Due to Cost of Living crisis in the UK, Focus Entertainment Joining, TSW Sales declining. I wouldn't be surprised that they decided to lower the life span of each TSW iteration.
I don’t wanna make any bold assumptions but I strongly believe it’s TSW 4 and I’m honestly not that excited. If it is I‘m hope it’s not a separate purchase and DTG would follow a similar system to what they do with TSC and have yearly updates. If it’s a route or multiple routes and TSW 3 continued I’d be pleased but at the moment I’m kinda worried about what they’re gonna announce.
Pretty sure I saw alot of people on the forums switching to TSC. Maybe I'm wrong but there's certainly more people moving away from it than before
What is there to worry about? There probably will be one route you like and if it goes like TSW3 you just buy that route and you're upgraded. If there is no route you like it's even better because you even don't have to upgrade to TSW4
It’s just I’m tired of DTG making TSW separate games and having to pay for them especially with all the hassle of re-downloading content and not following through the updates/fixes. Last year DTG said they were taking some down time to update TSW 2 and then the announced TSW 3, I fear the cycle is repeating itself.
TSW should follow the update pattern that TSC follows, so each update could be free and that is no need to install different versions of the game
The predictable announcement of an announcement. Stay tuned and stare at a countdown for 20 days..... Hype has started....
I really can't care less whether they call it TSW4, TSW MAGIC EDITION MEGA PRO FROM SPACE, or just Summer Bundle 2023, the only interesting thing is what it contains.
Am I the only one panicking that the could move to a subscription model. *Just seen it denied on another thread*
It would never work. The price for such a subscription would be too high to be able to maintain as the userbase is too small for a subscription model
Well, to justify it this had better be a YUGE upgrade- as in, rebuilt on a new engine from the ground up. And no, I don't mean Unreal 5 (which Matt has already ruled out anyway). UE5 would just carry over all of UE4's problems with stuttering and audio and so forth, just do it in higher res with ray-tracing.
It doesn't work. Trainz has it and you lose too much by not getting a subscription. It would draw people even more away and the devs would not be fairly compensated
Well we now have our announcement of an announcement. I was a TSW4 doubter before this, but this just seems like too much hullabaloo for a Rush Hour-esque summer pack. The inevitable question for me is Why after only 12mths of TSW3's dev cycle ? There better be a very good reason to shorten the usual cycle for a new game already . If there are no major engine updates or some of the highly requested features (Multiplayer / Scenario Planner 2.0 / "Editor"); there will be a fairly negative reaction across the board I doubt DTG will want to move to a TSC style single title with free annual updates, as once there is significatant work done under the hood they will want financial compensation I'm sure all the previous content will come over fine to whatever this new product ends up being, so not concerned about that. I just hope we are given a good reason why TSW3 should be abandoned already....time will tell
What do you mean shortened dev cycle. Remember this is a console game. There are tons of games that release yearly. Every Football, Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, American Football, WWE, PGA, F1, Nascar come out with yearly releases. And I might add at $80 or more a pop. People forget the whole concept of TSW in the first place was to bring a quality simulator to console and PC. And console users are the majority, so why not follow the big boys strategy and make money. They are running a business right. Either way we don't 100% know what it is yet it could very well be TSW4 or TSW 2024. And it could very well be like Rush Hour where the upgrade was free. Or it could be a new game all together. It even could have a scenario planner 2.0 we don't know all the details yet. Whatever it is I will get it. I have everything else already.
I was referring specifically to the usual TSW dev cycle not games in general: ie TSW CSX HH / TSW / TSW2020 2017-2020 ~3.5yrs TSW2 2020-2022 ~2yrs TSW3 2022-2023 1yr
Dovetail will lose nearly every PC player if they follow the "big boys strategy" and charge $60 a year for a game update.
When you type it like that looks like we may have a pattern. Next one in 4 months? At this rate at least.
So, it looks as if we'll be playing TSW4 or something like it before the fixes /updates to TSW2 are released. How very confusing! Or should we consign those TSW2 fixes to that dusty file cabinet in the inaccessible basement storage room for which the key has accidentally been dropped in the Medway by an employee who no longer works for DTG and left no forwarding address?
