Will Elite Dangerous Launch on Steam?

[Andromalius]

Steam has its ups and downs, but in the case of ED I think it would be a Big Mistake©.

For a very simple reason: when launching an online game you don't want too much success on day one. If all of a sudden 2 million people buy Ed on day one... nobody will be able to play as servers can't cope. I'm pretty sure Frontier don't want that.

 

[Morbad]

They are definitely in the minority and are probably old whinges who are probably too old to be gamers any more. They remember the good old days of real boxes and manuals and are fighting against progress. I mean I regret that as well but I am not daft enough to fight against it just for the principle. The market place for games now, as before, is the 20-30 bracket and they most definitely all use Steam.

I'm 30. I game on my PCs about 40-60 hours a week.

I do not like Steam, and I will not use Steam.

I don't care if the game is on Steam, as long as I don't need to use it, but I would be irate in the extreme if Elite: Dangerous were to become a Steam exclusive. If this came to pass, I would seriously consider litigation. I would not expect to come out ahead (indeed, I'd be perfectly willing to lose thousands), but I would cost Frontier far more than the $75 dollars I gave them for access.

 

[sbdags]

I'm 30. I game on my PCs about 40-60 hours a week.

I do not like Steam, and I will not use Steam.

I don't care if the game is on Steam, as long as I don't need to use it, but I would be irate in the extreme if Elite: Dangerous were to become a Steam exclusive. If this came to pass, I would seriously consider litigation. I would not expect to come out ahead, but I would cost Frontier far more than the $75 dollars access to the game cost me.

Wut???

Steam is OK and FD are missing out big time if they don't release it on Steam. It would get serious sales using it.

 

[withnail]

Come on chaps, they have said it will be DRM free from their shop if you want it.

It's up to them if they also want to release it on steam.

 

[bliss]

Getting ED on GOG Galaxy as an exclusive launch title could work well.

 

[Ghost1]

I'm 30. I game on my PCs about 40-60 hours a week.

I do not like Steam, and I will not use Steam.

I don't care if the game is on Steam, as long as I don't need to use it, but I would be irate in the extreme if Elite: Dangerous were to become a Steam exclusive. If this came to pass, I would seriously consider litigation. I would not expect to come out ahead (indeed, I'd be perfectly willing to lose thousands), but I would cost Frontier far more than the $75 dollars I gave them for access.

What?

I dont think it will be a Steam exclusive. Steam is fine, so is GoG. The game would rack up so many people and community would expand. So many positive to steam capable

 

[Morbad]

Wut???

Steam is OK and FD are missing out big time if they don't release it on Steam. It would get serious sales using it.

What?

I dont think it will be a Steam exclusive. Steam is fine, so is GoG. The game would rack up so many people and community would expand. So many positive to steam capable

Like I said, I would have no problem with it being on Steam, as long as there are other ways to get and play the game.

 

[withnail]

It will be.

 

[Tygar]

Steam is great, many a time I have bought games to play on a lazy Sunday, where I live most shops are shut. If ED is not on Steam I think they will loose on a major source for gamers

 

[jomardi]

Will Elite Dangerous Launch on Steam?

no answer yet ?
if yes, will be able activate from frontier account to STEAM ?
Thanks advanced.
sorry for my bad english.

 

[Seonid]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-09-26-elite-dangerous-the-david-braben-interview

Will you launch the game on Steam?

David Braben: No. We've got to support the game with our own back end anyway, so I don't see the benefit of it.

Well, I would suggest the benefit is 100m users, which is a huge potential audience.

David Braben: Yes, that's true. It's something we would look at, but it would have to then interface with what we're doing, and the two would potentially conflict. We have to provide the back end.

 

[Windscreen Smudge]

Steam has its ups and downs, but in the case of ED I think it would be a Big Mistake©.

For a very simple reason: when launching an online game you don't want too much success on day one. If all of a sudden 2 million people buy Ed on day one... nobody will be able to play as servers can't cope. I'm pretty sure Frontier don't want that.

Making money is never a mistake. Server space is cheap as long as you don't need proprietary hardware if you're successful, and day one connection problems are the standard for online games and have been for almost 2 decades. As long as solo play and private play remain manageable people will whine and get over it by the next week. In the meantime Elite: Dangerous made a tidy profit and Dave can get back to work on the expansions for us while the nerds in the basement buy the new servers they've always wanted to get off of the rentals.

Everyone wins.

Bottom line: It's never a bad thing for a quality game with a small marketing budget to get free exposure. It is always a bad thing for bowel-watering filth with 10's of millions spent on marketing to remain dominant on Steams top 10 list, because it sets a precedent that corporations will continue to try to copy for the sake of profit.

