How much has changed since ending console support?

[radar2670]

I stopped playing ED when Frontier stopped doing updates for the XBox. I was very angry when they announced that. Two days ago I finally join the PCMR again. I was curious as to what has changed. How's the games health? Solid player base? Any major new features or changes since then? I would love to jump back into the black. Take care commanders O7

[Jeebs]

引用自 Sighman：

I don't know what proportion of playstations are PS5s now, but unless it's over 70% why would FDev release a copy of the game targeting that system?

Honestly, it always seemed like a bad move to me to take a game that was made for PC and port it to consoles. You can port console games to the PC somewhat reliably, but I can't think of any PC game that was ported to console that didn't either have a lot of issues, or lack some functionality because a game-pad has a limited number of buttons/combinations.

It's easier to just focus on the one system, from a development point of view. All of the staff that they would have to assign to making sure the game works on each of those systems can be assigned elsewhere. Alternatively, they can take the wages they would have spent on hiring staff for that task and spend it elsewhere. Preferably on Elite's development.

[Alrik]

引用自 Sighman：

引用自 Alrik：

IMHO the PS5 and X Box X are powerfull enough to run Odyssey, and it was a stupid decission to not port Odyssey to those consoles.

Since you appear to have forgotten, let me remind you that for the first year after Ody launched those consoles were as rare as Pharma Isolators, and were selling for eye-watering prices.

So what?
Even without a cristal globe it was clear that the price for the new consoles will drop over time. Publishing a live service game isn't a short distance run.
Some competing space games won't come to consoles, and with one big space game becoming X-Box exclusive it was just stupid to ignore the long term chances - especially with Elite Dangerous already established on PS4 and X-Box One.

Fun fact: while Frontier didn't port Elite Dangerous Odyssey to PS5 and X Box X they ported "Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realm of Ruin" to those consoles. And that game even flopped on PC, because Age of Sigmar is the Games Workshop IP with the fewest fans (and most haters).

[Tervuren]

The decision to not port was by Xbox and Play Station.

Oddy didn't pass Quality Checks that the platforms put games through.

It wasn't so much a stupid decision to not port but rather over-estimating capability in turning out a simultaneous jump to a new gfx and adding new content at the same time.

It is significantly harder to do both at once rather than one or the other.

引用自 Alrik：

引用自 radar2670：

IMHO the PS5 and X Box X are powerfull enough to run Odyssey, and it was a stupid decission to not port Odyssey to those consoles.

[funkynutz]

引用自 Jeebs：

引用自 Sighman：

I don't know what proportion of playstations are PS5s now, but unless it's over 70% why would FDev release a copy of the game targeting that system?

Honestly, it always seemed like a bad move to me to take a game that was made for PC and port it to consoles. You can port console games to the PC somewhat reliably, but I can't think of any PC game that was ported to console that didn't either have a lot of issues, or lack some functionality because a game-pad has a limited number of buttons/combinations.

It's not a bad move. I miss the old days when that was how it was done. PCs were the dominant platform and games were ported to consoles instead of the way it is now. The games were genuinely better for it.

Developing for console frequently dumbs down the game being developed...

Just look at what happened to Deus Ex. First game, PC, masterpiece, ground breaking for the time. Second game, xbox, generic rubbish by PC standards back then, turned JC Denton into a meme before memes were even a thing; people have made mods that are bigger/better (and believe it or not, I actually liked it; I didn't have a PC at the time and hadn't played the first game... It was good compared to many other console games at the time... Once I played the first game... Hoo boy... The second one is a bad joke).

Then there's Rainbow Six... I still play Raven Shield sometimes... It's still the best entry in the franchise (admittedly I'd like the mobility/graphics of Siege). These days they can't even be bothered to make a proper campaign mode.

Crimson Skies, PC, a decent arcadey flight combat game well liked by many. Crimson Skies High Road to Revenge, Xbox, Meh...

Unreal Tournament. Quake. PC games that were ported to console... (I can't actually fault their console ports, they were good) And probably about 5000 others I've forgotten lol.

[Ranked Fap Hero]

引用自 DYSEQTA：

They anounced a major overhaul of Power Play and four new ships (variants of existing ones). Then blew all the good will that generated out the window by introducing buying ships for cash, a la Star Citizen, including locking the newly announced ships behind 3 month "early access" pay walls and increased ARX store prices for cosmetics from ~100 - 300% including for remaining console users.

Oh and there are some big Thargoid ships you can help blow up.

Did I miss anything?

If i can buy max engineered parts im probably going to sit in pvp and never play the parts of the game i didnt want to play

unless its too expensive, but that depends on the person i guess

[Tervuren]

If you like shooting players the fun thing about the RMT engineered stuff is no rebuy costs for when players or stations or other defenses are successful about shooting back. It will be interesting when the right people use this.

[Jeebs]

引用自 funkynutz：

It's not a bad move. I miss the old days when that was how it was done. PCs were the dominant platform and games were ported to consoles instead of the way it is now. The games were genuinely better for it.

Developing for console frequently dumbs down the game being developed...

Unreal Tournament. Quake. PC games that were ported to console... (I can't actually fault their console ports, they were good) And probably about 5000 others I've forgotten lol.

