Freelancer is not that tough i am the guy who have been playing this game from more then 5 years but its not like that i dont play others games i also play tons of games COD,MAFIA,GTA,NFS,Metal gear,CS1.6 and many more Its like what kind of taste the player got its like a player who play DOTA wont be suitable for 1st person game he will say what is this i am dead in seconds i better go play other game....
They need to learn the Game Campaign mode is for them to learn if they play it its nice for them how ever very few people got any interest in Alien or Space ship fighting games i told many of my friends too but i made them watch videos on youtube the very few good videos which encourage's the new players to play the game
On your thing If your friend really dont like it after playing it then its not your fault its his taste....like what ever you like to eat your friend wont eat that also......so let it go what i say or maybe when he get bored of that game he might come back i also took some long break on Fl like an year no game and after that its again the same interest as the start of the new game