Development of the console version of Elite: Danger was canceled, meaning players on PlayStation and Xbox devices would not be able to play Elite: Danger's latest DLC, Odyssey. Frontier announced the news on Thursday in order to support PC-side games after a long period of consideration.
"Over the past few months, we've been battling the best way forward, and it's with a heavy heart that we've decided to cancel all console development," wrote David Brabben, CEO of Frontier Developments. "We need to be able to advance the story of the game, and in order to do that, we need to focus on a single code base. Elite: Danger will continue with critical updates on the console as it does now, but we will focus on new content updates to the post-Odyssey code base on PC. ”
The Odyssey DLC brings more content to this space game, including atmospheric flights and new settlement locations, offering dynamic first-person gameplay based on player action. At the same time, the generation of planets has changed a lot, which means that the game's interface is completely different from when it was launched in 2014. But it has other issues like frame rate and connectivity issues, and it's on a bumpy road since the launch of Odyssey in the spring of 2021. So, Frontier is struggling to recover losses and focus on the PC version, which has the most gamers so far.
"We appreciate that this news is not what our console community wanted. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but it was made with The Elite: Danger in mind," Braben said. "Regarding the future of Elite: Danger, we look forward to sharing further information in due course."
It's been a while since Elite: Danger became a cross-platform game, but this cross-platform game is unlike any other. Although the console and the player on the PC are in the same universe, they are isolated from each other. However, simulations of the game's storyline and control of habitable planets can be shared across all three platforms, allowing expeditions like Distant Worlds to take place, which has more than 14,000 players participating. But it's unclear how similar campaigns will affect the future of Elite: Danger.
The news dealt a huge blow to the Elite: Danger gaming community, with Eisher, who is in charge of the NPI, posting an announcement to players on Discord, saying, "Obviously, this is terrible news" and "For the entire gaming community, especially our console members, I will not try to give a positive explanation for this matter, and many people, including myself, are very angry and frustrated by this decision by Frontier Developments." ”