RLGaming.com

Offered in such a way like Afghanistan:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/ ... paign=news

**looks like I’m gonna need a bigger hard drive**

The new preorder is already being called "Semiraq" by some because the early access release will likely resemble only 1/4 of the country with the rest of the data completely missing, just as "Halfghanistan" is now. I read that the Afghanistan map was supposed to be complete by now but it's still the same since release, only being a fraction of what is promised. For those paying attention, ED is basically rolling out project after project in very unfinished state in order to generate revenue, and then almost completely stops updating it in favor of releasing the next unfinished early access product. ALL of the maps released in the last few years have had almost no work done on them after initial release (or so I've read). So if you do buy Iraq, be aware you'll likely be getting only a few detailed areas and the rest of the map will probably just be empty, unpopulated terrain - or maybe even missing the terrain itself... and it may stay that way for years or even indefinitely.

Thanks for brining that up Xpen.

Their business model is unsustainable and terrible, IMO. I won’t be buying anything new for DCS any time soon.

From ED today:

Last week, we launched the pre-order for the DCS: Iraq map and this sparked many questions and concerns about the DCS: Afghanistan map. Primarily, why is Eagle Dynamics working on an Iraq map with so much work to do on the Afghanistan map? The Iraq and Afghanistan maps are being developed by separate map teams in different countries. The development of one does not affect progress on the other. As such, the Iraq map has in no way slowed down development of the Afghanistan map. Furthermore, map development has no impact on the development of other DCS aspects such as the Core and individual modules. In fact, each month you can find an extensive list of improvements and fixes to the Core and modules in our changelogs here.

The next big update to the Southwest portion and the Eastern region has been delayed due to developing a new approach that will improve this and all maps; we believe it will be worth it. After the initial release of the Afghanistan map, we have been carefully reviewing all feedback, and we’ll be incorporating this into the map as well.

Also based on your feedback, we want to emphasise again that both maps can be purchased as a single purchase, just as all DCS maps. The individual regions are simply an option for those that want just a particular region or who wish to purchase bite sized areas for a reduced amount. As important, regardless of how you purchase a map, it will always be multiplayer compatible.

v6,
boNes

It's just too easy to respond to these explanations with justifiable criticism of ED's business. The Super Carrier comes to mind. It's still incomplete and how long has it been out? How many years did the Gazelle go without the promised sniper seat? The F-16 is still missing basic required elements for proper navigation, and so on. Don't get me started on the BS with RazBam.

The laundry list of things that ED has announced they are working on but never delivered is long. Dynamic campaigns... mentioned several years ago and we haven't see anything since. Combined Arms is essentially dead and abandoned - hasn't been worked on for how many years now? It's still very incomplete, still lacks most of the features that were promised years ago.

I agree that their business model is very flawed. The company can only stay afloat by perpetually releasing stuff in a mostly unfinished manner to continuously generate a cash stream. Each new product released is introducing new tech debt that makes it more and more less likely that prior products will get much focus. And there's no way they can just keep adding devs with each new product... that can't go on indefinitely. They are going to reach a ceiling where they can't afford to pay any more devs because the cash they are bringing in can't pay for the resources they've added. I suspect that may have started to happen already, and maybe that's what motivated them to take all of Razbam's money unless Razbam pays them a huge extortion (60% of all their profits for more than a year). The legal letter that was sent from ED to Razbam that was leaked last week has statements in it that appear to be false based on what the Razbam team has told us. Just as an example, Razbam says that they were in constant bidirectional communication with Nick Grey (CEO of ED and MCS) on the A-29, and there's emails that prove this communication. Razbam was not only giving constant updates on the project to ED and MCS, but they were responding and discussing aspects of the project like it was a collaboration. The threatening legal letter from ED pretends that ED and MCS were 100% unaware of the A-29, as if they were completely in the dark about it. Razbam says that is 100% untrue. Also, ED started withholding all Razbam payments since August of 2023, even before the Strike Eagle was released... and ED made no mention that there was a reason for this and made no mention for A-29. In fact, in leaked communications, Nick Grey and representatives from ED apparently led Razbam on with all kinds of fake information as to why the payments hadn't come through yet - even blaming their payment processor. I think the A-29 claim didn't start until April when Razbam finally went public about not being paid. It's really as if they are trying to cover up that they were knowingly ripping Razbam off, and blaming the whole affair on the A-29 nonsense after-the-fact to try and save face. The only thing I can conclude based on what I have seen and read is that ED (and Nick Grey) cannot be trusted. There are those that are avidly defending ED and swear that Razbam is 100% at fault... but the facts that we know so far seriously make me question ED's legitimacy. For example, why are they continuing to take in sales on all Razbam products? They are literally ripping Razbam off, and continue to do so as we speak.

That’s a great post Xpen and it alarms me for two reasons: the long term financial viability of ED is in doubt and the fact that ED has had to resort to questionable business practices to prolong their financial viability.

It’s my belief that if ED ever goes down there will NOT be another developer to fill their shoes.

v6,
boNes

Great post Xpen. It's worth mentioning that ED is selling RazBam's modules without RB support, and so they are also screwing the customers. It's my understanding that people buying F-15, Harrier, or Mirage will not get updates for these modules because RazBam is providing support since they are unpaid. So the F-15 remains unfinished and not worth the money people paid for it. The Mirage and Harrier are in better states, of course, but still there was work to be done on those.