Elite Dangerous Crowdfunding Support?

Commander Aldrin

C
I enjoyed playing Elite Dangerous in the 80's when it was a wire frame space simulation. Since the launch of the game in 2004 both editions of Horizons and Odyssey have for me been all the original game created in an imaginary way and has now brought to life, with the advances possible with computing and programming it is all the game I hoped it would be. Fortunately I didn't experience the issues many had with Odyssey my set seemed to cope with the new version well. It would be fair to say I am a fan of the game. An early adopter in 2004 I subscribed to the lifetime pass.

Given the current undertaking by Frontier to support the game going forward, I personally feel I have had my investment back aplenty and would happily pay towards the future of the game with a second run at a new lifetime pass, perhaps helping support Frontier through this rocky patch and hopefully the games continuation and development for many more years to come.

Perhaps Frontier could canvass the community for their thoughts on creating a new crowdfunding initiative?

o7
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
If you want to give Frontier more money for Elite Dangerous, then as the others have said, either Arx or buy (another) alt. Also has the benefit to you that you know exactly what you're getting in exchange!

Frontier in 2023 is a very different company to Frontier in 2012, and the amount of money plausibly raisable through crowdfunding is essentially irrelevant to them nowadays.

For some scales, using information from their recent published accounts and investor presentations:
- operation of Elite Dangerous including some development costs them around £4M annually
- Odyssey-paced development of major expansions costs them over twice that annually (around £20M is a rough estimate for the cost of Odyssey itself)
- the Elite Dangerous Kickstarter, which is still one of the most successful computer game crowdfunders ever, raised just over £1.4M in two months
- Elite Dangerous 1.0 cost around £8M to develop, with most of the actual funding for it coming from share issues and commercial loans
- general annual revenue from Elite Dangerous is around £6M nowadays, even after the post-Odyssey slump, which is not far off the Kickstarter rate (and importantly, still profitable in itself)

All a crowdfunder would do is tell them that their biggest fans still like the game - and they know that! - it wouldn't bring in anywhere near enough money to make a difference to their ability to develop Elite Dangerous itself.
 

Jumpin' Jack Flash

Jumpin' Jack Flash
Hi All :)
Must admit the same thoughts had crossed my mind as the OP's post.
Reading Ian Doncasters post though (Hi Ian :)) is quite interesting, and puts a different view on the OP's proposal. 🤔
So the best way we can support the game is buying ARX it seems.🤷‍♂️

Jack :)
 

Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
Jumpin' Jack Flash said:
Hi All :)
Must admit the same thoughts had crossed my mind as the OP's post.
Reading Ian Doncasters post though (Hi Ian :)) is quite interesting, and puts a different view on the OP's proposal. 🤔
So the best way we can support the game is buying ARX it seems.🤷‍♂️

Jack :)
Click to expand...
What do you mean "a different view"? One is throwing cash in a fire - the other is wasting it for petty baubles, but at least you get some glass jewelry.
 

Tyres O'Flaherty

Tyres O'Flaherty
Derail sorry...

Your sig says "All the cogs and wheels stay still if it is the People's will. "

Reminds me of:

“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all” -Mario Savio

I would never have known of this speech if hadn't been for Linkin Park :D

OK, I've wibbled enough, sorry.
 
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Navigare Necesse Est

Navigare Necesse Est
Tyres O'Flaherty said:
Derail sorry...

Your sig says "All the cogs and wheels stay still if it is the People's will. "

Reminds me of:

“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all” -Mario Savi

I would never have known of this speech if hadn't been for Linkin Park :D

OK, I've wibbled enough, sorry.
Click to expand...
I also had a neat banner in agitprop style featuring the motto. I roleplayed résistance fighter against oppression and "the machine" in ED.
 

aRJay

aRJay
Jumpin' Jack Flash said:
Hi All :)
Must admit the same thoughts had crossed my mind as the OP's post.
Reading Ian Doncasters post though (Hi Ian :)) is quite interesting, and puts a different view on the OP's proposal. 🤔
So the best way we can support the game is buying ARX it seems.🤷‍♂️

Jack :)
Click to expand...
The advantages of buying Arx is that the mechanism is already in place so neither FDev or players have to divert their attention from the game and there are no arguments about promises for goals reached.

Rebel Yell said:
They've quite totally failed in giving to the players what they mostly looked for...
Click to expand...
No.
 
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