Despite controversy over the dumping of the game’s offline mode — and the refunds that followed the decision — Elite: Dangerous, from the David Braben-led Frontier Developments, has done rather well on the revenue front and expects to do even better over the course of 2015, with sales continuing unabated and a Mac version in the works.
An announcement last week from the company outlines the success it’s enjoyed from the mostly trouble-free launch of Elite, with £14.1 million ($26.1 million) in cash from 300,000 units. Frontier actually had a couple of possible scenarios set out for sales, though it looks like they’re going to need to be revised:
Since late 2013 the Group has been using three scenarios to model performance of the game, created based on the growth of other non-subscription online games in their first three years, a “base” scenario, a “mid” scenario, and a “bull” scenario … In terms of revenue Elite: Dangerous is tracking above the “bull” scenario; and on units sold, between the “mid” and “bull” scenarios.
Here’s a snap of the chart:
The article also mentions “new platforms”, which suggests that OS X won’t be the last port-of-call for the game. Linux is the most likely destination after Apple’s operating system, though consoles are hardly out of the question.
A comment from Braben concludes the report, with the chief executive confident of the game’s future:
“In December the team did a great job in delivering the full public release of Elite: Dangerous and its supporting technology as planned, driving our transition to the next stage. We, as a Board, are hopeful that sales will continue to track well, leading to revenues doubling to approximately £19 million [$35.2 million] by the end of the current financial year.”
Frontier Dev PLC (FDEV) [FE Investigate, via IncGamers]
Comments
11 responses to “Revenue From Elite: Dangerous Exceeds Developer’s Best Case Scenario”
I’m tempted to buy this. But it seems as though the kind of game I really should buy a decent joystick for.
its playable with keyboard + mouse, but much more enjoyable with a joystick
kogan have a logitech joystick for $42, works well
I’m finding it hard to get use to the controls – but I’m going through and adjusting them. I think the mouse is good for fine aiming, but using a controller feels more comfortable. My biggest issue is that I’ve played too many FPS and arcade shooters that I want my shit to move like that. but it’s slowed down by the use of vertical and horizontal thrusters to move the ship around, and it can get a little tricky – but I think with a few tweaks I can make it work.
@loganbooker I think your first line should be dumped OFFLINE mode.
I have to admit, that opening line was immersion killing.
Quite right, I’ve sorted it out!
Cool, now put it on steam.
+1 for that
If they hit up Linux, I’ll throw in for a copy. Always a sucker for a pretty space sim.
Elite is terrible., pretty sure 80% regret buying it for false advertising of offline mode, fake footage trailers and lots of empty promises they are yet to deliver. Besides it´s a boring credits grind with zero variety, absolutely dull! What a joke!
It had better keep making a ton of money, because if it doesn’t, the servers get switched off, and when that happens, there is no game anymore…
I played some of the beta, and played it since release, I feeling a bit bored with the game now. Hoping this extra revenue will push forward some of the planned DLC like planet landings, and walking around your ship/station.
You aren’t the only one – theres a lot of talk about how this is pretty much an empty game – pretty but devoid of any real content