Home Gaming Elite Dangerous breaks promise, drops offline mode

Elite Dangerous breaks promise, drops offline mode

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Elite Dangerous

Last week the crowdfunded space simulator, Elite Dangerous, finally got a release date. The incredibly detailed space title was meant to be able to be played alone in an offline state, but just weeks before its maiden voyage the developers have yanked this feature out entirely.

Elite Dangerous will no longer be able to be played without a constant internet connection. David Braben, the CEO of Frontier Developments, says that the decision was made to break this promise at the last minute because of how it impacted the feel of the game’s world.

“A fully offline experience would be unacceptably limited and static compared to the dynamic, ever unfolding experience we are delivering,”

Being able to play Elite Dangerous offline was a feature promised all the way back in the title’s Kickstarter infancy. Backers are not happy, and have already voiced their anger over the last-minute decision on the game’s forums. In response to this, Braben explains that some of the game’s most complex calculation actually take place on their servers. The magic of the cloud?

“The data set and processes are huge and not something that would translate offline without considerable compromise to the vision,”

Elite Dangerous will still feature a single-player mode, but you’ll still need to be connected to play. The reasoning makes sense, but that doesn’t change the fact that Frontier essentially lied to its fans all this time. I highly doubt they only managed to figure out these limitations weeks before launch.

Elite Dangerous is out on December 16th for PC. Does this latest, last minute requirement steer you away?

Last Updated: November 17, 2014

67 Comments

  1. Single player that you will have to still be connected to play. Hmmm I smell a Sim City ripoff here. Guess EA rubbed off on these poor blokes.

    Reply

  2. RinceThis

    November 17, 2014 at 09:05

    Eish. If I put money down for this I’d be rather pissed off…

    Reply

    • Spaffy

      November 17, 2014 at 09:10

      Hell, I didn’t put money down but I’m pissed off.

      What are we on about again?

      Reply

    • RustedFaith

      November 17, 2014 at 10:02

      Yeh I am also quite pissed of. To be honest I never would have played online but it was part of one of the core features and allot of players was looking forward to it.

      Looks like they cashed in on the Star Citizen hype quite successfully. Its still a good game but this stinks like corporate greed again.

      Reply

  3. Captain JJ the valiant

    November 17, 2014 at 09:08

    Always an excuse.
    The way I feel: break a promise and you’re going to lose a LOT of sales.
    DRM is kak.

    Reply

  4. Alien Emperor Trevor

    November 17, 2014 at 09:08

    It steers me away now. I had a long look at it when the Kickstarter campaign was going, thank me I never backed it. And the whole oh we only figured it out now BS? HAHAHAHA! Pull the other one. Backers must be pissed, and they’ve got every right. Offline is a pretty major feature to yank at the last second.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ the valiant

      November 17, 2014 at 09:10

      If I were a backer I’d lose my sh&^. I predict a big uproar from the backers and then the typical announcement of: “Turns out we can simply make it offline.”

      Reply

      • ToshZA

        November 17, 2014 at 09:11

        But online is the future man! I’m telling you. Yes, nobody wants it, but it’s the future. Now go on and believe me. You want to, you know you do!

        Reply

        • Captain JJ the valiant

          November 17, 2014 at 09:14

          I do?
          I didn’t even know that I wanted DRM! Wow, the companies know its customers better than the customers know themselves!

          Reply

          • ToshZA

            November 17, 2014 at 09:15

            I know right. We’re all hopeless, clueless infidels in need of the divine guidance that is DRM and always online. Praise to the holy Cloud.

    • RinceThis

      November 17, 2014 at 09:13

      Imagine releasing a console that had this ‘always online’ needed Suicide… 0_O

      Reply

      • Spaffy

        November 17, 2014 at 09:13

        The horror o_0

        Reply

      • HairyEwok

        November 17, 2014 at 09:14

        Hold up that was Xbones idea in the start wasn’t it? They matrix that bullet somehow.

        Reply

      • Captain JJ the valiant

        November 17, 2014 at 09:15

        No one would be that stupid.

        Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        November 17, 2014 at 09:15

        Haha, oh you!

        Reply

      • tom_m

        November 23, 2014 at 02:11

        I don’t know, Destiny did quite well.

        Reply

  5. Rags

    November 17, 2014 at 09:20

    Well, many of the Elite backers say it was never really said that it will be offline, apart from one line a while ago in response to some question.
    The game looks boring to me, and trying to stay true to a 1980 design is just foolish.

