In defense of microtransactions.

[knight of justice]

Could you please beat some sense into me because I've been entertaining this blasphemous idea about FDev semi-regularly introducing brand new spaceships into the game with funding from microtransactions.

Here is my train of throught:
Q: Why doesn't FDev create more spaceships and space ship interiors?
A: Because hiring artists costs money.

Why not create a system that is similar to that of Star Citizen?
For example, FDev artists would create a brand new spaceship every 6 months and it would be put on exclusive sale on the Fdev microtransaction website for a 6 month period.
In other words, the only way to buy that new spaceship for the first 6 months would be to pay real life money for it.
6 months after that period, the ship stays on the microtransaction website but it also becomes possible to buy it with normal in-game credits.

Judging from all the money Star Citizen is making from ship sales alone, I think it's a safe bet that Fdev could turn a profit from that.
That also means they could invest more in Elite and that a new fulltime artist could be hired to work on new ships from the money earned from microtransactions alone.

Flame away.



edit:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj0CHMYDIZg


Why does Star Citizen have ship interiors but Elite Dangerous does not?
I'd say that one of the main reasons is because making new starships is a significant part of their profit model.
Creating new ships for Star Citizens does not cut into their profits because it is how they make their profits.
Roberts industries has a strong financial incentive in creating new spaceships and elaborate spaceship interiors.

What I'm suggesting is that FDev take that very specific part of the game, spaceships and spaceship interiors, and that they monetize it
in order to create a financial incentive to design spaceship interiors and new spaceships.

 

[varonica]

Flame away.

Cobra MK4, enough said!

 

[LeoBartlet]

Could you please beat some sense into me because I've been entertaining this blasphemous idea about FDev semi-regularly introducing brand new spaceships into the game with funding from microtransactions.

Here is my train of throught:
Q: Why doesn't FDev create more spaceships and space ship interiors?
A: Because hiring artists costs money.

Why not create a system that is similar to that of Star Citizen?
For example, FDev artists would create a brand new spaceship every 6 months and it would be put on exclusive sale on the Fdev microtransaction website for a 6 month period.
In other words, the only way to buy that new spaceship for the first 6 months would be to pay real life money for it.
6 months after that period, the ship stays on the microtransaction website but it also becomes possible to buy it with normal in-game credits.

Judging from all the money Star Citizen is making from ship sales alone, I think it's a safe bet that Fdev could turn a profit from that.
That also means they could invest more in Elite and that a new fulltime artist could be hired to work on new ships from the money earned from microtransactions alone.

Flame away.

No

 

[GoldenSilver484]

No.

FD has repetitively sold Elite: Dangerous for $7, it's currently available to be played through Game Pass on Xbox, was at one point free on the Epic store and sells cosmetics through ARX, which you can buy or earn by playing the game. ARX replaced the Frontier Points system for cosmetic purchases on consoles, which could only be bought.

If FD was starving for revenue they wouldn't have done any of that, and even if they were, releasing a new ship or two with skins available on day-one would likely provide a boost in ARX sales.

In contrast, CIG has JPEGs you might be able to fly sometime this century that cost more than a full-sized SUV.

 

[metatheurgist]

Why not create a system that is similar to that of Star Citizen?

Gtfo. Now. Seriously.

 

[varonica]

For example, FDev artists would create a brand new spaceship every 6 months and it would be put on exclusive sale on the Fdev microtransaction website for a 6 month period.

Just to elaborate, because you are apparently new here. The Cobra Mk4 was an exclusive deal for early purchasers of Horizons, that was 6 years ago. We still get at least one thread per week demanding the Cobra Mk4 be made available to all players because player X (the starter of the thread) wasn't playing when the deal for the Mk4 was available and so it's not fair that he missed out. Now multiply that 1 thread per week by 30 or 40 threads per week because people weren't around during the 6 months that Ship Q was available so it's not fair they didn't get a chance to buy it.

So the answer is always going to be no, for any exclusive deal for anything whatsoever.

 

[m0rl0ck]

No.
I already boycott the store because of the horrendous grind engineers introduced. If FD started pay for play, i might have to organize a revolt, and that sounds like more effort than i care to make.

 

[Amanojaku]

Nope. The money SC makes didn't exactly help development go faster.

Transactions should remain for cosmetics only. I'm sick of certain game companies milking every dime they can from the consumer base. It DOES NOT improve the product. That's the bottom line. All it does is lead to more transactions and fees. The quality of EA games has gone DOWN. The quality of Tecmo Koei games has gone DOWN. Konami is literally turning to pachinko machines.

DLC, DRM, micro transGRESSIONS, in game ads, pay-to-win, pay-to-play, loot boxes, gamble mechanics. Enough is enough with this nonsense.

 

[Factabulous]

Judging from all the money Star Citizen is making from ship sales alone, I think it's a safe bet that Fdev could turn a profit from that.

Point of order your honour

Star Citizen ships are macro transactions, not micro transactions.

I wouldn't actually mind if they did a dlc or two of ships, like they do animal dlcs for planet zoo, but then they don't go free after a period. Not that I see a lot of point in just churning out more ships - we don't use all the ones we have and only a lazy developer would keep adding more like CiG do..

