ANNOUNCEMENT Odyssey Update 2021

I only quoted the first image, the one from mmo-population.com

The image you posted shows they estimate Elite Dangerous has 14m total players, yet FDev themselves say 12m total (4m paid copies and 8m free Epic copies).

6 months ago, the same website incorrectly said Elite had 12m total players when the total was around 4m: http://web.archive.org/web/20201001132557/https://mmo-population.com/r/elitedangerous

It gets similar stats very wrong for other games, for example claiming Star Citizen has 12m total and 716k daily players when CIG publicly say 3m total (1.2m paid) and 30k daily players.

Incorrect website is incorrect.

It gets very complicated with ED compared to many games, most of us original / 90´s Elite fans got our main account from FD store long before ED appeared to be one of most sold games during a year at Steam, and then there were console versions, Horizon dlc, and now recently Epic Games freebies (FD probably hopes that many of those freebies at EGS will sell Odyssey more).

ED is not subscription based so active users mean less than game / ingame purchases I guess (even galaxy is so huge that players inevitably flood certain systems and disperse into million others), and I don´t really know if 100+ million they have so far made with ED is good or bad in comparison to other games, because each game from ED´s competition is so different at their stage or genre (and yes I have backed SC also with way too much money for falling through the floor before reaching my ship, thank you guys in advance).
 
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I only quoted the first image, the one from mmo-population.com

The image you posted shows they estimate Elite Dangerous has 14m total players, yet FDev themselves say 12m total (4m paid copies and 8m free Epic copies).

6 months ago, the same website incorrectly said Elite had 12m total players when the total was around 4m: http://web.archive.org/web/20201001132557/https://mmo-population.com/r/elitedangerous

It gets similar stats very wrong for other games, for example claiming Star Citizen has 12m total and 716k daily players when CIG publicly say 3m total (1.2m paid) and 30k daily players.

Incorrect website is incorrect.
It's like debating with Factabulous :) What is the total number or PC players =? X-box players=? P-station players=?
I would be interested to know, there was a post recently that stated the number at 'Twelvety'
Pug
 
Alpha is early spring now, interesting. More interesting to me is the phased consoles release, I'm glad that the entire release isn't being delayed because of consoles, which I'm sure will be to the anger of some. It's hard not to look at the console 'delay' without thinking of Cyberpunk and it's own problematic release on consoles, so I think in the end everyone will benefit from the extra development time. Phased approach to features in the alpha is... interesting to say the least, and a little surprising, because I honestly thought we'd be playing the alpha in February.

Thanks for the update.
CyberPunk is just bad in general , regardless of a few bugs , the game play itself...
As for this can you not just delay autumn for Xbox one and PS4 , havnt mentioned anything about ps4 pro or Xbox one x /series x release not unless I’m missing something
 
[...]

Alpha – early spring 2021

[...]

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Deluxe Alpha and Lifetime Expansion Pass holders will get access to this release.


PC release – late spring 2021
[...]

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey pre orders will be able to access the game with this release.

Excuse me but does this mean anything that, contrary to the promise, LTE owners will not get access to the final version after all, but only to the alpha?
 
CyberPunk is just bad in general , regardless of a few bugs , the game play itself...
As for this can you not just delay autumn for Xbox one and PS4 , havnt mentioned anything about ps4 pro or Xbox one x /series x release not unless I’m missing something

Yes there is a delay, first PC players will go through alpha (/beta?) phases and launch with bugs, FD will hammer them down, and port Odyssey to consoles.
 
I read somewhere that they have made £100,000k since inception.
If most players paid for the game and have bought a couple of bobble heads and paint jobs etc. lets call it £60 quid a player so thats... 'grinding noises'

1,666,666.666666667 players, too many "numbers of the beast" in there for me.
Pug
 
Well.... any communication update is graciously received. Can't say we aren't disappointed but better to get the thing working and well than rushed and broken.
 
