[For those with some industry experience] When do you think Bannerlord will really leave Early Access?

[stevepine]

At this stage, everyone knows it won't be just a year from the initial EA release.

I know it.
You know it.
The devs know it.
The fish in the sea know it.

So the only real question is how much longer?

For those of you with some actual development experience... what's do you estimate is a realistic time for Bannerlord to actually leave EA?

 

[HugoTheFrenchMan]

Around 2-3 years I expect most likely late 2022 or early 2023

 

[stevehoos]

I am going with late 2022.

 

[Adrivan]

It really depends on how they envision the "finished" game. Perhaps they see it as a simple simulation, nothing too deep, to serve as a foundation for mods or future expansions. If that's the case, then they could definitely release version 1.0 in 2021 after the bugs are fixed.

 

[jak1up]

Does it really matter at this point?

 

[stevepine]

Does it really matter at this point?

For most of us..... yes it does. We all want quality more than speed ... but there are limits.

 

[Moton]

It all probably come down to if they need another surge of money I guess. Because with the full release they will get more sells on PC and they can release it on console aswell.

With that said I hope they will push back their initial estimate of Mars 2021 to Q4 2021 or Q1 2022. It's also super stressfull to work with Early Access, the curve will probably keep getting better for a couple of months with more and faster content pushed out but at some point it will be exhausted and the curve will fall and there wont be much money left so they'll get forced to release it.

Also Adrivan's point is very important, alot depends on what they want to do with the game.

One thing that is important is that they release a fluid and balanced game that is stable otherwise the game wont stand the test of time.

All of these are guesses ofcourse, I have no clue what Tale Worlds financial position is nor do I know what their vision for the game is.

 

[stevepine]

It all probably come down to if they need another surge of money I guess. Because with the full release they will get more sells on PC and they can release it on console aswell.

With that said I hope they will push back their initial estimate of Mars 2021 to Q4 2021 or Q1 2022. It's also super stressfull to work with Early Access, the curve will probably keep getting better for a couple of months with more and faster content pushed out but at some point it will be exhausted and the curve will fall and there wont be much money left so they'll get forced to release it.

Also Adrivan's point is very important, alot depends on what they want to do with the game.

One thing that is important is that they release a fluid and balanced game that is stable otherwise the game wont stand the test of time.

All of these are guesses ofcourse, I have no clue what Tale Worlds financial position is nor do I know what their vision for the game is.

Thanks, that is a refreshingly humble, honest and detailed reply. ??

 

[Moton]

Thanks, that is a refreshingly humble, honest and detailed reply. ??

Glad you appreciate it!

What do you think/hope? Do you have any thought of what you want from the final product of Bannerlord?

 

[YouMoMCallME]

2022-2023

 

[babelfisch]

Summer 2021, several patches afterwards to make it a working product. Sadly industry standard. 2022 with DLC to integrate missing mechanics. I could be wrong.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

So the only real question is how much longer?

I doubt even Taleworlds has a rough idea. Armağan was initially saying the game would be in player's hands in 2016, and most people looking at screenshots assumed the same thing. The delay for things as straightforward as the modding tools (which I was in the beta for) took way longer than anyone expected.

 

[Mad Vader]

Since they are trying to hire quite a few programmers for Bannerlord, it seems they want to make it better in the next few years. They could release a bugfixed and balanced bare-bones version 1.0 in March 2021, but then continue working on free patches with substantial content.
However, their real problem is their management and they are not hiring new managers, so we'll still get a delayed, inferior product.

 

[Gandamula]

For me is a realesd game,De Facto, they sell it at full price, they are adding few features like others, I really don't see a major difference besides de EA brand.

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

At this stage, everyone knows it won't be just a year from the initial EA release.

I know it.
You know it.
The devs know it.
The fish in the sea know it.

So the only real question is how much longer?

For those of you with some actual development experience... what's do you estimate is a realistic time for Bannerlord to actually leave EA?

Spoiler

I saw my sister develop film once.

Isn't EA just a semantic to be able to sell an unfinished game EARLY and have some dodge rolls against criticism?
If they want to have it officially release on march 31st 2021 they can, even if it still has bugs.
Games ship with bugs all the time nowadays. Sure it gets them some flak and can effect reviews but that's business as usual it seems nowadays.
As far as content..... sure they 'could' add more things to the game.... but they haven't really said they're going to.....

Hopefully if they do full release maybe they shape up the quality of any updates they do, for instance: If you add a "horse breeding stable(workshop)" update, it should be the entire thing full functional at once, Not adding the models and unfinished dialogue, then a month later it's finished but it crashes the game, then a 2 weeks later it's fixed but the horses never appear and on and on....
I mean they can still do a janky slow job and it's not like we could do anything about it, but it would be very unprofessional in a fully released game.

The real question is would I be okay with buying DLC of the stuff that was gutted from the game (castle building exct) IF it was HQ content.
That's an obvious move (one many games do), release a barebones game, then DLC of good stuff..... it's kinda abusing the whole mechanic of EA and DLC... but hey big companies have been doing it and they still make $$$.

I mean Squarenix gonna make ff7remake DLC..... They didn't even make the last 3/4+ of the game yet! wtf!

 

[Adrivan]

The real question is would I be okay with buying DLC of the stuff that was gutted from the game (castle building exct) IF it was HQ content.
That's an obvious move (one many games do), release a barebones game, then DLC of good stuff..... it's kinda abusing the whole mechanic of EA and DLC... but hey big companies have been doing it and they still make $$$.

I mean Squarenix gonna make ff7remake DLC..... They didn't even make the last 3/4+ of the game yet! wtf!

As someone who plays many games from Paradox Interactive (Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, etc) where each game + DLCs costs like 300$, I got used to these practices. I don't like them (i mean, who likes paying more, right?), but at the end of the day, it's your decision if you think a game is worth that much money. In my experience very few games are worth it, but some I really enjoy playing and even 300$ is worth for the thousands of hours I put into them.

 

[HugoTheFrenchMan]

As someone who plays many games from Paradox Interactive (Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, etc) where each game + DLCs costs like 300$, I got used to these practices. I don't like them (i mean, who likes paying more, right?), but at the end of the day, it's your decision if you think a game is worth that much money. In my experience very few games are worth it, but some I really enjoy playing and even 300$ is worth for the thousands of hours I put into them.

You're lucky you're used to EU4, CK2, HOI4 and those games since during the time of EU3 and HOI3 mostly back in that day and age you had to get the DLC or you could literally not play the game it was literally forced upon you or may you have been one of the many who suffered

 

[black_bulldog]

At best mid of 2022 at worst early of 2023. I hope we see it early 2022 but at the pace it's going I really think it's going to take about 2 more years.

Edit: I'm no expert but I'm just going off of how much content we've gotten so far in ea.

 

[stevehoos]

At best mid of 2022 at worst early of 2023. I hope we see it early 2022 but at the pace it's going I really think it's going to take about 2 more years.

It's an update every 3 to 4 weeks right now, I agree.

 

[black_bulldog]

It's an update every 3 to 4 weeks right now, I agree.

The thing that I can't understand is that at least from the outside TW seems to be in no rush to get this game fully launched. I mean the faster they get it out the more units they can sell (to anyone who didn't buy in ea) and the faster they can start making dlc. I just don't understand the sedate pace they're on.