This is excellent news indeed.
ED units sold - FDEV trading update
- Thread starter deusx_ophc
- Start date
How dare the developers - or artists in general - demand this preposterous luxury such as shelter and food.
Profit seems comparingly small (although I suspect it's conservative evaluation, as it is for trade update), however one debt paid off, 1M (decreased from 3M) credit line, Planet Coaster started, 10.5M cash reserves...seems way to go.
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I suspect that many people really don't know that majority of game developers really have just 'good enough' income. It's also not that guaranteed in long term - people get hired and fired just because companies decrease or increase their output.
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I suspect that many people really don't know that majority of game developers really have just 'good enough' income. It's also not that guaranteed in long term - people get hired and fired just because companies decrease or increase their output.
digitalscream
Banned
Ah, but you're forgetting - Power Play and combat logging will destroy all of their games, burn down their offices and eat their children.
FD can you lend me a tenner?
That's only if the backers don't go round to the office first wearing top hats and capes and sell them all to the workhouse whilst twirling their mustaches.
So those numbers look fine for a game of this type, the extra revenue from the Xbone seems a good call. So why did we have that thread about Frontier needing more money (words from one of the devs comments)? Are there hidden extra costs in running ED perhaps?
I'm glad on paper it seems stable and profitable for ED, and i hope that continues and they don't 'destroy' the game chasing the mythical unicorn of wealth generation (or F2P etc as it is also known as!) that so many devs do (it's the hot new thang), often at the cost of the game. Elite players are not 'Whales' FD (even though they are off course!), and it is disrespectful to treat them as such, probably?
The other interesting discussion about the history of games and the importance of money probably needs it own thread, especially as it is not relating directly to ED?
I'm glad on paper it seems stable and profitable for ED, and i hope that continues and they don't 'destroy' the game chasing the mythical unicorn of wealth generation (or F2P etc as it is also known as!) that so many devs do (it's the hot new thang), often at the cost of the game. Elite players are not 'Whales' FD (even though they are off course!), and it is disrespectful to treat them as such, probably?
The other interesting discussion about the history of games and the importance of money probably needs it own thread, especially as it is not relating directly to ED?
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"Total paid unit sales are currently in excess of 640,000."
We have a lot of Commanders out there these days too
We have a lot of Commanders out there these days too
So basically you are saying that 20 years ago developers where not doing a job but doing it for fun without care for the money? This is untrue I am afraid. Money has always been a problem in any kind of industry including the videogame industry.
On the other hand what you are pointing out is true: money is being and increasingly serious concern. Now look at the market: games are being more and more complex, technical considerations are a huge part of development, and players are always more and more demanding. A game in 2015 is more expensive to produce than a game in 1995. We ask for more, so development needs more.
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We also ask for decrease of price and always look for buying game in Steam sale.
At some point reality will have to set it.
Fact they have revenue and income doesn't mean it will last forever. This has been very good year for FD selling copies of the game - in fact I think David admitted they never expected to hit profit in 2014 - but this won't go on like this. So they need XBO copies start to roll it. They need PC copies pre-sold rolling in. They need renewed interest in FD - which makes them to do another big update in few months time.
So it's ongoing process. Fact they have went 'no ship sales, no cred sales' route make their lifes actually harder, but that's seem to be chosen by principle.
digitalscream
Banned
So those numbers look fine for a game of this type, the extra revenue from the Xbone seems a good call. So why did we have that thread about Frontier needing more money (words from one of the devs comments)? Are there hidden extra costs in running ED perhaps?
I'm glad on paper it seems stable and profitable for ED, and i hope that continues and they don't 'destroy' the game chasing the mythical unicorn of wealth generation (or F2P etc as it is also known as!) that so many devs do (it's the hot new thang), often at the cost of the game. Elite players are not 'Whales' FD (even though they are off course!), and it is disrespectful to treat them as such, probably?
The other interesting discussion about the history of games and the importance of money probably needs it own thread, especially as it is not relating directly to ED?
They're in a good place precisely because of the good decisions they've made, which have all led to being here. Those are the very same decisions for which they've been criticised ad nauseam on this forum. The problem is that it's traditional (particularly in the UK) nowadays to see a few zeroes on a bank balance and assume that the person/company doesn't deserve it and is rolling in money every night while laughing at everybody who has less.
There's no hidden cost in running ED. It's all obvious to anybody who thinks about it - servers, infrastructure, maintenance, bandwidth, developers, visuals, management, premises, taxes; they all add up to an awful lot of money. I dare say that if their revenue was cut off, it'd probably be 12 months before the lights go out (18 at an absolute stretch).
have some rep then !
The Kickstarter for ED was to see if there was enough customer demand to make a self-published "genre" game viable. 26,000 backers stumped up £1.25m, proving there was a demand for a modern day Elite recreation.
Here we are 3 years later talking about 640,000 sales, £10m in cash, almost no overdraft and good-looking prospects for the coming financial year.
I feel utterly vindicated backing FDev in the first place.
Here we are 3 years later talking about 640,000 sales, £10m in cash, almost no overdraft and good-looking prospects for the coming financial year.
I feel utterly vindicated backing FDev in the first place.
No I'm not saying this at all. I'm saying that compared to computer games from 20 years ago, extra avenues of revenue are increasingly more central to the game's design. I'm pretty sure that's what the post you quoted says.
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Let's use an example. Runescape. Spectacular game. Huge hit. Free area, subscription access unlock. Let's look at a modern example. Archeage. Free to play, full of micro-transactions. Successful game, though I feel that money being so central to its design cripples its fun factor. Big hit nevertheless.
I'd say they have rather smashed their goals and have certainly exceeded their bull projection. They obviously took a risk in changing their strategy and pleased to see its looking positive for them. Not being in debt is always a great position for a company. The next year will likely be key in securing EDs success and hopefully we'll see much more new content. Power play is a nice update and that combined with the updated mission system really puts Elite in a positive place but FD should remain vigilant. The recent content patches are very welcome but I would suggest been more like building and extra floor of a building rather than filling existing ones with furniture.
As it stands many of the encounters in game haven't changed much since back in Beta.. conflict zones, asteroid fields etc, so I hope we get some real new stuff.. CQC has the potential to really raise the profile of the game especially if its well received by the e-sports community. At years end the game will have been out 12 months and so its about that time we can start expecting significant paid expansion content.. depends how they do it but I'd kinda expect smaller paid DLC unless they are going to hit us with a massive new content patch such as planetary landings and 3rd person avatar stuff.
I don't play the stock market but Frontier looks like a good bet imo
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