    Reply

    • Reid

      November 17, 2014 at 09:29

      They didn’t say “We promise”, but they did mention offline.
      https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/2mbjc1/elite_dangerous_promises_offline_mode_in/cm38thh
      “Update! The above is the intended single player experience. However it will be possible to have a single player game without connecting to the galaxy server. You won’t get the features of the evolving galaxy (although we will investigate minimising those differences) and you probably won’t be able to sync between server and non-server (again we’ll investigate).”

      “You can play offline without server connections and we will make sure you can play the game if we ever shut the servers down.”

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        November 17, 2014 at 09:33

        That’s on their Kickstarter page under the FAQs at the bottom. I was just looking at it to see if they’d actually mentioned offline play. Updated 11 Dec 2012 too.

        Reply

      • Rags

        November 17, 2014 at 09:55

        “However it will be possible to have a single player game without connecting to the galaxy server.” That does not imply that it is offline.

        Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      November 17, 2014 at 09:35

      That’s the problem I have with all procedural based games. After a little while I’ve seen everything, then they become dull.

      Reply

      • konfab aka derp

        November 17, 2014 at 11:32

        So Diablo 2 was dull?

        As well as minecraft?

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          November 17, 2014 at 11:39

          To me, yes.

          Reply

          • konfab aka derp

            November 17, 2014 at 11:42

            Have you added computer terminals to your fortress in Minecraft?

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 17, 2014 at 11:48

            Do you think you’re going to somehow convince me I don’t find procedural games dull after a while? Because I’m fairly sure that won’t happen, seeing it’s how I feel.

          • konfab aka derp

            November 17, 2014 at 11:57

            Let
            x= current argument
            f( . ) = apply logic

            Iterate though this procedure till agreement:
            x=f(x)


            I rest my case

            Since all procedurally generated games are dull, games with procedurally generated content must also be dull. So Left4Dead 2 must be really dull to you right?

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            November 17, 2014 at 12:12

            “after a while”… I’ve said it twice.

          • konfab aka derp

            November 17, 2014 at 12:13

            I give up…

          • Alex

            December 18, 2014 at 07:23

            Are you stupid or something?

          • jseph1234

            October 15, 2015 at 04:14

            @Alex No he isn’t. Are YOU stupid?? (Answer YES!)

          • Alexander Federowicz

            January 25, 2015 at 23:00

            Logical fallacy detected, Danger Will Robinson. Band wagon use of logical subsets as argument for (T) being the outcome… OOPS !

          • Alexander Federowicz

            January 25, 2015 at 23:04

            But you are correct that familiarity generally in the end breeds contempt, unless an infinite series of truly new and interesting experiences can be generated, but that would probably require true AGI on a chip, and then the XENON kill you all LOL 🙂
            .

    • Alessandro Barbosa

      November 17, 2014 at 09:35

      Basically what Reid and Trevor have sad below. As part of their original Kickstarter pitch, Frontier promised that the game would still function offline. The Kickstarter which eventually funded the game’s development.

      https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous#project_faq_43734

      Reply

    • Axon1988

      November 17, 2014 at 11:57

      You should see some of the youtube videos on this game. It’s not boring. The sound design is amazing and there are some seriously interesting features in the game. Such as fuel scooping, which can be really intense.

      Reply

      • Rags

        November 17, 2014 at 12:52

        I’ve watched a lot of vids. But I just can’t get myself to like it. It feels too robotic. Like all NPC’s are just ships, its though there is no life in the universe. And the new interdiction mini game looks like it will become very annoying. I’ll probably buy the game anyway, but the planned expansions will make it more complete.

        Reply

  6. OV..v00.2 20gig patch required

    November 17, 2014 at 09:42

    Patch required for on-line SP.

    Reply

  7. BacchusZA

    November 17, 2014 at 09:51

    I did put money into this. A lot of money, going on about a grand now I think.

    And the whole offline being yanked at the last second is completely a none issue for me. It’s unfortunate, and I can well sympathise with people who, for whatever reason, don’t want to play the online version. They certainly have cause for complaint, and Braben & Co dropped the ball in spectacular fashion in how and when this was communicated to backers.

    But it really doesn’t bother me in the slightest, & I’m looking forward to enjoying many hours of fun in Elite: Dangerous 🙂

    Reply

    • Jean-Pierre Jp Matthee

      November 17, 2014 at 10:02

      I just hope the servers can handle it and not like in all the YouTube videos i have watched where people play the BETA offline because of online problems and stuff. Still looking forward to this game, already seeing myself playing this game too much :D.

      Also planning on getting a joystick for the game, any ideas? (all i can find on takeAlot and kalahari is the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick)

      Reply

      • Rags

        November 17, 2014 at 10:08

        People seem to rave about that joystick, I am planning to get one for myself too.