But again Console are the majority of players and sales in TSW. And again who said that is for sure whats going on...i have no idea. Just pointing out options like I pointed out that it very well could be a free upgrade like Rush Hour is. It could be called TSW4 it could be called TSW 2024 or something else. Didn't TSC come out every year with a title like Train Simulator 20XX. And it was a free update unless you wanted the routes. Who really knows on here 100%?
Probably it will be released shortly after whatever this next release is. With a statement that after it gets released support will drop for TSW2. Just like with TSW 2020. We never did get that Miles Platting fix did we.
Exactly. It wasn’t a separate game, just an update, a name change, and a bundle of new routes you had the option to buy. However, if the yearly update requires purchasing a new game, then that’s where the problem comes. That’s why I can’t stand games like F1 and FIFA since they release a new game every year, barely change anything, and charge $60.
Exactly. I must admit that I don’t understand why so many people make a habit of anxiously speculating about future TSW updates and upgrades and about changes DTG <I>might</I> make to the game. Players have no input into how the game evolves (or devolves) and DTG will do whatever it thinks it needs to do to maximize the game’s short term profitability. It has shown that it is ok with selling the same game twice (TSW 2&3) and selling a product with low quality standards where quality - performance, sound & lighting, historical accuracy etc. - is hugely inconsistent across routes, vehicles and DLCs. That tells you all you really need to know about DTG and the TSW brand and you’re flattering yourself if you think this forum and the “roadmaps” and “leaks” are anything more than a marketing tool to create a sense of urgency and expectation and to keep the TSW brand alive in people’s minds. But the angst in the forum over ‘what next?’ and ‘what if?’ is real and palpable and quite a few players seem to have made an anxious emotional investment in DTG and the TSW brand which all seems very strange to me. Wake me up when the next release and what it contains are officially announced.
If this was a TSW4 announcement it be for one reason only so DTG could have us buy TSW4 to get futher fixes.Don't laugh they did it already by requiring people buy TSW3 while abandoning TSW2 owners who haven't upgraded yet.They keep telling TSW2 owner they can't find any slots to send them fixes yet.At this point most of us know better.
Personally I recently got round to buying TSW Deluxe in the last sale for just under £12. I've yet to get round to installing it yet, partly because I didn't find the routes that inspiring, and after this news I'll hold off until after the 22nd to see whether it's worth bothering to do so.
Console players will make up for that. We like titles where the number in the title is a bigger number than that of the year before.
Me personally I think the whole idea of tsw4 being announced is stupid due to tsw3 barely being a year old and the lack of routes that have been announced. With the acquisition of dtg by Focus it seems to cocky (imo) to release a new game in the franchise without having a grip on how things like routes, dlcs etc get made. As with the acquisition there might be more people at dovetail which could mean the announcement is about bug fixes and a new wave of routes rather than announcing a new installment. Also a bit off topic but does this annocment mean jt new route is being delayed and could it be the announcement of a new game developer.
What if… TSW4 was an automatic upgrade for everybody who owns any version of TSW? So those who are still waiting for fixes are rolled into the latest version automatically, and then everybody who plays the game is on the same version of the game and each new DLC has the largest possible player pool to maximise sales? Something like this could have been the argument to lure in the other third parties who hadn’t yet jumped on board, and would also improve the attach rates for every new route or loco. This is of course the TSC model, but it also neatly sidesteps the issues of supporting older versions. And if you think about what was said regarding the TSW2 patch, they were trying to ‘find the right time to release them’ - well, there have been gaps aplenty, but maybe the ‘right time’ is shifting everybody to the same base game?
Got to admit with hindsight the routes that were shipped with TSW3 weren’t that great… SEHS added a short all stations trundle and a quick 15 minute blast to what we already had. Cajon plagued with scenery issues (floating vehicles, missing hills) and for PC players at least already likely experienced in other sims. SKW a tunnel/viaduct through slightly hilly forest land rinse and repeat bore fest. SoS most of us already purchased on its release and it took a year to fix the fundamental errors ported over from TSW2 with physics and sound still not that great even now. Training Centre again for most of us an irrelevance. Let’s just hope something much better is planned this year.
The acquisition is all about money. Focus is not a bunch of train enthousiasts who bought this game to get the best train simulator ever. It's a company that has to show they are making money. My guess is that TSW 3 was made to show Focus how much money can be made with this game on a yearly basis.
