I believe both Skyrim and Fallout 4 have had freeplay weeks/weekends on xbox live and at one point Fallout 4 was available (still might be) on xbox gamepass (8 quid a month)
Hey! Why does FD still charge $$$ for the base game?
- Thread starter MissMeYet
- Start date
I believe both Skyrim and Fallout 4 have had freeplay weeks/weekends on xbox live and at one point Fallout 4 was available (still might be) on xbox gamepass (8 quid a month)
Neither the post i quoted and replied to, nor the post he had replied to were on that topic.
Also, if i haven't made it clear enough, i am not for turning ED into a F2P game in any way shape or form.
I merely pointed out (but that was in another reply) that FD applies a hallmark F2P feature (microtransactions) on a B2P game.
So giving the game away is naughty, but cashing in with F2P methods isn't ?
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I think it is inevitable that FDev will over time alter the structure of the product for sales.
One of the issues they will have with expansions is that it is almost certain that you would have to buy them in order and could not cherry pick because the expansions will rely on code from earlier versions.
They already have the start of a problem here because of the way they have implemented Beyond.
I had initially thought that Beyond was in fact the last element of Horizons, and would (when complete) be sold as part of the Horizons product.
This clearly isn't the case as the debates on how non-horizons players might synthesise probes for the new exploration mechanic has shown us. Also you cannot make fundamental changes to the BGS in an optiona expansion as you would then be trying to support two separate galaxies.
So Beyond gets bundled into the base game.
Horizons is then a paid for expansion.
We already know that FDev had a 'season pass' system in place but have moved away from it for various reasons.
I cannot see them attempting to develop further expansions that have to accommodate horizons and non horizons players. Its just a lot of extra work for little benefit. Specifically as we believe that the next expansion must be tackling one or both of Space Legs and atmospheric landings. You need Horizons to do either of those because you need the landings and SRV or you need the Holo-Me.
So they could :
Each of those options comes with issues such as backwards compatibility, Legacy players, the commitments made to lifetime pass holders, restrictions on future development routes, and not least ensuring that FDev remains a successful and profitable company.
As long as they don't go down a Pay to Win avenue then I shall be mostly happy with whatever the business management and accountants at FDev need to do.
One of the issues they will have with expansions is that it is almost certain that you would have to buy them in order and could not cherry pick because the expansions will rely on code from earlier versions.
They already have the start of a problem here because of the way they have implemented Beyond.
I had initially thought that Beyond was in fact the last element of Horizons, and would (when complete) be sold as part of the Horizons product.
This clearly isn't the case as the debates on how non-horizons players might synthesise probes for the new exploration mechanic has shown us. Also you cannot make fundamental changes to the BGS in an optiona expansion as you would then be trying to support two separate galaxies.
So Beyond gets bundled into the base game.
Horizons is then a paid for expansion.
We already know that FDev had a 'season pass' system in place but have moved away from it for various reasons.
I cannot see them attempting to develop further expansions that have to accommodate horizons and non horizons players. Its just a lot of extra work for little benefit. Specifically as we believe that the next expansion must be tackling one or both of Space Legs and atmospheric landings. You need Horizons to do either of those because you need the landings and SRV or you need the Holo-Me.
So they could :
- Bundle horizons into the base game and sell them at a discount on the combined price.
- Continue charging for the base game and give away the Horizons expansion.
- Give away the base game and charge for Horizons
- Continue charging for both
Each of those options comes with issues such as backwards compatibility, Legacy players, the commitments made to lifetime pass holders, restrictions on future development routes, and not least ensuring that FDev remains a successful and profitable company.
As long as they don't go down a Pay to Win avenue then I shall be mostly happy with whatever the business management and accountants at FDev need to do.
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You do make me laugh, you just cannot help but lower yourself to insults can you
When you total up all the free stuff you have given to customers over the year and realise that if you had charged for it you could have hired five, ten, twenty+ devs then it starts becoming an issue.
It's nothing to do with life titles as you put it...it's called decades of experience of working in the industry.
I see first hand how not charging for work can negatively affect a team in the long run, which has a knock on effect of not implementing certain features and functionality down the line.
Business is business.
That other game is dead/dying and in need of revival. The debate about EDs demise is on going, but they are issuing free to play (providing you have the base game - currently on sale) update soon(TM) anyway. Next year - who knows? (A: DB, probably)
![[VR] Mad Mike](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/27/27910.jpg?1553527108){kind=avatar}
so the answer to my question is a resounding no then.
a freeplay weekend is a totally different beast and 8 quid a month is not free... infact given base game is (was, it may have gone up) £8 then that would be 1 months access - if Elite is what you are actually interested in.