        Reply

        • BacchusZA

          November 17, 2014 at 10:17

          Heh I went large last year & bought a Thrustmaster Warthog, mostly for DCS, but it works fantastically in E: D too.

          In somehwat more sensible territory money wise, the Saitek X-52 & X-52 Pro are both pretty decent, if you can get your hands on one. The X-55 that replaces them is supposed to be decent too, but I’ve heard not so flattering things about the build quality. The very budget friendly Thrustmaster T-Flight HOTAS is also worth a look, and as a bonus it works with your PS3 too.

          The Logitech you mention is apparently also good stick though, as is the Thrustmaster T1600, & they won’t break the bank. You can always upgrade to something bigger later if you find it doesn’t suit, but you really shouldn’t have any problems. You can play quite successfully with a keyboard & mouse even, so pretty much any joystick / XBox controller / whatever should work quite well 🙂

          Reply

          • Jean-Pierre Jp Matthee

            November 17, 2014 at 10:34

            Any idea where i can get my hands on the Saitek X-52 or X-52 Pro?

          • BacchusZA

            November 17, 2014 at 10:44

            Titan-Ice here in Pretoria sell the MadCatz stuff (they bought Saitek last year), so they might be able to help you. I see their site says they don’t have stock of the X-52 though, which isn’t surprising as it’s been discontinued now. They have the -55 for R3k though, which doesn’t sound a bad price at all for this kind of thing.

            The T-Flight HOTAS I had for a while I got from BT Games in Centurion mall for around R600 or so about 3 years back, but I think I’ve seen it at places like Incredible Connection & so on for similar prices.

          • Jean-Pierre Jp Matthee

            November 17, 2014 at 10:47

            Thanks 🙂 will ask at those stores here in Cape Town

          • BacchusZA

            November 17, 2014 at 10:49

            Try Landmark Computers in Cape Town, I bought my TrackIR from them, among other things, & had good service. They do offer some joysticks, but none of the HOTAS setups, not on the webpage at least, but maybe they can order for you 🙂

          • Skoobaz

            November 17, 2014 at 16:00

            Landmark is great! I’m biased tough, my good friend owns the company

          • Rags

            November 17, 2014 at 10:44

            Thanks for the info! Where the hell did you get that stick though? I only see the Logitech one in online shops? 🙂

          • BacchusZA

            November 17, 2014 at 10:47

            I ordered the Warthog from Amazon UK, and even after getting ambushed for R1500 by SARS when it arrived, it was still far cheaper than I’d seen it being offered for here.
            Including taxes, I think I paid about R7k for the ‘Hog AND a set of rudder pedals, when the very few places who offered it here were asking over R8k just for the ‘Hog, and about R1500 for the pedals.

          • Rags

            November 17, 2014 at 10:52

            Ah that’s so damn awesome. Think I’ll save up and get a serious stick when Star Citizen is near its v1.

    • RustedFaith

      November 17, 2014 at 10:36

      Yup same here spend R1800 its not a issue for me but i know there are people that was really looking forward to it.

      Reply

    • Axon1988

      November 17, 2014 at 11:59

      I’m with you on that. Saving up for a joystick and saving up for a copy of the game right now. But even on it’s current pre-order special it’s still R600. And I just cannot afford that. Which makes me sad.

      Reply

  8. OV..v00.2 20gig patch required

    November 17, 2014 at 09:52

    ON-LINE SP is a patch. Whats the difference? you are controlled by their servers.

    Reply

  9. Brady miaau

    November 17, 2014 at 10:00

    I was not interested before. less interested now

    I loved Elite, loved and breathed Elite. Had notes written down, stuff like that. (In fact, how I solve extremely complex system problems today is a similar technique to playing elite as a child).

    Do I want that in a game NOW? No, not really. Premise, for me, is flawed. I read the site, read the vision. Will watch and wait and see.

    Reply

    • Rags

      November 17, 2014 at 12:59

      Yes, thats one big complaint. While its said to be the best OR experience, you have to take it off to make notes, breaking immersion…

      Reply

  10. Kikmi

    November 17, 2014 at 10:22

    LOL. Good Bye release day sales!

    Reply

  11. Wyzak

    November 17, 2014 at 10:40

    From the newsletter:

    “Going forwards, being online lets us constantly both curate and evolve the galaxy, with stories unfolding according to the actions of commanders. Exploration is also a key factor, too, and it is important that what a single player explores matches what other players explore whether single or multiplayer – a complex, coherent world – something we have achieved. Galaxy, story, missions, have to match, and it does mean the single player has to connect to the server from time to time, but this has the added advantage that everyone can participate in the activities that can happen in the galaxy. A fully offline experience would be unacceptably limited and static compared to the dynamic, ever unfolding experience we are delivering.”

