EARNINGS: Frontier Developments turns to loss

[Ricardo]

Worse results, less money for development - I guess we'll wait for the next big patch for beloved Elite Dangerous...

Frontier Developments PLC - Cambridge-based video games developer and publisher - For the financial year that ended May 31, reports pretax loss of £26.5 million, swung from a profit of £944,000 a year prior. Revenue falls to £104.6 million from £114.0 million. Research and development expenses increase 47% to £67.9 million from £46.2 million. Looking ahead, says financial 2024 started solidly, but notes worse than expected sales for Formula 1-focused video game F1 Manager 2023. Frontier expects revenue to grow 3.3% to £108 million in financial 2024, in line with market expectations. Further, it anticipates an adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £9 million, widened by 96% from £4.6 million in financial 2023. ‘The big new game release for [financial] 2024 is still to come, with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin scheduled for release in November 2023. Our marketing campaign for launch kicked off strongly with our presence at Gamescom at the end of August,’ the company says.
https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/market/1694612492813136600/earnings-frontier-developments-turns-to-loss-poolbeg-optimistic

[Jeebs]

DAYLEET の投稿を引用：

Jeebs の投稿を引用：

So basically, you want them to make it into a clone of another game?

Is Elite a clone of every other flight/space sim?

Not really. No other game I can think of in all my years of gaming has ever given me a 1-to-1 scale galaxy, with worlds I can land on and interact with the way that Elite does. The fact that it's a sandbox game where I get to create my own story and choose my own goals has given me thousands of hours of enjoyment where most other games have failed to hold my attention, either because there's nothing else to do once you get through the story or because they were just boring to play.

I actually enjoyed the on-foot stuff quite a bit. I'm not really that interested in the stealth-based stuff, but I definitely enjoy the ground combat zones and the restoration missions. Exobiology has been a good way to break up long exploration trips, and the worlds that came with Odyssey have provided me with some amazing views. I was definitely not disappointed by the space legs stuff in the slightest, not sure where you got that impression.

As for the ship interiors and players are abandoning Elite arguments, we've been over this countless times in these forums already and I have no desire to argue it further. Everything that could be said has already been said.

[Inquisitor Aldnir]

Jeebs の投稿を引用：

DAYLEET の投稿を引用：

Is Elite a clone of every other flight/space sim?

Not really. No other game I can think of in all my years of gaming has ever given me a 1-to-1 scale galaxy, with worlds I can land on and interact with the way that Elite does.

Not much to do on said planets once you are 10000+ LY out lol.

[Macaronis]

Ricardo の投稿を引用：

No, I am not talking Pay to Win, just I would like to have a settlement with my unique name and maybe design, colours.

AMEN... I had spent as much time as working for a PH.D on this very subject. Considering the size of the galaxy and how most just stay in the bubble... I would have LOVED this option. total of 3 possible tiers Mix and Match. Price range from 5 dollars to 60 Dollars and you could only do this once per account totaling the 60 dollar max combo. You would NOT have to spend it all at once. Hence you could just say start off with a System set naming and later on add the rest you wanted.

There were some Prerequisite which I honestly do not have the time to post on but assume for now if I label the three tiers there were requirements a player had to meet.

Not a tier but a single Named Tourist Beacon of your choice somewhere ($5)

#1 Tier - Name given to (2)Undocumented Out of Bubble Systems. $10 dollars. Must be FULLY Scanned and DSS by said person before you can claim the name of the systems.
#2 Tier - Simple station operations (systems you own)... $10 per Asteroid base or $15 Per full station. no more than 1 per system. Station Naming. Standard station outputs nothing fancy
#3 Tier - Planet/moon operations , 10 dollars(per system). limited to 6 habitable planets or moons. per system. Larger based systems just are Neutral planets or Moons beyond the 6 you get

Range $5 Min-$60 Max as long as it follows the prerequisite there are a few between options to get you something. Tier 2 and 3 can be interchangeable. So if you want on 1 Station in one system and a Planet operations in other system that would be available.

You get to name the Leadership group. Once Established ED AI would establish a Rival group. All other interactions normal. There was some other stuff I had considered but just took it too far down the rabbit hole. In all I do not think it was an unreasonable amount for what you could setup. Of course there are other things that could be added in tweaked but this was the baseline that felt reasonable.

[Sighman]

DAYLEET の投稿を引用：

I find it telling that they are losing money when they had zero development for years beside some cosmetic paint and kit.

If your definition of 'years' means three weeks, then your comment is accurate.

