But the real problem with it is that, other than the fact we plonked cities down, there wasn't very much to see and it felt very samey.

I don't want that in Elite: Dangerous, I'd much rather we did it properly. So the idea is that we'll gradually roll out the ability to land, initially on airless worlds, and make it worth doing. Currently it's not worth doing. And I think doing it badly would be worse than not doing it all. Especially today when people's expectations are so high. They're going to expect the ability to drive around on the surface, to run around, to shoot one another. Each one of those is potentially a whole new game and I'd rather we'd actually spend time creating something good and enjoyable rather than trying to shoehorn it in.

PCGN: How much thought has been given to landing on planets?

DB: We've had it working in the past, in the sense of rendering the planet surfaces and the collision detection and all that sort of thing. The problem is that once you actually land on planets they are vast, unedifying hillsides. I found this was the case in Frontier and First Encounters too. At least First Encounters was richer because we'd included snow and modelled mountains and valleys and rivers. But the real problem with it is that, other than the fact we plonked cities down, there wasn't very much to see and it felt very samey.

I don't want that in Elite: Dangerous, I'd much rather we did it properly. So the idea is that we'll gradually roll out the ability to land, initially on airless worlds, and make it worth doing. Currently it's not worth doing. And I think doing it badly would be worse than not doing it all. EspEcially today when people's expectations are so high. They're going to expect the ability to drive around on the surface, to run around, to shoot one another. Each one of those is potentially a whole new game and I'd rather we'd actually spend time creating something good and enjoyable rather than trying to shoehorn it in.

There are a lot of other things we said are coming that won't be in the first release, like having multiple players in one ship. That would be wonderful. You look around the bridge in an Anaconda and it's huge. It would be great to look around and see your friend sitting in one of those seats, being able to chat to them like we're sitting here chatting now, only they're on the other side of the world. I think that's wonderful.

But having a war on too many fronts doesn't sound like a good idea. I don't want to do lots of different things badly. I'd rather we do this part of the game well and then use it as a great basis to move on and do the next thing, to focus much more narrowly on one thing and then add to it. We have to make sure that what we do, we do well.