Should Frontier continue labouring over Elite Dangerous? Or call it time and work on Elite Dangerous 2?

Bigmaec

Bigmaec
amigacooke {macOS} said:
I don't really see the point of it. For the LEP to be attractve it has to be a discount in the long term or why would anyone buy it?

All discounts harm Frontier financially, but that's their decision.
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It also gave other perks, right?


It's certainly debatable if it's worth it, but it's also ridiculous to count it against anything not deluxe/premium access/beta access whatever.

Also there are situations where you have money now and spend it, but later you haven't.*

And lastly Odyssey might not be the last paid DLC, if it's not, I'd say then - latest - it had paid off.
Additionally I marked the big elephant in the room, Cobra MkIV. Most sought after ship (behind the Panther Clipper ofc.)


*not the best argument, but possible.
 

Alien

Alien
amigacooke {macOS} said:
I don't really see the point of it. For the LEP to be attractve it has to be a discount in the long term or why would anyone buy it?

All discounts harm Frontier financially, but that's their decision.
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You're right, you don't see the point I'm making.
The LEP does not add any further profit to Frontier's finances. That income has all come in.
Those who buy the expansions as Frontier release them, they are the ones bringing in profits now.
The LEP holders are a millstone around Frontier's neck.
And yes, I am an LEP holder, so I obviously include myself in that statement.

The LEP is not attractive any more, at least, not to Frontier.

I would go on, but I'm thinking you have "I must be right at all costs" syndrome.
 

amadeus1171

amadeus1171
Frankly, FD should sell the ED franchise to a developer who cares about the game/simulator. They probably won't want to include the engine with the game so it'll have to be rebuilt from scratch. But I'm fine with that. The COBRA engine isn't all that great. And rebuilding from scratch allows a new developer to correct things that were incorrectly done.

I say sell it to Elon Musk! lol

But seriously, sell it to Elon Musk. He would create a space-themed game studio just for Elite: Dangerous and release other space-themed games. It's a win-win!
 

Rat Catcher

Rat Catcher
amadeus1171 said:
Frankly, FD should sell the ED franchise to a developer who cares about the game/simulator.
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Sell it to themselves, then?
I doubt any other developer would dirty their hands with such a nice game, developers exist to make money, think about how much work, wiht how many devs, for how long, to sell to such a small market.
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Alien said:
You're right, you don't see the point I'm making.
The LEP does not add any further profit to Frontier's finances. That income has all come in.
Those who buy the expansions as Frontier release them, they are the ones bringing in profits now.
The LEP holders are a millstone around Frontier's neck.
And yes, I am an LEP holder, so I obviously include myself in that statement.

The LEP is not attractive any more, at least, not to Frontier.

I would go on, but I'm thinking you have "I must be right at all costs" syndrome.
Click to expand...

So, youre basically saying it makes sense for any dev to sell lifetime passes and then welch on them as soon as its inconvenient?

My guess would be LEP owners will still buy ARX so remain profitable.
 

ꝁestrel

ꝁestrel
Agony_Aunt said:
My guess would be LEP owners will still buy ARX so remain profitable.
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This is correct. The Lifetime Expansion Pass that FD offered was either:
  1. A demonstration of complete stubborn incompetence wrt business economics
  2. Vain attempt to "price in" future potential earnings in advance of an expected drop in players
I think #2 is much more likely since long term plans for Jurassic World and Planet Coaster were just ramping up around that time. My theory is they knew that they couldn't focus on Elite but still wanted to capitalize on existing popularity in a niche market (space sims). Price in the current level of excitement people have and do your best to deliver later.

If people enjoy playing the game they'll spend 60 USD or more every single month/quarter/year on cosmetics and minor upgrades. Content expansion packs are so very high-risk low-reward. It takes 1-2 years to get them built and people are really bad at planning 1-2 years ahead. You could spend all that time and end up producing a bad product anyway.
 
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LeoBartlet

LeoBartlet
amadeus1171 said:
Frankly, FD should sell the ED franchise to a developer who cares about the game/simulator. They probably won't want to include the engine with the game so it'll have to be rebuilt from scratch. But I'm fine with that. The COBRA engine isn't all that great. And rebuilding from scratch allows a new developer to correct things that were incorrectly done.

I say sell it to Elon Musk! lol

But seriously, sell it to Elon Musk. He would create a space-themed game studio just for Elite: Dangerous and release other space-themed games. It's a win-win!
Click to expand...

LOL yea sell a game franchise to someone with zero experience who has displayed borderline criminal behaviour, is regularly in the news for the wrong things and is as flighty as they come.

People on this forum are amazing with their mental gymnastics.
 

ꝁestrel

ꝁestrel
LeoBartlet said:
someone with zero experience who has displayed borderline criminal behaviour, is regularly in the news for the wrong things and is as flighty as they come.
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It's really interesting who people end up idolizing (Jobs, Musk, Buffet) vs demonizing (Jobs, Zuckerberg, Bezos).
 

amigacooke

amigacooke
Alien said:
You're right, you don't see the point I'm making.
The LEP does not add any further profit to Frontier's finances. That income has all come in.
Those who buy the expansions as Frontier release them, they are the ones bringing in profits now.
The LEP holders are a millstone around Frontier's neck.
And yes, I am an LEP holder, so I obviously include myself in that statement.

The LEP is not attractive any more, at least, not to Frontier.

I would go on, but I'm thinking you have "I must be right at all costs" syndrome.
Click to expand...
I agree, but Frontier put that noose around their own neck and took the money early as an interest free loan.

Of course, once the expansion is bought, that customer becomes a noose around Frontier's neck.
 
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Terry Daniels

Terry Daniels
Quantis Trap said:
I think Frontier should contract out the next Elite Dangerous to Hello Games! They know how to follow through and continually improve a game instead of degrade it over time.
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No proper flight mechanics, no orbital mechanics, no HOTAS support, only two gravities (Earth standard and moon floaty). Hello Games make good planets and gave us great VR (and I personally like their aesthetics and caves), but no...
Elite Dangerous bought Fdev back from nowhere, they're now a successful business with many games coming out and I just can't see any company recreating what they brought to this genre.
They should give it to us, the players and this game would be unrecognisable in a years time (IMHO). Can you imagine? thousand upon thousands of modders at every level wanting to give to this game, creating new atmospheres, storyline missions, new vehicles, surface mining...
 
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Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Kestrel1 said:
If people enjoy playing the game they'll spend 60 USD or more every single month/quarter/year on cosmetics and minor upgrades.
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I think that's whale territory. I might once every few months buy a small ARX pack if i'm wanting something expensive and can't be bothered waiting to earn it. (LEP owner).

I'm more of a minnow myself.
 

ꝁestrel

ꝁestrel
Agony_Aunt said:
I think that's whale territory. I might once every few months buy a small ARX pack if i'm wanting something expensive and can't be bothered waiting to earn it. (LEP owner).
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Hence "month/quarter/year". As long as the game isn't gated by how much you spend it's fine. Much safer than toiling away for 1-2 years on an expansion that people may not actually want.
 

WR3ND

WR3ND
amigacooke {macOS} said:
I agree, but Frontier put that noose around their own neck and took the money early as an interest free loan.

Of course, once the expansion is bought, that customer becomes a noose around Frontier's neck.
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Imagine being a bother to a company because you overpaid for something in advance instead of waiting until later and paying less. :giggle:
Frontier would have to be financially incompetent to have not benefited overall from the LEPs, leastwise the 2015 ones.

A company bothering to make a viable product isn't a noose. It's what keeps them in business.
 
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