    How dare they?! Queue Internet overreaction.

    They haven’t specified how long the times is between updates. You might even be able to make it infinite for an offline experience. It might be a week, or two weeks, or a month. If done properly this won’t have any of the negatives associated with always-online like latency,disconnections and the inability to play when your connection is down.

    Disclaimer: I’m a kickstarter backer, and I intend to play the game online anyway so that I can co-op with my friends.

    Reply

  12. CrasH

    November 17, 2014 at 10:46

    I am always online and to me it should not make a difference, but it does… if they cant keep the server’s up or the game loses traction, then basically the game dies… i don’t want to hire a game, but own it and space sims are few and far apart, so the no server is why it was the biggest hook to me…

    They lost my money, if i am going to play always online, then might as well play star citizen which has enough cash to last many many many years

    Reply

    • Reid

      November 17, 2014 at 10:55

      That’s the problem I have with a lot of always online games. I am also always online when playing games, but should something go wrong with my internet or the games servers I should still be able to play.

      Reply

  13. UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

    November 17, 2014 at 12:35

    Well glad i went with Star Citizen in the end when I was deciding.

    Reply

  14. Willem Swanepoel

    November 17, 2014 at 12:35

    It is clearly not a last minute change. They kept this quiet for a LONG time. If you build your CORE api and you decide to change how the core code works on the last minute then I wont even touch it with a stick.

    Awesome PR BS 🙂

    Reply

  15. James Haslam

    November 17, 2014 at 13:11

    One big consequence of this decision is that when the servers are shutdown, the game goes down with them. Unlike all the other games in the series where you can still play them today, ED going online only means that there is a limited life.

    This game’s galaxy is so big (400 billion stars) that it will take many years to explore. It will take a long time to reach the galaxy centre for example. I was looking for this to be the game I would play for the next 20 years. Looks like thats shot down in flames.

    The main issue I have with Frontier Developments is their serious lack of communication and disrespect to us, the backers.

    Reply

    • Sageville

      November 18, 2014 at 10:52

      That’s a good point, I wish reviewers and interviewers would ask these always online DRM game publishers a simple question, something like:

      “So, given that your game is always online and requires a DRM server, exactly how many years will this game be playable for?”… I’d love to hear the response…

      Reply

  16. deMangler

    November 17, 2014 at 14:44

    To add to the reasons why for many people off-line is essential.
    Many people, myself included, play Elite a bit like a rogue-like game. There is a reason these games are all single player. Dwarf-Fortress, ADOM, Nethack, etc. It is because we like to be in our world in a considered way. We like to pause and think about it. We like to know we will be coming back to it in whatever amount of time and continue.
    I believe this is part of the reason permadeath mode was fought for so successfully in the forum and DDF – because there is a strong element of the same kind of enjoyment as rogue-likes for Elite players, and this will be why many bought it or backed it.
    I know it was a large part of it for me, and was why off-line was an essential feature. Where the main game was, for me…

    Reply

  17. GlobusDiablo .

    November 20, 2014 at 01:38

    David Braben,Frontier Developments, you! Deliver on your promise of an Off-line mode or refund your backers in full, those who so wish.

    Reply

  18. tom_m

    November 23, 2014 at 02:10

    They probably didn’t lie, they probably didn’t realize that certain things need to be on the net. Never mind that your favorite cell phone game (and practically everything these days) also requires an internet connection … I mean seriously? People are upset by this? Why because it might make it less easy to steal the game? That’s actually the real reason because I don’t know anyone with a gaming rig that also doesn’t have a broadband internet connection. It’s not like you’re going to be playing this game while on an airplane on some laptop. Come on. Get over it.

    Reply

  19. Alexander Klopp

    November 28, 2014 at 07:54

    So people without internet connection are S.O.L. wonderful

    Reply

  20. Rayvyn007

    March 11, 2015 at 09:48

    I was all excited when I heard about this new Elite game based on the 90s games like Frontier and FFE. Then I hear it will be online only. You need to be online to play single player. Like they couldn’t put the content on a HD in your home. That is just a load of BS. Well they lost one sale here.

    Reply

  21. jseph1234

    October 15, 2015 at 04:17

    This game is bullsh*# boring and repetitive. Even the Power Play is a grind of another kind and the only thing you are doing is earning worthless credits to buy a bigger ship to do the same damn thing.

    Reply

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