 

[Screemonster]

Absolutely no to pay-to-win. You just know that one of those ships would turn out slightly better than the stock ships at something.

The one saving grace of the cobra mk4's exclusivity is that the cobra mk4 isn't better than any other ships. I've heard it compared to an asp scout that fits on a small pad.
But you just know that eventually they'd end up with something like "a ship with identical stats to the FDL but better hardpoint placement" or something that'd turn it into a must-have.

 

[JTFireblaze]

I wouldn't actually mind if they did a dlc or two of ships

Could you imagine the uproar of Pay To Win if those ships were even ever so slightly better at doing anything than any other ship

At least the Cobra 4 doesn't have any real distinct advantages other than, well I guess bragging rights?

 

[Ettanin]

The only people that Pay-To-Win is fun for are:

• Shareholders
• Whales

Not to mention that P2W games often feed on addiction-fostered behaviour.

Pay-To-Skin is fine though. If the quality given for the goods sold is appropiate, of course.

 

[CMDR Larmakosa]

As others have mentioned, this commercial approach seems to be against Fdev philosophy.

But I would add that it also goes against Fdev way of balancing ships too, I believe. You'll notice that there are almost no redundant ships; almost each one has its special place in the game, in a way or another, and they complement each others pretty well. It's probably not perfect, but given this art is difficult, I think they did a pretty impressive job. I don't imagine this to be possible with a new ship every 6 months.

Now I personnally wouldn't mind seeing more variations of a given type of ships, so I can choose one not only for what it does best, but also based on how it looks. But having too many ships to choose from could quickly make the game overwhelming for new players, especially when you factor in modules, types of weapon, engineering, etc.

SC has plenty of ships because they plan to have hundreds of things to do with them, and it's wonderful; too bad it means it's going to take forever to finish coding, with hundreds of future rebalancing updates.

ED has a more limited set of established features, Fdev keeps things under tight control, and they release stuff with a more limited scope. They're very cautious and it's a source of frustration for the passionate players who dream of more. But the game cautiously and steadily evolves and expands. I'm sure we'll have new ships in the future, but once Fdev will have found a purpose for them.

 

[Bigmaec]

If that gives me a Panther Clipper I'm all in for it

 

[amigacooke]

Here is my train of throught:
Q: Why doesn't FDev create more spaceships and space ship interiors?
A: Because hiring artists costs money.

Possibly, or possibly the potential for creating ships that are genuinely different from existing ships are diminishing with each new ship that comes along.

 

[aRJay]

Could you please beat some sense into me because I've been entertaining this blasphemous idea about FDev semi-regularly introducing brand new spaceships into the game with funding from microtransactions.

Here is my train of throught:
Q: Why doesn't FDev create more spaceships and space ship interiors?
A: Because hiring artists costs money.

Why not create a system that is similar to that of Star Citizen?
For example, FDev artists would create a brand new spaceship every 6 months and it would be put on exclusive sale on the Fdev microtransaction website for a 6 month period.
In other words, the only way to buy that new spaceship for the first 6 months would be to pay real life money for it.
6 months after that period, the ship stays on the microtransaction website but it also becomes possible to buy it with normal in-game credits.

Judging from all the money Star Citizen is making from ship sales alone, I think it's a safe bet that Fdev could turn a profit from that.
That also means they could invest more in Elite and that a new fulltime artist could be hired to work on new ships from the money earned from microtransactions alone.

Flame away.



edit:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj0CHMYDIZg


Why does Star Citizen have ship interiors but Elite Dangerous does not?
I'd say that one of the main reasons is because making new starships is a significant part of their profit model.
Creating new ships for Star Citizens does not cut into their profits because it is how they make their profits.
Roberts industries has a strong financial incentive in creating new spaceships and elaborate spaceship interiors.

What I'm suggesting is that FDev take that very specific part of the game, spaceships and spaceship interiors, and that they monetize it
in order to create a financial incentive to design spaceship interiors and new spaceships.

I have no problem with this idea as long as the ships and interiors we get from microtransactions are purely cosmetic like kits and paint jobs.

Mind you I am sure that some players will object to their ship being just a hologram.

 

[kinemator]

I would pay for smaller cockpit sizes

 

[Murfelton]

I don’t understand why any game player would celebrate predatory marketing like that used by CIG. Emulating them would be a good way to lose me as a customer.

 

[Wrecked]

What if they didn’t introduce new ships for money, but instead introduced interiors for money? For example, you might be able to buy the interior of the Sidewinder for 12342 ARX and the interior of an anaconda for 89763 ARX. Perhaps the Python might be 65483 ARX and an ASP Exp might be 47844 ARX.

This way you pay a fair price for each interior based on complexity, it doesn’t force everyone to buy them, and they provide nothing other than a cosmetic experience.

 

[Ettanin]

What if they didn’t introduce new ships for money, but instead introduced interiors for money? For example, you might be able to buy the interior of the Sidewinder for 12342 ARX and the interior of an anaconda for 89763 ARX. Perhaps the Python might be 65483 ARX and an ASP Exp might be 47844 ARX.

This way you pay a fair price for each interior based on complexity, it doesn’t force everyone to buy them, and they provide nothing other than a cosmetic experience.

Why not release Elite Dangerous: Interiors instead?