To the anger of the community, especially their backers, Frontier Developments has dropped offline mode to Elite Dangerous.
The developer’s founder, David Braben, dropped the bombshell in the game’s weekly newsletter. He attempted to upsell the benefits of an always online Elite Dangerous, mainly in delivering the developer’s expanded vision of the game world, and keeping that world constantly updated and curated.
However, this has upset many fans, and they have good reasons for doing so. The game received its funding via Kickstarter in the first place, and many backers paid with the expectation that there would be an offline single player campaign. In fact, the Kickstarter’s own FAQ indicated the possibility of an offline single player campaign, even if it were not as fully featured as the online experience. To this end, many are already asking for refunds.
In a 1,500 comment filled thread, executive producer Michael Brooke defended the decision. He explained that they could not deliver on this offline mode, because it would require them to make a completely separate game world. It ruins the point of the game having a shared universe.
He elaborated further that the world’s data set, processes, etc, sit in online servers. If they did attempt to render the world they made offline, it would compromise their original vision.
In the end, making an online mode would have been tantamount to making two games, which FD does not have the resources for, in spite of their crowdfund’s success. They are still overdelivering with 50 ships available for the game come launch this December 16, and with full Oculus Rift support.
How do you think Frontier Developments should have handled this situation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
