Horizons tanked in sales?

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Nah man, sorry but this is a pile of poorly constructed <stuff>.


(1) ED is a tough game
It is and almost everyone criticising it embraces this fact. By calling them out to be easy-game players you are dismissing them without having actually gotten remotely close to what their point is.

(2) Wrong. Most people do exactly what you say when they hate a game. They stop interacting with it. People who are active on the forums show that they are quite deeply connected to the game, and most of the criticizers have multiple 100s or 1000s of hours played. This and the fact that they try to make in influence on forums shows that they love the core of the game and want to see it furthered, instead of endless stagnation that a few old men and a vocal minority (...) seem to promote.

(3) What? This is what you think of the people around you? What kind of person are you even?

(4) Offline only is usually only embraced by older guys who dont value competitive gameplay and think that the "internetz" is just a trend that will go by in a few days. I've seen nobody making valid points actually being butthurt about Offline, as they are usually only interested in online play, which is why it is so important to them to have core gameplay elements in place.

(5) Frontier charging a lot of money for actual promises of a finished game. ED is out of beta over a year now and still feels like other games in pre-alpha in almost all aspects other than cockpit-sim/ship-flying. They produce trailers that show situation that will not actually naturally happen in the game.



FDs development direction is plainly wrong, and they know it. I work in games, i know many game designers/devs, and FD have pulled quite some stunts. So they showed they are capable. But there development priorities are completely insane and maybe, just maybe, they are forced into this direction by the people in the backers forum who payed a lot of money, but actually dont know jack about game design, and are therefore ill advisers.

Pl. landings, character creation and all that is just nice eyecandy with no gameplay value whatsoever unless the game world, all that stuff thats already there, gets really interconnected and for players to grasp so they can actually "carve a meaningful way" in the galaxy. Not possible, even with a lot of RP redconning, in current CZs etc.

Every piece of criticism and feedback is valid, dismissing it shows unprofessionalism (not expected from the average customer though, so you're forgiven) and unwillingness to improve - no matter how good some aspects of the game may be.

And you believe that using poor filtered out language and referring insultingly to older players, is a professional way to act, merely because the way they enjoy their gameplay is not the way you enjoy your game play. Online play PVP, Group and Solo play are all recognized forms of play in this game and make up the full player base
I would be very interested to know which games you have worked on that are so much more than ED. I have played many games Solo, MMORPG, RP, PVP, PVE, PWP, worked on none, but experienced many hours with them which gives me a good wealth of experience to call on when forming my opinions.
In the end nearly every game I have played has resulted eventually in some form of grind and what could be termed as a lack of depth. But quite a few of those games with so much depth only seem to be that way because the number of hours before you reach the grind conclusion can be quite short and have a strong back story that sustains them through that novelty period masking the soon to come grind, and then you come to the point where you grind the same things you already have been doing before the game lost its novelty. Often that time of novelty even in triple A games can be less than month.

My argument with those who are criticising the game constantly on the forums, and using dubious sources to back their claims, is the fact that the game is what it is and they are not happy with it when many others are. But rather than voting with their feet and their wallets they come here not to try to change the game for the better, as they frequently offer nothing but criticism but to try to garner support for their poorly researched and minority supported views.

I am not some old man as it happens I am an old woman, I am not butt hurt as you so rudely put it, my butt is in perfect health I think. And male cows muck reference is an unneeded embellishment of your arguments that lends absolutely nothing of consequence to them.
 
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And you believe that using poor filtered out language and referring insultingly to older players, is a professional way to act, merely because the way they enjoy their gameplay is not the way you enjoy your game play. Online play PVP, Group and Solo play are all recognized forms of play in this game and make up a large section of the player base
I would be very interested to know which games you have worked on that are so much more than ED. I have played many games Solo, MMORPG, RP, PVP, PVE, PWP, worked on none, but experienced many hours with them which gives me a good wealth of experience to call on when forming my opinions.
In the end nearly every game I have played has resulted eventually in some form of grind and what could be termed as a lack of depth. But quite a few of those games with so much depth only seem to be that way because the number of hours before you reach the grind conclusion can be quite short and have a strong back story that sustains them through that novelty period masking the soon to come grind, and then you come to the point where you grind the same things you already have been doing before the game lost its novelty. Often that time of novelty even in triple A games can be less than month.

