New Horizons pre-order players should gain immediate access to the base game

[Tijauna]

Currently, as it is, when a new player purchases the Horizons expansion, they also receive the ED base game. However, Frontier have decided that these new players will be restricted from accessing the base game until the release date of the expansion pack this holiday.

This decision is strange and counterintuitive. Why would you block new players from experiencing Elite, and familiarizing themselves with its universe? This is a great opportunity to attract potential new customers - offering them instant access is a tantalizing bonus. After all, this is called the Horizons expansion pack! Why would an expansion pack, that is advertised to come with the base game, not allow you to play right away? It's not like ED hasn't released or anything; it's been around for a good while. Frontier, you really need to listen to this because you are missing a huge opportunity. You're missing a huge potential customer base - newcomers aren't going to preorder an expansion pack for a game they can't even play. This would be an amazing incentive that would draw in lots and lots of new CMDRs.

I have several friends who, after seeing the new shiny expansion, would love to try Elite, but they are hesitant because they have no experience with the base game. There are no downsides to unlocking the game for preorder customers, only benefits!

Thanks for listening, guys. I know it was rather long. But I hope you can understand where I'm coming from.

 

[Arkantes]

This decision is strange and counterintuitive. Why would you block new players from experiencing Elite, and familiarizing themselves with its universe?

Put your marketing goggles on and you'll see, it's a pretty clever trick: those that can wait will end up paying 50€ in total, while those that can't will first need to buy the game (40€), and THEN Horizon (40€ assuming a discount). So those that can't wait will pay more than those who can. If you were to let them access the game now they would only need to spend 50€ instead of 80€.