Frontier Interim Results: major new paid-for release will mark beginning of new era for Elite Dangerous, targeted for launch at the end of 2020

Lightspeed

Lightspeed
11 pages before I've even seen this thread ! :D The thirst for success is big in this forum.

Reading between the lines (apologies to anyone who has covered it in the preceding pages of comment):

For Elite Dangerous, a major paid-for series of expansions called Horizons was launched in 2015. Four years later, the overall Horizons attach rate to lifetime unit sales of the base game is around 50%, demonstrating the strong ongoing engagement by the Elite Dangerous community to additional content. But we also lost 50%. We will be introducing a new DLC after the new release, entitled "The Search for the Missing 50%."

Frontier is developing a major new paid-for release for the iconic space simulation which will dramatically expand gameplay and mark the beginning of a new era for Elite Dangerous. Targeted for launch at the end of 2020, this major new release on multiple platforms will fall into financial year 2021 (the 12 months ending 31 May 2021). Describing it as major is good for us. This is a significant release for FD which is advertising its ability to publish software and they will not want it to fail. It should be a good one. Edit - also, the magic words "expand gameplay!" Note also the words "mark the beginning of a new era." The implication is that this is not the end (obviously), but invites speculation as to what will follow .... maybe atmospheric planets, or more atmospheric planets.

In addition to major expansion packs, Elite Dangerous has a strong back catalogue and future roadmap of in-game personalisation items. The new release will generate a lot of shop content. That can only mean Legs ! I can't see atmospherics doing that, although Base Building might also offer personalization with window curtains, wallpaper, etc.

This rich customisation model has been further enhanced by the launch of an in-game virtual currency called ARX in September 2019, which has smoothed the purchasing process for players whilst also rewarding regular engagement with the game. ARX can be purchased in packs ranging from £2.99 to £44.99 and then spent in-game on a wide range of items. Players will be shouting "shut up and take my Arx!" very soon, and we are ready with our wallet-emptying efficient transaction process.

Whichever way you look at it, it's all good for us as players :)
 
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Red Anders

Red Anders
Lightspeed said:
For Elite Dangerous, a major paid-for series of expansions called Horizons was launched in 2015. Four years later, the overall Horizons attach rate to lifetime unit sales of the base game is around 50%, demonstrating the strong ongoing engagement by the Elite Dangerous community to additional content. But we also lost 50%. We will be introducing a new DLC after the new release, entitled "The Search for the Missing 50%."
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I'd be interested to know how that stacks up against the industry as a whole in terms of people buying DLC. Genuinely, I have no idea whether a 50% conversion rate is industry-leading, absolutely terrible, or anywhere in between.
 

Viajero

Volunteer Moderator
Viajero
Obsidian Ant said:
Personally, I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Frontier do a "Guild Wars 2" with Elite, and basically release a completely new build of the game. If they did that however, I still suspect they would give the "new version" of the Elite base game to all existing players. Otherwise it would leave a confusing mess.

We could also speculate a bit more on this. Frontier could use "giving existing players the new version for free" as a great marketing opportunity. For example if the 2020 update is Space Legs...allow everyone the ability to walk around their ships. But to leave the ship you have to buy space legs. Solves a lot of problems; it gives everyone the new code base, deals with "boarding gameplay" incompatibility, and leaves players with a natural upgrade path.

I've no idea if Frontier would do such a thing...but it would make some sense if they did.
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Indulging in that speculation... allowing the whole ships interior may be a bit too much, especially in some of the medium and large size ships :p . Limit the "free" part to the cabin alone and it could make more sense.
 
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Rubbernuke

Rubbernuke
Viajero said:
Indulging in that speculation... allowing the whole ships interior may be a bit too much,especially in some of the medium and large size ships. Limit the "free" part to the cabin alone and it could make more sense :p
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While eating a particularly high Scoville rated chilli I sweated the idea that legs and interiors were parts of Planet Coaster in that we could craft our own interiors (based on standard rooms and cabins.)

I also imagined a massively revamped Powerplay for New Era, but I put that down to the chilli its so far fetched. .
 

Barking_Mad

Barking_Mad
Eliza said:
Somehow I have the feeling that every post of yours is filled up with disgrace to Elite: Dangerous and negatives about Frontier as a company as a whole. I wonder sometimes if you have something personal going on with them.