My argument with those who are criticising the game constantly on the forums, and using dubious sources to back their claims, is the fact that the game is what it is and they are not happy with it when many others are. But rather than voting with their feet and their wallets they come here not to try to change the game for the better, as they frequently offer nothing but criticism but to try to garner support for their poorly researched and minority supported views.

I am not some old man as it happens I am an old woman, I am not butt hurt as you so rudely put it, my butt is in perfect health I think. And male cows muck reference is an unneeded embellishment of your arguments that lends absolutely nothing of consequence to them.

Eloquently put, Commander Debic.

Rep-on-account (...of me not being able to Rep you again so soon :)
 
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Virtual rep again to Cmdr's Debic and Theta Sigma (need to spread it about more!), well put from both of you.

I said a while ago, that most normal people, when they don't like something and can't change it, they usually put it behind them and move on... As far as I can see, there's nothing to be gained by sticking one's bottom lip out and stamping, just because something doesn't suit you.. (no offence intended to anyone who may feel that this description might apply to them!).
 
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DON'T PANIC

“It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.”

― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
 
You know what I would like to see that's really easy to implement?

Paint jobs being available for in game credits. Costing tens and hundreds of million and possibly billions.

I don't think this would hurt sales at all, but would allow them to put another feature in the game for people to bash lol
 
Virtual rep again to Cmdr's Debic and Theta Sigma (need to spread it about more!), well put from both of you.

I said a while ago, that most normal people, when they don't like something and can't change it, they usually put it behind them and move on... As far as I can see, there's nothing to be gained by sticking one's bottom lip out and stamping, just because something doesn't suit you.. (no offence intended to anyone who might feel that this description might apply to them!).
I think there are people who want ED to be a better game and realy think they help with their threads/comments.

The problem is they are either:

a) Disrespectful. There is no way any developer would take your request/suggestion seriously if you insult him.
b) Subjective. Maybe your vision of the game is not the same like someone else's or FDEVs.
c) Impatient. If Frontier already said they want to implement feature X there is no way your threads will make them develop it quicker.
d) Disrespectful, subjective and impatient.

If your thread meets any of the above criteria it's likely that it will reach 30 pages. Nothing wrong with criticism and good suggestions, I have seen a few very good threads with valid criticism and somehow they didn't attract the 'fanboy brigade'.
 
I think there are people who want ED to be a better game and realy think they help with their threads/comments.

The problem is they are either:

a) Disrespectful. There is no way any developer would take your request/suggestion seriously if you insult him.
b) Subjective. Maybe your vision of the game is not the same like someone else's or FDEVs.
c) Impatient. If Frontier already said they want to implement feature X there is no way your threads will make them develop it quicker.
d) Disrespectful, subjective and impatient.

If your thread meets any of the above criteria it's likely that it will reach 30 pages. Nothing wrong with criticism and good suggestions, I have seen a few very good threads with valid criticism and somehow they didn't attract the 'fanboy brigade'.

[IRONY]Rubbish! I think you're typing nonsense and I can't wait for you to EDIT your post![/IRONY] %^]
 
then you would lose that bet, most people have purchased Elite, and Horizons direct from frontier, and therefore use THEIR launcher, there are alot of people who don't want to support steam and simply wants all their dollars going to Fdev direct, and/or don't want to install steam just to play ED.
Everyone uses "their" launcher--there's only one launcher. Steam simply manages updates for the player and opens up Frontier's executable. That's it.

And these people you speak of, who play PC games and don't have Steam installed? Yeah, they don't really exist.
 
