Elite Dangerous presented a committed 10-year plan at release. However, for console players on PlayStation and Xbox, the dream of the perfect space adventure ends – the developers explain that there will be no new content on consoles.
This is what it’s about:
- At the end of 2014, Elite Dangerous launched and immediately planned for 10 years of operation
- Players could experience many freedoms in the space simulation and were confident they would receive new content for years
- However, for consoles, support is largely ending because the game has had significant problems since the last expansion
Elite Dangerous since Odyssey broken and divided
What’s going wrong with Elite Dangerous? The latest expansion Odyssey has brought several issues to the space adventure.
The paid expansion was full of bugs and many players thought at release that the addon came to market too early, in an unfinished state. That was in May 2021.
For consoles, it didn’t even make it – Odyssey was delayed by months and has not yet been released for PlayStation and Xbox.
Not only that: The developers decided at that time to separate the player bases. The previous addon Horizons became free and represented, after the Odyssey release, what could be considered the base version of the game.
However, Horizons and Odyssey players could not play with each other – not even on PC (via gamestar.de).
Since then, the developers have been working on two game codes: Elite Dangerous before and after the Odyssey release. However, the issues of the Odyssey expansion are still not fully under control.
Developers focus on one version
How do the developers plan to improve things? Now there’s going to be a cut. In a statement, the CEO of Elite developer Frontier Developments, David Braben, explains what comes next (via elitedangerous.com).
He explains that they are currently working on two versions, which apparently hinders the development progress of the game.
They now want to fully concentrate on one version, the Odyssey version. The release of Odyssey on consoles has been completely cancelled in this context.
The CEO hints at how much he cares about the game and that the developers did not make the decision lightly. But there will be no new content for the Horizons version from now on.
The game is still operational on consoles in its current state, but only critical updates will be provided.
This is meant to give the developers enough space to continue the story of Elite Dangerous.
It is still unclear how things will proceed for Horizons players on PC. Because this version was also part of the “old code” and new content seems currently only planned for Odyssey buyers.
What will happen to the progress? Currently, there is no way for console players to transfer their entire save file with all their earned progress to PC.
However, a one-time transfer of assets can be requested. To do this, you must have purchased Elite Dangerous on both platforms and contact support:
Your old Commander will be lost in the process, but your earned assets can be secured.
PC players show understanding, console players drop off
What do players say about it? Looking at the comments on Twitter under the announcement, one sees a lot of frustration but also relief.
PC players are generally pleased that the developers want to put a greater focus on one version. However, they are somewhat disappointed about the sudden action and sympathize with their console colleagues.
Among console players, frustration prevails. Many lament the hundreds or even thousands of hours they have invested and suggest that Elite Dangerous is out for them.
Here are a few comments:
- @JohnLocke1979 on Twitter: “I feel very sorry for console players. But I’m glad there are companies that have the guts to admit that you can’t do both and want to focus on one thing.”
- @Number_elEvan on Twitter: “Over 1000 hours on console, only to be told that we are clearly second-class and should not expect anything new from the game.”
- @sel_dieu on Twitter: “This is a joke, right? And as compensation, there’s nothing? Not even the transfer to PC?”
However, the mood is rarely aggressive. Elite Dangerous has always been a very engaged project and has been running for many years. But at least for one version of the game, there is now hope again.
