The OST dead horse

[Airyllish]

Look, DE, I'm going to level with you.

I want to throw you some of money, m'kay?

Since 2014 there have been threads on these forums asking you to release a soundtrack (and there were responses from DE saying you would, I might add) and yet here we are, near the end of 2016, with another excellent set of tracks released in conjunction with The War Within, and there is still no soundtrack.

I mean, what more can we offer you at this point to convince you? Our first born son? The elaborate sacrifice of a goat? 

I'm sitting here desperately waving my money at the computer screen, begging you to release the soundtrack you're so proud of - you were loud enough to brag about the score for War Within when hyping it - so that I can enjoy it, too. Because I, at least, do think it's good. I can see why you brag.

I'm failing to understand why the plea for OSTs remains totally unanswered after a good two years of people asking for it, though. Especially given the fact no small number have been very willing to pay for it.

Please?

Pretty please?

I really don't want to have to find YouTube videos to download these tracks because believe it or not, I think your soundtrack is worth paying for and supporting. I get that my sterling isn't worth as much as it used to be, but come oooon. :(

[AdunSaveMe]

5 minutes ago, Airyllish said:

I'm failing to understand why the plea for OSTs remains totally unanswered after a good two years of people asking for it, though. Especially given the fact no small number have been very willing to pay for it.

I don't mean to be rude, but it's kinda easy to guess.

On 15/11/2016 at 2:50 AM, [DE]George said:

This is one of the biggest reasons why we have yet to release a soundtrack.  We want to make sure we put as much into it as possible, without missing any important tracks.

If they had released it when people started asking, we wouldn't have the Second Dream theme.

If they released it after the Second Dream when more people started asking, we would have missed out on the new kuva fortress music, which is some of the best music in the entire game. If they release it now, no doubt they'll throw in another bloody whopper of a track that we'll wish was on the soundtrack list.

[PrVonTuckIII]

Adun pretty much covered the reason, but the best thing to do at the moment is use ClipGrab or something and download StallordD's videos off YT. It's cheap, and I know you didn't like doing that, but it works, and I suppose with a bit of software, you could isolate the audio into an MP3 file. 

[Airyllish]

That's... silly.

That's utterly silly.

If the excuse - calling it that - is that "we don't want to miss important tracks" then honestly, would we ever even get an OST release?

Warframe is a game that, as far as we can see, DE plan to run with for some years to come. This means that every two years - we'll be generous and say two years - we get a content update akin to an "expansion". 

There is no reason at all why, on these "expansions" releases, a little album can't be released. I'm not asking for a CD copy or to get some extra item, I'm just asking for a way to purchase the soundtrack as it currently stands via digital download.

If, in two years, we get one "expansion" and, say, four tiny builds with new quests/warframes, then another little album can be released with the new tracks made for that two year set of content.

Sorry, but the notion of "but you wouldn't have gotten THIS cool track if we'd released an OST for Second Dream!" just doesn't fly with me. I would be happy to pay for multiple tiny albums, each covering tracks released between Big Story Quest A and then Big Story Quest B.

If there had been an album released for Second Dream, I'd have immediately bought it. And then, if they'd released a little album for War Within and any new track added since the Second Dream album, I'd have bought that, too.

Making people wait to purchase an OST album for a little over two years is just plain silly. By that excuse of "But this track is good and you'll miss it!" makes no sense, because I can't miss what I don't have.

[[DE]George]

We are always humbled when players ask us to release a soundtrack of the game's music.

I can say with 100% certainty that we will be releasing a soundtrack for the game.

We tend to get sidetracked with other aspects of the game's audio and then when big updates come up we find ourselves with little time to put the soundtrack together.  And, we want to do something really cool for it (we have a few ideas in mind).

So worry not, it IS coming.  I admit it's taking time, but it WILL happen.

[DE]George.

[NightmareT12]

10 minutes ago, [DE]George said:

We are always humbled when players ask us to release a soundtrack of the game's music.

I can say with 100% certainty that we will be releasing a soundtrack for the game.

We tend to get sidetracked with other aspects of the game's audio and then when big updates come up we find ourselves with little time to put the soundtrack together.  And, we want to do something really cool for it (we have a few ideas in mind).

So worry not, it IS coming.  I admit it's taking time, but it WILL happen.

[DE]George.

I see that trend of "chaos" 'round the office a lot, but I guess that's the downside of a game that works like Warframe does.

I must say I've been thinking a lot about a Soundtrack release lately, and I've come to the conclusion that Warframe doesn't really fit into a classic release, so as to speak. I mean, you guys update the game roughly every 4 months, and people want that content to enjoy it ASAP.

To put it this way: You guys release the OST tomorrow up to U19. U20 drops, new theme kicks in, people go crazy. We'd be looking at a release date 3 years into the future to make a CD/tracklist that would seem "worth selling".

Hmmm...

[Airyllish]

43 minutes ago, [DE]George said:

We are always humbled when players ask us to release a soundtrack of the game's music.

I can say with 100% certainty that we will be releasing a soundtrack for the game.

We tend to get sidetracked with other aspects of the game's audio and then when big updates come up we find ourselves with little time to put the soundtrack together.  And, we want to do something really cool for it (we have a few ideas in mind).

So worry not, it IS coming.  I admit it's taking time, but it WILL happen.

[DE]George.

Appreciate the swift response. 

I also appreciate that you and your company are working on a game that has huge scope, and that certain things often fall by the wayside. I do, sincerely, understand. 

However.

29 minutes ago, NightmareT12 said:

I see that trend of "chaos" 'round the office a lot, but I guess that's the downside of a game that works like Warframe does.

I must say I've been thinking a lot about a Soundtrack release lately, and I've come to the conclusion that Warframe doesn't really fit into a classic release, so as to speak. I mean, you guys update the game roughly every 4 months, and people want that content to enjoy it ASAP.

To put it this way: You guys release the OST tomorrow up to U19. U20 drops, new theme kicks in, people go crazy. We'd be looking at a release date 3 years into the future to make a CD/tracklist that would seem "worth selling".

Hmmm...

This person has the same thought as I do (and explained it better - thank you, fellow ninja.)

Your game is constantly updating. This often includes new musical tracks, even if it's only one or two per every two or three content patches and then a small score with the larger content drops.

When we asked for Second Dream OST, it wasn't because we also wanted tracks from War Within. Similarly, now we're asking for a full OST to-date, it's not because we want to "miss" good scores you have in the wings for future updates, it's because we love the music you have produced up to this point and want to support your endeavours in making those future scores just as good.

You have music worthy of being proud of, and although as a player it's nice that it sounds like you want to wait until you feel you have something big or worthy to release, it's a little depressing to have to wonder if you'll wait another two years before releasing an OST because that's what the current track record says.

Additionally, from a business perspective and as food for thought, how many players do you lose in that two year period who might have otherwised purchased the OST while actively playing? Incremental updates mean that it doesn't matter when you release an OST, you'll inevitably wind up releasing more tracks later. As a player, the question becomes "By the time they decide to release this OST, will I even be playing their game any more?"

Which is a sad thought, really.