The New Content Drought

[Cosmo]

I’ll take your assertions with a piece of salt then. It’s easy to make claims without any back up.

Since you're incapable of finding the developer: you can compare CCP of Eve Online with Elite Dangerous. We had 2 Frontier Expos (conventions) in 2017 and 2023. Meanwhile , there was an EVE Fanfest in 2025, 2023, 2022, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011.

 

[Koma Pahu]

Since you're incapable of finding the developer: you can compare CCP of Eve Online with Elite Dangerous.

That wasn’t so hard was it.

And it’s not that I’m incapable, I just don’t have time to interpret your cryptic clues.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

 

[Cosmo]

ED is not dying. We have a revival of player activity and old players are returning. It's great that we're still getting significant updates, new ships, new features and have a roadmap. However, the development speed could be faster if Fdev dedicates a bigger team and more resources to ED.

That wasn’t so hard was it.

It was hard for you to figure it out.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

That wasn’t so hard was it.

And it’s not that I’m incapable, I just don’t have time to interpret your cryptic clues.

Yeah, I can see it's one of "those" threads.

The fact that the term content drought is being used while one release is still in beta should have been enough to pass this one by to be honest.

 

[Cosmo]

The fact that the term content drought is being used while one release is still in beta should have been enough to pass this one by to be honest.

It's not about whatever is in development behind the curtain. We can't measure that and have no confirmation about the details so that's wishful thinking. Rather how much content, updates, patches, improvements are released per quarter or 1 year.

 

[Shadowsnog]

dont you feel you are kinda disproving your own point of them making "more" content, when saying they have larger development team and less titles to work on?
like... duh... ?
not to mention there is a lot of other space games that dont make this much of a content. theres a lot of other games... and to be honest none of them are near comparable with elite because there really is not any other game like elite. elite can share some themes and aspects with other games, but it very much is a category on its own.
if you want to support this game monthly, you are welcome to do so. id like to think that not all arx earnings go to just margaritas and cigars, and some of the money does indeed go towards the further development of the game.
all things aside pulling in with a content draught during one of the most prosperous and fruitful era this game has had in a pretty long time does seem...
with all due respect
greedy, ignorant and ungrateful.

bottom line is you are playing the game anyway, arent you? if there wasnt content to do, you wouldnt be here.

 

[ꝁestrel]

However, the development speed could be faster if Fdev dedicates a bigger team and more resources to ED.

Wow... yea... I wonder why they haven't thought of that. You should email the CEO directly; this is huge.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Since you're incapable of finding the developer: you can compare CCP of Eve Online with Elite Dangerous. We had 2 Frontier Expos (conventions) in 2017 and 2023. Meanwhile , there was an EVE Fanfest in 2025, 2023, 2022, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, and 2011.

Keep on playing Eve, Scam Citizen, NMS & Starfield, you know you will have much more fun than this game with such a massive content drought.

I'll just play ED, as usual, and try to find that drought...

 

[Rat Catcher]

However, the development speed could be faster if Fdev dedicates a bigger team and more resources to ED

Allegedly, ED is paying for its development from sales / cosmetics etc.

Perhaps, if you could persuade another 10 million folk to buy the game and bunches of Arx, the additional income could fun addtional Devs, thus more & faster content.

 

[vanFace]

Keep on playing Eve, Scam Citizen, NMS & Starfield, you know you will have much more fun than this game with such a massive content drought.

On that note, I actually had a bit of a stress this time with the NMS expedition, because the SoO event was going on at the same time, and I am behind on my PP2 schedule, and I am behind on my colony development, and I wanted to give the credit Cobra MkV a good walk. I'm actually happy I don't play Starfield, Eve or SC as well, that would have brought me near a burn-out, I guess.
I, for one, welcome the new content drought for the summer. Pool games, here I come!

 

[Mr Lindsay]

However, the development speed could be faster if Fdev dedicates a bigger team and more resources to ED.

The development speed could certainly be faster, but that in no way guarantees a proportionate scaling of returns on that increased investment.

Just by way of an obvious example... if FDev were pumping out a new, fully-developed, ship every single week there would be a very small number of players that bought every one of them for Arx and increase their spending proportionately, more would buy one or two more than they do now, but most players would tune out and new ships being added to the game would stop being 'special' it would just be an expected part of the content that they aren't interested in paying for.

Where I do think FDev has the potential to increase investment and get some significant returns is in overhauling/tidying-up the engine to add modern graphical features to the PC version, Ray Tracing options for some graphical elements, newer versions of DLSS/FSR, get proper VR support for Odyssey in there, etc.
The real goal of this exercise though would be to get functional PS5/XBSX versions of the game on sale again, while also boosting the perception of the core PC game, which could result in a really nice ROI if marketed well.

 

[Rat Catcher]

On that note, I actually had a bit of a stress this time with the NMS expedition, because the SoO event was going on at the same time, and I am behind on my PP2 schedule, and I am behind on my colony development, and I wanted to give the credit Cobra MkV a good walk. I'm actually happy I don't play Starfield, Eve or SC as well, that would have brought me near a burn-out, I guess.

It's tough playing many games, it is true...
I deal with it by looking at the NMS updates for 10 minutes, than walking away feeling the normal dislike, only bother with SC for major patches, as it didn't release in 2017, 2018, 2019 etc. etc... Then walk away as impressed as ever until the next major patch and promised release date.. Eve I've never been interested in as spreadsheets leave me cold... And, naturally, I'd rather play Skyrim than Starfield, as it feels more like a RPG...