Just saying this openly - I'm a beta backer.. I know everyone welcomes us like a Vogon at a poetry party hosted by the that Vogon's mother-in-law. But I want to find more ways to give money to Frontier to keep the game progressing and moving on. Bobbleheads are fun and all but there has got to be something else to tempt me into handing over my proper currency (£ not silly $) into your waiting mitts. New paint jobs are OK, but we need something else... Oh and I need a 4XL size on your merch store, I mean I spend a lot of time sitting on my bum playing ED, so you might want to make those sizes a bit bigger to ensure people like me (very well endowed <wink><wink>) can fit into your tiny garments.
 
When will they ever get round to making physical models of the ships available to buy? I'm far more likely to shell out for one of those than some socks!
 
Everyone uses "their" launcher--there's only one launcher. Steam simply manages updates for the player and opens up Frontier's executable. That's it.

And these people you speak of, who play PC games and don't have Steam installed? Yeah, they don't really exist.

So I'm hallucinating my own existence? Okay. I guess that means you're hallucinating reading this:D
 
Everyone uses "their" launcher--there's only one launcher. Steam simply manages updates for the player and opens up Frontier's executable. That's it.

And these people you speak of, who play PC games and don't have Steam installed? Yeah, they don't really exist.

And yet nearly everyone in this thread other than the extremely vocal minority, play PC games without Steam installed.

Why would anyone who wants to support this game, pay Steam 30% of their contribution to simply "open Frontier's executable"?
 
Only 21k sold on Steam after 5 days and it has even dropped out of the top 10 sellers. The original elite dangerous was a number 1 top seller for a couple of weeks!

I think its safe to say that what frontier tried to pull simply did not work for many factors that have already been discussed to death. The question now is: What went so wrong within frontier and what's next?

The situation I feel is so dire that something drastic needs to happen before everyone is off on holidays. Plenty of developers have apologised, made drastic changes in the past without even being in such terrible position that Frontier is at the moment.

Base game:
owners total - 614,477
players in last two weeks - 161,375
pcu yesterday - 6,150

Horizons:
owners total - 21,164
players in last two weeks - 17,196
pcu yesterday - 1,990


http://steamspy.com/app/419270

Try to remember, Frontier is a small Independent Developer, Elite: Dangerous being the first thing they have self published, ever. Also try and remember that Horizons is down as an 'early access' title on steam and Frontier doesn't have a multi-billion$ marketing budget. Also factor in, Horizons min requirements are Dx11 and a 64Bit OS.

All of those factors will equate to lower sales, but it is not a static position at all - sales will creep up over the year. This is not a massive budget game, and its all the more remarkable for being so.

If you want cold statistics, then Frontier's 2015 Annual Report and Accounts for 2015 make interesting reading.

https://www.frontier.co.uk/docs/files/Frontier%20Developments%20Annual%20Report%202015.pdf

One last thing, in the UK we have a phrase from the second world war "Careless Talk Costs Lives" - stating that a game that has created nearly £1m in revenue in its first couple of weeks as 'tanked' is not only factually incorrect your saying it might prevent further sales - i.e. your post could damage the game we all love.
 
Try to remember, Frontier is a small Independent Developer, Elite: Dangerous being the first thing they have self published, ever. Also try and remember that Horizons is down as an 'early access' title on steam and Frontier doesn't have a multi-billion$ marketing budget. Also factor in, Horizons min requirements are Dx11 and a 64Bit OS.

All of those factors will equate to lower sales, but it is not a static position at all - sales will creep up over the year. This is not a massive budget game, and its all the more remarkable for being so.

If you want cold statistics, then Frontier's 2015 Annual Report and Accounts for 2015 make interesting reading.

https://www.frontier.co.uk/docs/files/Frontier Developments Annual Report 2015.pdf

One last thing, in the UK we have a phrase from the second world war "Careless Talk Costs Lives" - stating that a game that has created nearly £1m in revenue in its first couple of weeks as 'tanked' is not only factually incorrect your saying it might prevent further sales - i.e. your post could damage the game we all love.

With over 35k units sold at E60, that comes in at over two million in the first week, just counting steam. Considering pre-orders went through FD, and most here got it that way, I'd say they're probably closer at 10m in revenue after the first week. With it being classed at Early Access, with no review copies being send out yet, that seems pretty fine to me.
 
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