What F2P style P2W microtransactions does FD implement again?
loads of games have optional paid skins and what not, yes even fully pay to play ones.
Dont get me wrong, i wish all the cosmetic stuff was available to earn by doing stuff in game. locking cosmetics behind a cash shop removes any enjoyment i could have with the cosmetics..... but it was done this way due to requests by the community for it.
the original pitch was that for the game to survive it was to have a cash for credits option in the frontier store, but that ALL stuff would be earnable in game.
I prefered that model myself but it seems i was in a minority.
FD stated that for ED to have a long and healthy life it would need some form of extra income over the cost of the game........ i am not in a position to tell them that is not true.,... but my guess is few others here are either.
Destiny 2 was only made free because of that games multiple overpriced expansions. Someone correctly thought that they at this point will make more money selling just the expansions, so made the game free to draw in as many new buyers as possible.
This simply isnt possible for Elite at this point.
This simply isnt possible for Elite at this point.
It's a tough one to get right. There are a lot of people who wouldn't mind paying a subscription...but on the flip side I can see how for a lot of people this would be a show stopper.
Isn't WoW up to $15 / month to play now?!...and WoW is pretty much the same as it was years ago...bash trolls with axes and spells, get better axes and spells, bash bigger trolls with bigger axes and spells...rince and repeat for 10+ years.
it would be suicide for FD to implement subs now imo...... i dont think that has ever happened in a game, to go from buy to own, and then out of the blue then start charging. At the very least it would have to be for new customers only....
FD categorically stated ED was not going to have subs i do not think they would contemplate going back on that.
I agree!!!
so the answer to my question is a resounding no then.
a freeplay weekend is a totally different beast and 8 quid a month is not free... infact given base game is (was, it may have gone up) £8 then that would be 1 months access - if Elite is what you are actually interested in.
Those two games perhaps but there is multiple examples of online games that have went from paid to free.
generally a sure sign that they were failing however and move of desperation i think.... also, once they went free would you say they were better for it?
off top of head Defiance springs to mind.......... game wasnt great before, and wasnt great after.
Evolve - didnt sell well as paid, servers turned off soon after going free. (i think it may still work as an uncontrolled P2P game i am not sure!)
There have been some successes - team fortress 2 springs to mind and others are semi free - ie you can play for so long then hit a glass ceiling before having to pay (eve or WOW i think qualify here), but again these are nearly always forced multiplayer games and the devs find a way to get their pound of flesh somehow.
i dunno, maybe i am wrong but i only see downsides to elite going free myself, either by forcing "golden ammo" micro transactions or the game becoming full of cheating scum like when battlefield went over the the EA service where you play for free, or where botters run even more rampant.
My hope is that FD just deprecate the base game and make horizons the new base game, everyone who didnt buy horizons but did get base game get free update, but everyone needs to pay to play. now Mac has been dropped there is no technical reason this cant happen.
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Base ED is quite often on sale. I got it that way.
Took me a while to get into it porperly and then I bought Horizons, because I could land on realistically looking moons.
Then I bought some stupid texture for my avatar, paintjob here, paintjob there, some lettering for my hull and avatar's costume that noone can see but me.
I'ts super annoying, because deep down I hate spending money on that kind of useless crap, but it's all because of ED being on sale couple of years ago.
Took me a while to get into it porperly and then I bought Horizons, because I could land on realistically looking moons.
Then I bought some stupid texture for my avatar, paintjob here, paintjob there, some lettering for my hull and avatar's costume that noone can see but me.
I'ts super annoying, because deep down I hate spending money on that kind of useless crap, but it's all because of ED being on sale couple of years ago.
They don't need to the plan was always cosmetic sales instead.
Avago Earo
Banned
32bit support was killed off long ago. Check your launcher.
Except:
Users>AppData>Local>Frontier_Developments>Products>COMBAT_TUTORIAL_DEMO>EliteDangerous32
I agree they wont but plenty has asked for it.
as for the original plan, this is not quite true.
The original plan was to allow everything to be purchasable with in game credits, but that FD would sell extra credits in the store for money. I kind of admire how FD listenened to the community to NOT do this, however due to my play style the game has suffered for it from my view.
I've no issue with them selling space money to those who want it. There's always been cash exploits and "I crashed my uninsured new anaconda" threads are always funny. So no negative just positives.
Was it? Was this pre-alpha days?
Destiny 2 was crap, that's why it's free.