To be honest, in some way Shiro IS actually correct! But arguing over what "about" really means is just arguing about semantics that will only lead to pointless hairsplitting and, when things are really going south, to a full grown dispute.
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Given the number of recent steam reviews being very positive about the game, it might be speculated that they upgraded to Horizons which has boosted the uptake numbers closer to 50%.


Burke said:
Well. Imagine if carriers had to actually search for fuel, actually had to explore. Players had to go thru systems quickly looking for a certain element or such.. it might teach a few people in gameplay terms what we used to do with that ADS and perhps a get a little more sympathy from the forums.

If the ADS came back i would be back like a shot. :)
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A great example of if how ideas can sound great on paper, but to many, will be really gridy in-game. I mean it's not much different to searching for mats at the moment and although I quite enjoy that (it's relaxing and pretty), many hate it. Of course updated surfaces and more planet types might alter some of those people point of view....
 
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Speedcuffs

Speedcuffs
Rubbernuke said:
While eating a particularly high Scoville rated chilli I sweated the idea that legs and interiors were parts of Planet Coaster in that we could craft our own interiors (based on standard rooms and cabins.)

I also imagined a massively revamped Powerplay for New Era, but I put that down to the chilli its so far fetched. .
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I had some Scotch Bonnets, I thought there might be a slight improvement to QOL. 😬
 

Barking_Mad

Barking_Mad
myothershipisacobraiv said:
This is true but it also depends on how easy winnebagofuel is to get. The space winnebago might just be a way to replace massive rote jumping sessions with something more interesting in some form of resource gathering or crafting, possibly with more than one path to obtaining it (maybe you can trade for it? maybe it's a mission reward?). So you do something better than jumping and in exchange you get one trip. A plus is that you haven't tagged the stars of any systems on your way (from the perspective of other explorers). If getting the fuel for the winnebago costs significantly less time than jumping, then yes, it would be a major buff to exploration rate. That could be easily mitigated by a cooldown though.

Even if the galaxy does start getting explored, who cares? It's just a videogame. When nobody plays the game anymore, do you want only 3% or less of the galaxy to have been explored? We might miss some of the neatest crap the random number generator made. I don't think Frontier computes this stuff. I think they find out when we find out. Again, this isn't a real model of the milk way. The only accurate about it are the stars themselves and they're only accurate to our ability to make educated guesses as to what they are from observing them from here.

I've only done one exploration trip I would describe as epic and that was my first, and I had to figure out scoop rules along the way after crossing a patch of brown dwarfs, and that was to beteljeuce. My second trip which was to Explorer's Anchorage, which was my first trip out of the bubble, I would not describe as epic. Neat, maybe, not epic.

Everybody's different, but I think getting rid of massive jumping binges is a good thing. I am all for earlier explorer's being differentiated somehow on the map. In fact, I already wish pre-FSS people had some kind of additional flair on their names as it is.
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FWIW I expect them to be like all other ships in that the base jump will be relatively small but they will be both engineerable and upgradeable with similar classes as per regular ships, and also extras for that other part of the carrier that we know little about yet but follows you about. These will likely be super expensive. Mats will still be needed (as stated) but you'll get more bang for your collection buck if you have a bigger FSD etc.
 

Barking_Mad

Barking_Mad
Burke said:
A more sensible game would have the bubble mined dry of everything a very long time ago. Where did all that metal come from to build so many ships and stations? Pickings would be poor around the bubble but a month into the black riches everywhere.
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It's a game with simulation elements. How much grind would be enforced on people if they have to travel large distances to find basic materials to trade?
 

Stinja

S
Frontier is developing a major new paid-for release for the iconic space simulation which will dramatically expand gameplay and mark the beginning of a new era for Elite Dangerous. Targeted for launch at the end of 2020, this major new release on multiple platforms will fall into financial year 2021 (the 12 months ending 31 May 2021).
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Wait, so "on time" for the 2020 update is now 31st May 2021? o_O
 

pistolhamster

P
StuartGT said:
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The incorrect answer you appear to be asking for: "Yes. Frontier are using their financial filings to covertly announce an Elite Dangerous sequel game, while defrauding investors with false information on Elite Dangerous' on-going development."
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Indeed, their statements have to be true, by law. And it means something is coming to Elite.
 
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