[Sighman]

John Wick の投稿を引用：

Jeebs の投稿を引用：

Not really. No other game I can think of in all my years of gaming has ever given me a 1-to-1 scale galaxy, with worlds I can land on and interact with the way that Elite does.

Not much to do on said planets once you are 10000+ LY out lol.

Admire the views?

People spend thousands in real life to get on a plane and go look at a beach or a lake or a mountain. I think they're crazy, but that doesn't mean I don't understand why they enjoy travel.

[Sighman]

Mr Misanthropy の投稿を引用：

Ricardo の投稿を引用：

No, I am not talking Pay to Win, just I would like to have a settlement with my unique name and maybe design, colours.

AMEN... I had spent as much time as working for a PH.D on this very subject. Considering the size of the galaxy and how most just stay in the bubble... I would have LOVED this option. total of 3 possible tiers Mix and Match. Price range from 5 dollars to 60 Dollars and you could only do this once per account totaling the 60 dollar max combo. You would NOT have to spend it all at once. Hence you could just say start off with a System set naming and later on add the rest you wanted.

Interesting fact: to get a station or planet named after you, all you have to do is become a moderately famous science fiction writer or scientist. The game has literally thousands of them.

(I have three planets named after me in-game)

Some well-known ED streamers have stations named after them. E.g. Obsidian Ant has a station, and they recorded his voice for the flight control announcements.

Paying for the same kind of deal would be like buying an olympic medal, wouldn't you agree?

[funkynutz]

DAYLEET の投稿を引用：

Is Elite a clone of every other flight/space sim?

You've got it the wrong way around. Elite is the OG. All the others are the imitations.

[Sighman]

https://www.ign.com/articles/how-elite-influenced-starfield-and-40-years-of-space-games

[Jeebs]

^ That was a good read, Sighman. Cheers.

[Sighman]

Jeebs の投稿を引用：

^ That was a good read, Sighman. Cheers.

There's a documentary on Youtube about the making of OG Elite and the struggles they had finding a publisher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpWoF5uVgbA

[Jeebs]

Nice. I can just imagine. They were trying to make that game with only 32 KB of space to work with. I think what they accomplished is amazing. Granted, I never got to play the original Elite, being from a small town with no real game stores, so maybe what I've seen of it wasn't the first version and they had a bit more space to work with by then.

I do remember sinking countless hours into Starflight back in the day though. That game was undoubtedly inspired by Elite. I remember thinking the in-game galaxy was huge at the time (270 solar systems), and for the 1980's it really was huge. Until E:D came out, I can't really think of any other game offhand that had as big of a galaxy that you could freely explore.

[herrschaftg35]

Sighman の投稿を引用：

.....When you find an unexplored planet in Elite and it has bark mounds or brain trees, along with an amazing coloured sky, you stop to enjoy the view and take screenshots because it's *rare*.....

LOL...What???

Since when did the planets in ED have thousands of unique differences???

[Sighman]

herrschaftg35 の投稿を引用：

Sighman の投稿を引用：

.....When you find an unexplored planet in Elite and it has bark mounds or brain trees, along with an amazing coloured sky, you stop to enjoy the view and take screenshots because it's *rare*.....

LOL...What???

Since when did the planets in ED have thousands of unique differences???

How many have you landed on? Your first footfalls in the Codex will tell you.

Or just browse this thread:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/359320/discussions/0/3111403360721868640/

[Steve]

I'm a long time Elite fan (bought it in 1984 and loved it instantly) I've loved Elite, Frontier and FFE and was SUPER excited for ED and I dropped a ton of money in the 2012 ED kickstarter to get alpha access and a lifetime expansion pass, but that said.

I look forward to the day when ED dies off, it stopped feeling like an 'Elite' game years ago and so many of the ks and DDF promises were tossed into the wind as Braben dumbed down the game in an attempt to appeal to the masses rather than Elite fans.

I'll always have very very fond memories of Elite, Frontier and FFE but ED needs to be put out of its misery for good.

[funkynutz]

Steve の投稿を引用：

I'm a long time Elite fan (bought it in 1984 and loved it instantly) I've loved Elite, Frontier and FFE and was SUPER excited for ED and I dropped a ton of money in the 2012 ED kickstarter to get alpha access and a lifetime expansion pass, but that said.

I look forward to the day when ED dies off, it stopped feeling like an 'Elite' game years ago and so many of the ks and DDF promises were tossed into the wind as Braben dumbed down the game in an attempt to appeal to the masses rather than Elite fans.

I'll always have very very fond memories of Elite, Frontier and FFE but ED needs to be put out of its misery for good.

If that's genuinely how you feel, stop playing it, and stop frequenting conversations about it. You won't be missed.