybody here - who should know exactly what ED's business model is - to get bent out of shape about it.

Of course DB's going to make a big deal about offering free updates for ED because, y'know, we're right in the middle of a whole year of free updates.
Sure, FDev probably have their reasons for doing this, and it's probably not that they're just so gosh-darned lovely people, but we are getting free updates so we shouldn't be surprised when FDev publicise that fact.

And if a journo' happens to misunderstand that, and forms the opinion that all previous updates for ED have been free too, that's not really FDev's problem.

 

[Kubicide]

Compared to Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous expansions have been "free". I bought the base game in 2014 & Horizons in 2015. Since December 2015 I have not had to fork out a single penny, yet the game has been updated on a semi regular basis since then, at no additional cost to me. So his claim is not entirely without merit.....but the haters still gonna hate, no matter what Braben says.

Lol, no, it was not updated (for free) on a semi-regular basis. That was the overdue and late updates that you had paid for back in December 2015! Amazing how some insist on trying to rewrite history.


Again, no, the expansions were never free and the game wasn't constantly updated for free as DB misstated in his interview.

 

[GraXXoR]

Compared to Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous expansions have been "free". I bought the base game in 2014 & Horizons in 2015. Since December 2015 I have not had to fork out a single penny, yet the game has been updated on a semi regular basis since then, at no additional cost to me. So his claim is not entirely without merit.....but the haters still gonna hate, no matter what Braben says.

What a load of irrelevant - forum rule infringingwords. -
Star Citizen? What the Hell are you on about? That game hasn’t even been released yet.
It also costs $45. If you paid any more than that is because you’re an idiot or you want to support the game. (Before mods rip into me, I’m in the former category)

Ps. I paid $300 for Elite Dangerous plus nearly $200 in cosmetics and another $30 for another account for Rick Sanchez.

 

[Devari]

I wouldn't assume lying. DB has no reason to lie and every reason not to. If anything, he's misinformed and/or referring to things many here do not consider to be expansions (probably because they aren't).

The question here is, how could Braben be "misinformed" when Elite and Horizons was the only game that FD was selling at the time? Where does he think all of those tens of millions of dollars of revenue were coming from? How did he not realize that FD was selling Horizons for $45 USD only a year after the base game retailed for $60 USD? It would be like not knowing that your boss was literally paying you money for work you were doing and claiming that you were somehow "volunteering" at your job.

The only possible way that could have happened is if he has had essentially zero involvement in Elite development since the kickstarter launched. In order for that to actually happen he would have literally had to lock himself in a boardroom, not speak to any of the developers and focus entirely on planning Planet Coaster development in order to be that completely disconnected from Elite development at the time.

It's such a ridiculous situation for him to have made the statement he did that I can't even think of an appropriate meme for it. And it is almost impossible to literally not have an appropriate meme for something.

 

[GraXXoR]

Gotta say, at worst it seems like it's just "spin" to me, so it seems a bit daft for anybody here - who should know exactly what ED's business model is - to get bent out of shape about it.

Of course DB's going to make a big deal about offering free updates for ED because, y'know, we're right in the middle of a whole year of free updates.
Sure, FDev probably have their reasons for doing this, and it's probably not that they're just so gosh-darned lovely people, but we are getting free updates so we shouldn't be surprised when FDev publicise that fact.

And if a journo' happens to misunderstand that, and forms the opinion that all previous updates for ED have been free too, that's not really FDev's problem.

A calm voice in a sea of facepalm.

 

[Devari]

Gotta say, at worst it seems like it's just "spin" to me, so it seems a bit daft for anybody here - who should know exactly what ED's business model is - to get bent out of shape about it.

Of course DB's going to make a big deal about offering free updates for ED because, y'know, we're right in the middle of a whole year of free updates.
Sure, FDev probably have their reasons for doing this, and it's probably not that they're just so gosh-darned lovely people, but we are getting free updates so we shouldn't be surprised when FDev publicise that fact.

And if a journo' happens to misunderstand that, and forms the opinion that all previous updates for ED have been free too, that's not really FDev's problem.

A magazine transcribing a direct quote from Braben is not an issue where "a journal happens to misunderstand" something. There is no "misunderstanding" what he said, the magazine did not paraphrase or summarize anything, it was a direct quote transcribed from the interview with Braben.

 

[GraXXoR]

Wonder if the LEP peeps are still mad about Beyond being free and the Jameson tag being available to anyone 10$ on Xbox?

Excuse me? Please retract or rephrase your comment.
You don’t talk for me. I’m a backer from the end of the alpha period who has a LEP.
I am not and have never been mad about Beyond being free or Jameson whatever costing $10

I do not like opinions being painted onto my avatar.

 

[Stealthie]

A magazine transcribing a direct quote from Braben is not an issue where "a journal happens to misunderstand" something. There is no "misunderstanding" what he said, the magazine did not paraphrase or summarize anything, it was a direct quote transcribed from the interview with Braben.

That's kind of ironic.

You're making a big deal about the fact that it's a "direct quote from Braben" and then you say "there is no misunderstanding what he said".

Go look at that article again.

It doesn't quote him as saying "...ALL our expansions have been free..."

That would rather suggest you are misunderstanding what he's quoted as saying.

 

[Devari]

That's kind of ironic.

You're making a big deal about the fact that it's a "direct quote from Braben" and then you say "there is no misunderstanding what he said".

Go look at that article again.

It doesn't quote him as saying "...ALL our expansions have been free..."

That would rather suggest you are misunderstanding what he's quoted as saying.

The quote is crystal clear and does not in any way require any additional words in order to be completely and fully understood. Here's the direct quote from the article:

David Braben: "Our expansions have been free, and the things you pay for are just vanity items, which in a multiplayer game just makes sense."

If you don't understand that this statement is untrue and represents either a deliberate lie or a complete disconnection from the fundamental aspects of Elite's development model there is nothing more I can do to help you here.

It's worth pointing out that as I stated in my previous posts I am giving Braben the benefit the doubt here by assuming he is not intentionally lying and that he has instead made a statement that reflects a fundamental lack of understanding of his own game. Whether it's a deliberate lie or a false statement that was made out of ignorance does not in any way change the fact that it is a demonstrably and blatantly untrue statement.