When not playing ED, which only gets a few hours per week these days, there are plenty of other interesting titles to while away those retirement hours, Saints & Sinners 1 & 2, After the Fall, Arizona Sunshine 1 & 2, the Fallout series, the list goes on...

With the northern hemisphere moving into Summer, then, expectedly, less time in front of the PC and more out in the fresh air... Gaming is tough...

 

[aRJay]

Is pretty much what I was going to say, except maybe without the slow part (slow by the Frontier definition is eons for everyone else... sorry, bad joke). But really, I would be happy to have the Thargoid stuff back, not because I want the "war" to continue (interesting as it was in some aspects), but because of all the story threads it's left dangling. From the mid-war stuff to the incursion into Sol.

I like the fact that there are questions left by the Thargoid war particularly regarding what Cocijo was thinking with its assault on Sol.
Our lack of understanding fits given that the Thargoids are a completely alien species that we cannot in general communicate with and that are knowledge comes from a different extinct alien species whose records relating to the Thargoids might be reliable or might turn out to be from archives of the equivalent of a redtop newspaper.

... I would also like to have a bit more story going again generally, though I suppose the recent-ish Powerplay conflicts might be playing into something there.

I'd be saying that the new mystery feature might be something in relation to the Thargoids, but it could just as well be Salvation and his Nemesis Failsafe/Guardians, or even the Powerplay conflicts that are being sprouted here and there... however, feeling hesitant to really speculate because it might set me up with wrong expectations. Or any expectations on something we have absolutely no clue what it will be for or about. (I would like to see what colonization has as a role in whatever story we might have left for Elite, beyond humans being humans and deciding to launch a wave of expansion in post-war hubris, while they're the ones who assume it is "over")

It is a big galaxy even if we ignore the bits of it we haven’t got round to visiting yet so even ignoring humans being humans stories, which of course are all around us, it would be nice to have something entirely new rather than the continuing adventures of…

 

[Rubbernuke]

I think really it depends on what you class as content. Its obvious from the recent spurt of ED updates FD are trying to go for a more self contained player driven game, and this might come at the detriment of more bespoke content and one off dev driven narrative events. If you are in the latter camp it may well be a drought but for the former it does not.

 

[amigacooke]

For macOS users 2018 was spot on.

 

[Cosmo]

Wow... yea... I wonder why they haven't thought of that.

They prioritized other IPs and that's where much of the resources went the last couple of years....

Where I do think FDev has the potential to increase investment and get some significant returns is in overhauling/tidying-up the engine to add modern graphical features to the PC version, Ray Tracing options for some graphical elements, newer versions of DLSS/FSR, get proper VR support for Odyssey in there, etc.
The real goal of this exercise though would be to get functional PS5/XBSX versions of the game on sale again, while also boosting the perception of the core PC game, which could result in a really nice ROI if marketed well.

Seconded.

 

[Kamiyoda]

Thargoids are a completely alien species that we cannot in general communicate with

Pretty sure Thargoids being able to communicate just fine and just actively choosing not to because they are rampant xenophobes has been the lore for Elite Dangerous since the novels came out.

 

[Kira Goto]

Our lack of understanding fits given that the Thargoids are a completely alien species that we cannot in general communicate with and that are knowledge comes from a different extinct alien species whose records relating to the Thargoids might be reliable or might turn out to be from archives of the equivalent of a redtop newspaper.

I'm not saying it's wrong that there are mysteries left in that story, but they're somewhat pointless if it's not being continued. Which it has not been the last six(ish) months. I'd go as far as to argue there has not really been much of any story development since August-October 2023/3309, except for when the Thargoids hit Shinrarta for an unknown reason, then went to Sol with their Titan.

... I don't consider the Guardian records a reliable source. Too much "History written by the victor", not enough concrete details about how it all actually happened. Whether those were simply lost or deliberately being omitted is up for debate.

Pretty sure Thargoids being able to communicate just fine and just actively choosing not to because they are rampant xenophobes has been the lore for Elite Dangerous since the novels came out.

And humans have been? Replace "Thargoids" with "humans" in that sentence and it would be just as accurate. If not more accurate because while the Thargoids were showing restraint and only destroying ships stealing their stuff* (or carrying Guardian relics which could and have been weaponized to various extents), we began blasting them indiscriminately for them daring to have a problem another belligerent species was taking their stuff and killing them unprovoked, in their own territory. Older FFE lore (which I believe is referenced here and there in the game as well) even suggests it was humans recklessly destroying a Thargoid ship merely observing them, that kicked things off back then.

*Exception made to meta-alloys. They will "ask" politely for those at first and glow green, then deploy a Thargon swarm and go red if you don't, but otherwise leave you alone after some time, if you insist on keeping them anyway.

If what you say the novels suggest is accurate, it certainly stands in stark opposition to things and contexts shown more or less subtly in the game itself. I did not see the Thargoids make a giant weapon of extermination yet... or attempt a full wipeout despite said weapon we threw in their face.

 

[Tifu]

I'm just waiting for LYR's countermove against Achilles Aerospace because the SCO drives are killing off Sirius corp's business

Also waiting for the big revelation on how SCO drives were reverse engineered because we don't really know what's in them do we?