I read somewhere that they have made £100,000k since inception.
If most players paid for the game and have bought a couple of bobble heads and paint jobs etc. lets call it £60 quid a player so thats... 'grinding noises'

1,666,666.666666667 players, too many "numbers of the beast" in there for me.
Pug

I don't think it has been 60 anything after alpha/beta and LTE-pass combo, but game has sold much much more than just 1,667 million copies since launch, even at first year(s), as far as I have understood.


100+ mil is still nice number though.
 
Greetings Commanders,


We wanted to share an update with you regarding the ongoing development of Elite Dangerous: Odyssey.

2020 was a difficult year for many, but in spite of those challenges we are pleased with our progress towards what is a truly ambitious new era for the game. We’ve been delighted with the excitement and positive response to our development diaries, interviews, streams and trailers and want to thank all of you for your continued support.

The ongoing impact of the pandemic however, including the renewed lockdowns in 2021, continues to put added pressure on our teams and ultimately our development timeline. We have therefore had to make the difficult decision to make some adjustments and changes to our existing development roadmap.

Our PC plans have only been affected by a small amount, however our plans for the console release will unfortunately see a larger development shift. Please do know that these difficult decisions have been made with a focus on making Odyssey as incredible as it can possibly be for all our Commanders regardless of their platform, while also respecting realistic project deadlines for our teams during this difficult global situation.

We would like to sincerely apologise to all of our community. We know you have been waiting patiently and how disappointing and frustrating this must be. With that in mind, we would like to share with you our latest roadmap so that you are fully aware of our plans.


Alpha – early spring 2021
We are continuing with plans to bring Alpha access to our PC players and get boots on the ground. This will now be a little later than originally planned, in early spring.

Much like our original Elite Dangerous release, we will be taking a phased approach to our Alpha, bringing new features and systems online throughout the period. This will allow us to focus and best consider our community feedback while also providing vital user testing on key areas of the game. We will be sharing further information including details of feature drops and Alpha plans as we get closer to release.

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Deluxe Alpha and Lifetime Expansion Pass holders will get access to this release.


PC release – late spring 2021
Following the completion of our Alpha phase we are targeting a full launch on PC in late spring.

As with every era in Elite Dangerous’ history, we will be closely engaging with our community and continuing to react to feedback refining Odyssey through to the console launch.

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey pre orders will be able to access the game with this release.


Console release – autumn 2021

After continued feedback, iterations and balancing, we are targeting our release on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One in the autumn of this year.


We understand that for many, this additional delay will be frustrating. Once again, we would like to apologise wholeheartedly to our community, especially our console Commanders. However, as mentioned previously, we feel it is vital to ensure that the content being released on consoles meets the highest standards and this will require this additional extension to our roadmap.

Throughout this time we will continue to bring more news, videos and content of the development in progress. We would like to thank you all for the ongoing support and we are very excited to bring in this new era to the game with you. Your feedback, support and involvement is a vital part of this process and we are looking forward to a shared Alpha experience, which will be touching down very soon.

o7 Commanders

As much distress and frustration that is to delay the update, I understand the global situation because of COVID and how much difficult it must be for companies to deliver. I apreciate the update and I encourage you to keep being this transparent.

Fly safe Commanders, o7
 
I don't think it has been 60 anything after alpha/beta and LTE-pass combo, but game has sold much much more than just 1,667 million copies since launch, even at first year(s), as far as I have understood.


100+ mil is still nice number though.
60 quid = Air, Finger, The, In.
Pug
 
ok so these are for active monthly players I assume
that's actually surprised the hell out of me, I would have bet the house on PC vastly outnumbering consoles
That’s what my friend est. he started looking up nbrs and some
Quick checks makes sense lots of good space games on pc on console only one of you would ask me. No mans game ugh can’t even say it 🥴🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮😷 sorry ill clean up do you guys have a mop and bucket
 
Good! I'd much, much rather see Odyssey delayed by even another year rather than end up with a Cyberpunk 2077 situation with devs exhausted and overworked and a product beset by bugs upon bugs. I'm happy to wait as long as it takes to ensure that the expansion is everything it can be with staff kept safe and on a time line that's reasonable for them, especially given the renewed lock downs Thumbs up.
 
