I obviously don’t have a deep insight into FDev’s finances. But they have pretty openly said that Elite is a foundation of the company.
And yet, they have done everything they can to kill that. Cutting back on social media spending to more or less make every single Influencer say the game is dying. Turn updates into a trickle of “You know that thing that was added two years ago? They finally added enemy NPCs around it”. And even actively screw over the people who were dumb enough to buy the ten year pass by not even providing steam keys for the pre-ordered expansion (currently on two of ten or so?) to let people take advantage of Valve’s CDN.
It is genuinely baffling. Other devs are, if anything, focusing too much on keeping the bread and butter live game “live”. Whereas FDev seem to have decided that they can do whatever to E:D and the money will keep flowing… which might be true but…
Also, should be obvious but: Lapsed E:D fan who bought the lifetime pass like an idiot.
Just to elaborate on the community streams more. Most live games have their community managers (sometimes devs) do a weekly or monthly stream where they play the game, talk about what is coming, interact with the playerbase, etc. They are almost all puff pieces, but whatever. FDev reduced the frequency of those (I forget if by half or straight to quarterly) which was IMMEDIATELY fuel for “Frontier is sunsetting Elite”. And it isn’t like they fired the community managers. They just… do less streams.
Decrease grinds. I want to play the fucken game not do chores. I drop games nowadays as soon as I have to grind. Grinds aren’t fun, they are methods of artificially increasing playtime and engagement. That doesn’t mean hand everything out, it means make the things you do for stuff varied. I didn’t think this would be so hard but over the last 20 years grinds have gotten worse not better. We should be doing away with them in favor of engaging mechanics. Instead everything is more or less the same game with different flavor texts and models. But they all have grinds.
A grind is a lapse in content. A grind is a hamster wheel in place of interesting mechanics. To grind is to toil, all in the name of throwing it away next season to start it again. If I’m purchasing entertainment, I expect to be entertained and not simply convinced I am entertained. It is not a problem that it is possible to do in a game, that much is fine if you wish. It is a problem when the developers expect you to grind hours to achieve something. It equates to nothing but a long days work at the long day factory.
Example: AC6: Fires of Rubicon allows you to purchase mech pieces in a shop for credits. These credits are handed out at mission end. You can grind “The Wall” mission in under a minute to recieve a hefty sum. Or you can just play through the story again. Thats fine within the context of the game and I can choose to grind if I want.
Diablo on the other hand expects us to literally restart every 3-4 months and do everything all over again (except the campaign itself). Which in itself is alright cause the “Immortal Realm” exists. But that effectively turns each season into a massive grind. So if you want to participate, you have no choice but to grind. Its just a little upsetting I bought a grinder and not a game.
Yeah I played for 2 hours this season, saw that I have to unlock every waypoint and do a lot of the side quests and fortresses and whatnot. On top of having to get back to certain levels so I could actually start playing the game on T3… I kinda just noped outta there
Wait, so let me get this straight… this AAA studio, which is a subsidiary of Tencent, which sells microtransactions for sometimes up to nearly $100, and which has incorporated gambling elements and predatory design in their games for years, has now allowed sponsorships with gambling companies in their esports scene? Color me surprised!
Oh, but it’s really for the benefit of the community and players, since it would happen anyways. And It’s certainly not primarily motivated by the huge profits it could rake in. Right. How noble of them.
I’m sure they have a history of treating their players and employees very well, too.
Just think of all the incredible engagement players will feel as they gamble their latest limited edition skin away which they bought with their mom’s credit card or their first independent wages.
But hey, at least the slot machine has all your favorite characters and also streamers who have sold their soul. Market research shows that people with dysfunctional impulse control are much more easily exploited that way.
What a typo. But they’ll change their tune as soon as one line crosses another line. I’m willing to pay $70 or $80 for the right game, but my willingness to part with that much money drops precipitously as soon as you make me wade through spoiler-filled GOTY season without having access to the game. When you port the game to PC a year late, I’m probably content to keep waiting for half price.
This is my own approach, to a T. If you make me wait, I’ve lost interest. There are so many amazing games out there, many from more deserving indie studios, that the competition for my attention and money is fierce. This goes for delayed releases and releases that launch with malware like Denuvo. It’s very unlikely that I will ever touch either, even at a steep discount.
Did you have an SSD? Was the game and DLC installed on said SSD? Do you have one now if you didn’t before? This may be the difference between 2 hours and only 1.
FROM’s and Elden Ring’s good names will be forever tarnished with this bullshit. Even if, and it’s a big if, this turns out to be a decent port it still feels really, really gross. This is really disappointing.
This is quite the in-depth article on the topic, I might have to read through it a few times to digest it all.
One thing I was going to point out was I definitely see benefit to working on software changes where possible to save the cost of needing specialized equipment. The article does cover this
Holden cites Sea of Thieves’ addition of 'single stick' controls, where any swashbuckling and/or plundering can be performed using a single thumbstick
I was going to mention PSO2: NGS which has a single button to cast any spells based on what might be best for that situation (maybe one of the few things I liked about that game...). Definitely would like to see more of that. I also play FF14 and read a theory that the devs there consider button bloat a game feature, so whenever they simplify one skill (by making it a single button) they have to split another skill by making it multiple instead, which I find really unfortunate, I have a disabled friend who has trouble playing much due to the mass amount of skills.
And yea, definitely a good idea to donate to charity. SpecialEffect is listed which has been in the Yogscast Jingle Jam charity event at the end of the year. Assuming they have one this year and are taking part, might be a good idea to send some money their way or to other relevant charities for people who can do so
Holy monopoly if that happened. Also imagine the damage to Japanese culture if one of their treasured companies was owned by a company in another country.
There are probably better owners than Pearl Abyss, so in a sense that could be a reason for hope. Though I don’t know how much of a hand they have had with all the crap CCP have failed with over the years. Peak EVE was so amazing, but I honestly have no real idea how or if it’s possible to get back to that.
Yeah it’s convenient to blame Pearl Abyss for everything wrong with EVE, but truthfully CCP were making moves of dubious quality way before they got bought up by them.
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