"Free update for existing players" ?

[Conker]

The way that is worded makes it sound like it might not be free for you if you don't already own the game. I wonder if they want to move into the Elite Dangerous model of DLC eventually where the big updates cost money.

"No Man’s Sky Online includes a radical new social and multiplayer experience which empowers players everywhere in the universe to meet and play together. Whilst this brings people together like never before, and has many recognisable online elements, we don’t consider No Man’s Sky to be an MMO – it won’t require a subscription, won’t contain microtransactions, and will be free for all existing players."
https://www.nomanssky.com/2019/03/no-mans-sky-beyond/

I've said before that one of the end goals for Hello Games has to be some kind of monetization, i would be very shocked if they keep doing these free updates indefinitely, especially as they are now talking about `No Man's Sky Online` which sounds like they might make that separate from the single player game like how Rockstar does it with GTA Online and Red Dead Online.

They want to welcome new players into the game and get an online economy going so of course NOW they say it won't have microtransactions, but i can imagine in the future they might offer you the chance to buy the in-game currency for real money like the Rockstar model, if the Online mode gets off the ground and has an active playerbase that is.

I'm not necessarily against paying for future DLC from Hello Games, for me it just depends how they wind up doing it. The Rockstar model is the wrong way to do it, it would make the game even more of a grind than it already is, with the Elite Dangerous model i could live with paying a one time fee for an expansion if it interested me.

[Dirak2012]

They said the same before the NEXT update... I don't think it means anything.

[Conker]

I hope you're right, i just found it odd they made a distinction they didn't have to make by saying "existing" when they could have just said free update and left it at that.

[Sol Inherent]

Maybe it gets released as a standalone

[Tom]

all it means is that you'd have to buy the game if you don't already own it.

[Anga Hakuna]

"Free for existing players" means the same as for NEXT ... if you didn't buy it, you can't download this update [separately] and play the game for free. I'll admit that it's an awkward phrasing.

[Tim]

Some of you are reading way too much into it. The update will be free for current owners of NMS just like NEXT was. Anybody buying a new copy of the game will essentially be paying for the update as it will be included with new copies of the game. That's all it means. It worked the same way with NEXT too. If you buy a new copy of NMS right now NEXT is included with it. But NEXT and the the new update is free to current owners of the game.

[Cpt. Wardova TCNMS Intrepid]

All that means is if you don't have the game already, you will have to buy the "base" game, therefor the "update" is NOT free for new players...because they have to buy the base game just like we all did. And it does let us existing players know that they update is not a paid DLC. The store lays out clearly what the deal is with the game and it's additions. This is just a short way of saying all this. I am just glad to see that they plan on updates like this, for the "forseable future."

[Johnny in the Clouds]

Originally posted by Tom:

all it means is that you'd have to buy the game if you don't already own it.

Exactly. *high five.

[血まみれの ¯\_(シ)_/¯]

Originally posted by Johnny in the Clouds:

Originally posted by Tom:

all it means is that you'd have to buy the game if you don't already own it.

Exactly. *high five.

+1

[Kaitsu]

Yeah...of course it won't be free if you don't own the game. You have to own the game for it to be free. This was the same wording for NEXT. And what they did was release NEXT as a rebranded game to Xbox.

[stvlepore]

The marketing folks just found a way to get the free part plugged.

[Reef]

the free dlc is how they are still able to charge full price for the game. that is essentialy the monetization you are talking about

[Inquisitor Zalinto]

So, does this mean we will have an online mode were saves aren't saved on the local machine and easily exploitable? I wouldn't mind that. Currently, I have no pride in showing off my ships I've found and things...because I could have just cheated them in with a save editor. Kinda HOPE that this is the case :P

[Captain Brendig]

Why make this so complicated? It simply means that existing players won't have to pay for the update. It's so simple.

[morph113]

Originally posted by Inquisitor Zalinto:

So, does this mean we will have an online mode were saves aren't saved on the local machine and easily exploitable? I wouldn't mind that. Currently, I have no pride in showing off my ships I've found and things...because I could have just cheated them in with a save editor. Kinda HOPE that this is the case :P

They haven't said anything about the update yet, so everything you may hear from someone is pure speculation. I assume it uses the same save model as before.