I doubt there will be any kind of tags left in the bubble after Odyssey-update in systems already colonized, just check out how many systems no longer have first discoverer tags (or mapping) in them, even though they had after launch until next major update (iirc).

Nowadays you can "discover / map" and thus tag just "unexplored" systems in a bubble and their planets, mostly systems colonized after launch of the game in 2014 December (that I have noticed through few uninhabited systems I found and tagged at first exploration rush after original launch).

For me it is pretty immersion breaking you can be "first" to find or do anything in a system already full of people and npc´s.
So I´m pretty sure tagging will not be ANY issue / thing in the bubble after Odyssey, especially when remembering FD wiping out tags from the bubble at some previous earlier updates.
And outside the bubble more than 99% of the systems in the galaxy are still not explored.

Respectfully I disagree; I think that whatever the new '3rd' tagging is called will be something that can be added to bodies in the Bubble. I guess we'll find out very soon in Alpha. Whether or not it makes sense lore-wise/immersion-wise is another question : ) I think it's purely a gameplay element for people to see their name in high-traffic areas and I would be very surprised if populated systems were excluded from the new Odyssey tag since they were able to be mapped for the "First Mapped By" tag that I referenced in my original post.
 
Just some side note - I’d like to see them introduce player bounties , players go after other “bad” players for a lump of cash , rewards
 
I agree with the home office comments. I love working from home and I've feel more productive due to less distractions. I don't miss the commute at all - within 10 minutes of me ending the work day, I'm eating dinner! I don't miss certain other issues about working in the office either. If I need to communicate, I use Teams and there are various online whiteboards out there to help share ideas and feedback.

Same. I'd be glad to never see the office again!
 
:rolleyes: There are people really asking for an "explanation" as to why the game has been delayed? Seriously? Frontier doesn't need to explain anything. The only "explanation" anyone needs is Cyberpunk 2077. If they don't want a repeat of that catastrophe, then they need to cut it out with that that crap. I wouldn't mind them delaying the game until fall really. If Microsoft can do it with Halo Infinite, then Frontier can do it with Elite Dangerous. And...as for the last gen console versions, I agree with others that they may be better off abandoning them altogether. The game barely runs on the base versions as is at a measly 30 FPS and now we're talking a graphics overhaul with odyssey. I wouldn't be surprised at all that the hardware limitations is the real reason why the console version got delayed longer.
 
I suspect that you’ll find thata high percentage of those that pre-order Odyssey Alpha will already have the Cobra MkIV.

those on consoles that now need to wait a further 6 months (at least) are the ones that would most likely benefit from this.

(By my reckoning) six month separation means
  • no foot based CGs in the first six months
  • PC commanders will have claimed ‘first foot’ on all planets in the bubble
  • PC commanders will have determined that elite on foot is pants and not what they asked for, undermining the sales arc on consoles
  • Frontier will need to placate the vocal PC streamers who will be moaning that Frontier don’t listen by providing both VR and ship interiors

You really really think that Ship Interiors is not already on a long term project plan timeline?!
 
:rolleyes: There are people really asking for an "explanation" as to why the game has been delayed? Seriously? Frontier doesn't need to explain anything. The only "explanation" anyone needs is Cyberpunk 2077. If they don't want a repeat of that catastrophe, then they need to cut it out with that that crap. I wouldn't mind them delaying the game until fall really. If Microsoft can do it with Halo Infinite, then Frontier can do it with Elite Dangerous. And...as for the last gen console versions, I agree with others that they may be better off abandoning them altogether. The game barely runs on the base versions as is at a measly 30 FPS and now we're talking a graphics overhaul with odyssey. I wouldn't be surprised at all that the hardware limitations is the real reason why the console version got delayed longer.
I play on PS4 pro on quality settings and it runs great for me. I've played on base PS4 and its not quite as pretty but perfectly playable.
 
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