Should Elite Dangerous move towards a free to play model?

Troopi

Troopi
Dionysymbiant said:
Imo a demo is the way to go. Even a generous 48 hour demo, somehow lockable to something such as Xbox/psn gamer tag, or a PC hardware ID or something, to prevent spamming and intentional abuse of it
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Actually, I think they already have the basis for a demo. It's the newbie restricted systems and beginner sidewinder presets. They could just announce it as free to all newcomers, and payment required to leave the nursery.
 

sollisb

Banned
S
StuartGT said:
FDev have been selling around 600k copies of Elite every year since release, and 1.3m total copies of Horizons as of Jan 2019.

There's zero reason to change a working model
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How many are still playing though?

I bet you don't have those figures! :D
 

Icybow73

Icybow73
For us players who have been around for years? No

F2P seems like a "omg this is a miracle" for new people. For us old players: "we wasted our money on a game that costs money, that now has more content and is free? Demand refund and denounce developers" or something like that.
 

CMDR Big Mike

CMDR Big Mike
Commander Royle said:
Hello,

So we have just had the announcement of the new frontier points and ways to earn them. It seems as if Frontier are trying to increase the amount of players buying cosmetic items and also making the paintpack store less clunkier and glitchy when viewing it. These are just some short term updates.

In addition, frontier are spending considerable resources this year in trying to increase retention of new players. For example we have seen the new tutorials announced and earlier this year we had the new anti gank starter systems introduced.

In summer 2020 we are expecting a big new DLC, the size of which we have not seen since Horizons. Possible space legs and base building if the rumours are correct. Therefore we can probably expect frontier to sell this for £20-30, which is essentially the price of a new game.

My argument is therefore that Elite Dangerous should shift to a Free to play model, with Horizons and DLC 2020 being £20 and £30 respectively. With the new ease of use when it comes to the new paintpack shop I think it would be more of a higher revenue raising venture if elite does go free to download. For example, let me try to explain.

Somebody considers buying elite dangerous, sees the price tag and also sees that the steam reviews are only "mixed". I would say that they only have a low chance of buying the game in that example unless they were confident in the game. Even if they decide to purchase in this example, the max investment from that player would be the minimal amount.

My proposed example is this(in 2020): steam user sees elite dangerous is free to play. So they think "hell why not" and download the game for free, playing through all the new fancy voiced tutorials frontier have introduced. Then, they spawn in one of the safe haven noob zones and dont experience any negative gameplay such as ganking or hacking so they are having a great time! After around 10-20 hours of game time, perhaps this new player is considering purchasing the dlc such as horizons or 2020 DLC. Or maybe even a paintpack for their new ship. And just think that this "new player" might not have even bought the base game, but now is investing £50 on DLC and £15 on paintpacks.

These are my thoughts. I strongly believe that elite dangerous should follow in the footsteps of Eve online by going free to play. I seriously think it would be the most sensible marketing decision based on current player numbers, the paintpack store rework and the new DLC package due for release in 2020.
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No
 

Deleted member 182079

D
Icybow73 said:
For us players who have been around for years? No

F2P seems like a "omg this is a miracle" for new people. For us old players: "we wasted our money on a game that costs money, that now has more content and is free? Demand refund and denounce developers" or something like that.
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It's not even about the money (I spent a lot of money on Elite but received lots of hours of fun in return).
The real problem is the necessary changes to the gameplay that would ruin it. P2W basically, and all that entails.
 

Deaf Space

Deaf Space
Commander Royle said:
Hello,

So we have just had the announcement of the new frontier points and ways to earn them. It seems as if Frontier are trying to increase the amount of players buying cosmetic items and also making the paintpack store less clunkier and glitchy when viewing it. These are just some short term updates.

In addition, frontier are spending considerable resources this year in trying to increase retention of new players. For example we have seen the new tutorials announced and earlier this year we had the new anti gank starter systems introduced.

In summer 2020 we are expecting a big new DLC, the size of which we have not seen since Horizons. Possible space legs and base building if the rumours are correct. Therefore we can probably expect frontier to sell this for £20-30, which is essentially the price of a new game.

My argument is therefore that Elite Dangerous should shift to a Free to play model, with Horizons and DLC 2020 being £20 and £30 respectively. With the new ease of use when it comes to the new paintpack shop I think it would be more of a higher revenue raising venture if elite does go free to download. For example, let me try to explain.

Somebody considers buying elite dangerous, sees the price tag and also sees that the steam reviews are only "mixed". I would say that they only have a low chance of buying the game in that example unless they were confident in the game. Even if they decide to purchase in this example, the max investment from that player would be the minimal amount.

My proposed example is this(in 2020): steam user sees elite dangerous is free to play. So they think "hell why not" and download the game for free, playing through all the new fancy voiced tutorials frontier have introduced. Then, they spawn in one of the safe haven noob zones and dont experience any negative gameplay such as ganking or hacking so they are having a great time! After around 10-20 hours of game time, perhaps this new player is considering purchasing the dlc such as horizons or 2020 DLC. Or maybe even a paintpack for their new ship. And just think that this "new player" might not have even bought the base game, but now is investing £50 on DLC and £15 on paintpacks.

These are my thoughts. I strongly believe that elite dangerous should follow in the footsteps of Eve online by going free to play. I seriously think it would be the most sensible marketing decision based on current player numbers, the paintpack store rework and the new DLC package due for release in 2020.
Click to expand...

,every few weeks i see a new post wanting FTP features , and every few weeks i see the same post get absolutely hated on into oblivion, as it should . FTP Always Leads to PTW, no exceptions .
 

Lestat

Banned
Lestat
What they could do is play for 100 hours for free. If they want to play longer. They have to pay for it. So they get a taste of the game.
 
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