That's pretty much right at the start of consoles being able to run PC games in any way though. I feel like those games came out a bit before those consoles (I could be wrong, it was a long time ago) so it was probably less of an issue at the time.

It seems like once the Xbox and PS2 came along, a lot of games were designed with those consoles in mind first, even if they were released for the PC at the same time. They were made to work on the console, and if you played the PC version you usually got better graphics but little else (except maybe more regular updates back then).

I don't disagree with your assertion that doing it this way dumbs down the game in some ways. At least, insofar that it restricts what you can do somewhat. That's what I meant when I said I find it a bad idea to make a console port for a game that was never designed with that console in mind. At least, not until after the vanilla version had already launched. Correct me if I'm wrong there, mind you, but I don't remember Elite being available on consoles until Horizons launched.

EDIT: It's also likely simpler to port a PC game to a console if you're using an engine like Unity or Unreal instead of your own proprietary engine which may or may not play well with a console's OS. More incentive for console manufacturers to make sure that their stuff runs those, since so many games are being made on them. If it's your engine, then likely it's your problem to fix.

[Alrik]

引用自 Jeebs：

引用自 funkynutz：

It's not a bad move. I miss the old days when that was how it was done. PCs were the dominant platform and games were ported to consoles instead of the way it is now. The games were genuinely better for it.

Developing for console frequently dumbs down the game being developed...

Unreal Tournament. Quake. PC games that were ported to console... (I can't actually fault their console ports, they were good) And probably about 5000 others I've forgotten lol.

That's pretty much right at the start of consoles being able to run PC games in any way though. I feel like those games came out a bit before those consoles (I could be wrong, it was a long time ago) so it was probably less of an issue at the time.

It seems like once the Xbox and PS2 came along, a lot of games were designed with those consoles in mind first, even if they were released for the PC at the same time. They were made to work on the console, and if you played the PC version you usually got better graphics but little else (except maybe more regular updates back then).
...

EDIT: It's also likely simpler to port a PC game to a console if you're using an engine like Unity or Unreal instead of your own proprietary engine which may or may not play well with a console's OS. More incentive for console manufacturers to make sure that their stuff runs those, since so many games are being made on them. If it's your engine, then likely it's your problem to fix.

Elite Dangerous was designed for consoles.
The ingame GUI works perfect with a controller (or a joystick ♥♥♥♥♥♥ hat), old space sims for PC used 208 keys on a 104 key keyboard.

Frontier was also one of the first studios working on the X Box 360 and created games that were published by Microsoft.
Frontiers Cobra Engine was build for PC and Consoles.
Since X-Box One and PS4 the hardware isn't that different anymore between consoles and PC: x86 compatible CPU and Direct X or open GL compatible GPU, both from AMD using the same tech as for the PC.

The only benefit of using a licensed engine is the aviability of artist and coders familiar with the engine.
But that realy applies only to the Unreal Engine, other Engines like CryEngine or ID tech are less common used and it's harder to get experts for them.
Using own engines has some benefits, like having access to the source code without paying extra license fees.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

引用自 Alrik：

Elite Dangerous was designed for consoles.

No, it was designed for Windows, and it was out for Windows in December 2014, followed by Mac release in May 2015. For Xbox it was out almost a year later, in October 2015. And even later for PS.

FDevs said on the Kickstarter that they will also develop for Mac if they reach a stretch goal of £1.4 million. And only later they will consider developing for other platforms:

"Another avenue we intend to explore is other platforms, but for now the focus is very much on the Windows PC release. Only once the initial game is done will we start to look at other platforms."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous

[Alrik]

引用自 Dolphin Bottlenose：

引用自 Alrik：

Elite Dangerous was designed for consoles.

No, it was designed for Windows, and it was out for Windows in December 2014, followed by Mac release in May 2015. For Xbox it was out almost a year later, in October 2015. And even later for PS.

Yeah right, only one year for a Mac and X-Box port, that's totally not a sign that Frontier planned from the beginning to bring Elite Dangerous to all plattforms and designed the Cobra Engine for that...
Also the game worked perfectly with a console controller from the start, totally not a sign that it was designed for that.
All that just lucky coincidents?
IMHO designing Elite Dangerous that way and going to the X-Box asap was one of the few good choices Frontier did.

The delay of the PS4 port was allegendly due a deal with Microsoft to make Elite Dangerous exclusive to the X-Box for a certain time period.
It was a bad decission, because the hype was gone and Frontier have had to bundle Horizons for free with the PS4 release.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

引用自 Alrik：

Yeah right, only one year for a Mac and X-Box port, that's totally not a sign that Frontier planned from the beginning to bring Elite Dangerous to all plattforms and designed the Cobra Engine for that...

They, themselves, say that other platforms were looked at after the initial game was done. Not even developed for - only looked at.

Also the game worked perfectly with a console controller from the start, totally not a sign that it was designed for that.

Supporting a controller is not the same as supporting a whole platform. A lot of PC games work with all kinds of controllers. It doesn't mean that they also work on those platforms, or even were designed to work with those platforms in mind.