 

[SKaREO]

Of course this game will be on Steam. How else will they find 50+ million customers to market the game to? Not putting it on Steam would frankly be suicidal from a business perspective.

 

[knowles2]

Making money is never a mistake. Server space is cheap as long as you don't need proprietary hardware if you're successful, and day one connection problems are the standard for online games and have been for almost 2 decades. As long as solo play and private play remain manageable people will whine and get over it by the next week. In the meantime Elite: Dangerous made a tidy profit and Dave can get back to work on the expansions for us while the nerds in the basement buy the new servers they've always wanted to get off of the rentals.

Everyone wins.

Bottom line: It's never a bad thing for a quality game with a small marketing budget to get free exposure. It is always a bad thing for bowel-watering filth with 10's of millions spent on marketing to remain dominant on Steams top 10 list, because it sets a precedent that corporations will continue to try to copy for the sake of profit.

Elite Dangerous will have no problem with exposure, I expect this game when it is release will get articles in a lot mainstream press in the UK. How many games get on BBC news just because they are attending a gaming conference in London, not many at all. Exposure won't be Frontier problem.

 

[TerranAmbassador]

Of course this game will be on Steam. How else will they find 50+ million customers to market the game to? Not putting it on Steam would frankly be suicidal from a business perspective.

It would seem that Mr.Braben is indeed "suicidal", then:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-09-26-elite-dangerous-the-david-braben-interview

From the VEEERRRRYYYYY tail-end of the above:

Will you launch the game on Steam?

David Braben: No. We've got to support the game with our own back end anyway, so I don't see the benefit of it.

Well, I would suggest the benefit is 100m users, which is a huge potential audience.

David Braben: Yes, that's true. It's something we would look at, but it would have to then interface with what we're doing, and the two would potentially conflict. We have to provide the back end.

 

[Donik]

It would seem that Mr.Braben is indeed "suicidal", then:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-09-26-elite-dangerous-the-david-braben-interview

From the VEEERRRRYYYYY tail-end of the above:

Not that I'm intending to disrespect Frontier or Mr Braben in any way, but quite frankly it sounds like he's not even thought it out. Provide your own back end, that's fine. Many a game does that already and are still on steam as well as off steam for "those people". I don't see how this is an issue. Planetside 2, War Thunder, and EVE all provide their own backends. I'm sure there's more than that that do it, as well.

Steam launches the launcher, which updates and launches your game as usual.

 

[DieScream]

I'm annoyed when I have to open a game without steam. I like my right click the steam icon->game thing. I like having my stats, friends, achievements, cards, hours played, everything in one place.

I really like steam, no complaints, been happy with it since 2004 I believe. I was really hoping Elite would release there.

I'm sure it depends on a cost analysis and sales numbers while they self publish, low sales than needed may prompt a second look at Steam, the competition coming can always throw things into the air as a variable too.

Edit: I also LOVE steam workshop and the ease of using mods (click subscribe and forget it).

 

[Renideo]

I'm not a fan of steam or its effective monopoly, though it is inarguably ubiquitous and effective as a means to selling a game and distributing it, and I like most people use it.

But my feelings about it have nothing to do with the decision being made by FD as to whether or not it is in their best interests to use it. They have to consider the costs of using steam as well as the benefits, and decide for themselves whether it is worthwhile for them, and whether they might want to do it down the line but not at release. It can be considered a secondary market after their fixed release, as well as simply a go-to thing.

 

[flint read]

I hope not.

Now i have said that let me explain why.

I use steam all the time and have friends who sell their games and products through steam, however steam will take at least 30% of the revenue and that's less money to go back into developing Elite.

Aafter Elite is fully finished including all DLC that is planed then maybe a better time to go over to steam as they will need less for development and the constant increase in revenue the launch would bring could help continued minor development and ongoing DLC programs.

In short NO but YEAH but NO but YEAH (it's all in the timing would be my guess)

 

[Aussiedroid]

It would seem that Mr.Braben is indeed "suicidal", then:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-09-26-elite-dangerous-the-david-braben-interview

From the VEEERRRRYYYYY tail-end of the above:

Damn shame this. At least we finally have an answer.

Has anyone used Elite Dangerous through Steam via external game? I've always had issues with games with launchers registering properly so my friends could see what I am playing. Likewise the overlay can be hit and miss on external titles.

I still hope it reaches Steam one day, but sounds like that will only happen if Frontier need the money.