‘Elite Dangerous: Odyssey’ Release Delayed Until Spring On PC/Autumn On Console
Frontier Developments has announced today that the much-anticipated expansion ‘Elite Dangerous: Odyssey’ will be coming a little later to PC than originally planned, with a longer delay for the console release.
‘Elite Dangerous’ is a modern update of the classic 1984 game ‘Elite’, which allows the player to take control of their own starship in a huge open galaxy of players online, trading and fighting to gain bigger and better ships until reaching the rank of “Elite”. The ‘Elite Dangerous: Odyssey’ expansion allows Commanders to explore distant worlds on foot for the very first time, taking on new missions and engaging in intense tactical combat, seamlessly merging with Elite Dangerous’ iconic cockpit experience players have come to know and love.
The original plan was to release the Odyssey expansion in Early 2021, however, with all the disruption caused by lockdowns and the pandemic, it has forced Frontier to delay things a little. The Alpha release will now come to PC players in Early Spring 2021, with the full PC release landing in Late Spring 2021. The news is not quite so good for console players, as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One releases are pushed back to Autumn 2021… You can read the statement from Frontier in full below:
Greetings Commanders,
We wanted to share an update with you regarding the ongoing development of Elite Dangerous: Odyssey.
2020 was a difficult year for many, but in spite of those challenges, we are pleased with our progress towards what is a truly ambitious new era for the game. We’ve been delighted with the excitement and positive response to our development diaries, interviews, streams and trailers and want to thank all of you for your continued support.
The ongoing impact of the pandemic, however, including the renewed lockdowns in 2021, continues to put added pressure on our teams and ultimately our development timeline. We have therefore had to make the difficult decision to make some adjustments and changes to our existing development roadmap.
Our PC plans have only been affected by a small amount, however, our plans for the console release will, unfortunately, see a larger development shift. Please do know that these difficult decisions have been made with a focus on making Odyssey as incredible as it can possibly be for all our Commanders regardless of their platform, while also respecting realistic project deadlines for our teams during this difficult global situation.
We would like to sincerely apologise to all of our community. We know you have been waiting patiently and how disappointing and frustrating this must be. With that in mind, we would like to share with you our latest roadmap with you so that you are fully aware of our plans.
==
Alpha – early spring 2021
We are continuing with plans to bring Alpha access to our PC players and get boots on the ground. This will now be a little later than originally planned, in early spring.
Much like our original Elite Dangerous release, we will be taking a phased approach to our Alpha, bringing new features and systems online throughout the period. This will allow us to focus and best consider our community feedback while also providing vital user testing on key areas of the game. We will be sharing further information including details of feature drops and Alpha plans as we get closer to release.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Deluxe Alpha and Lifetime Expansion Pass holders will get access to this release.
PC release – late spring 2021
Following the completion of our Alpha phase we are targeting a full launch on PC in late spring.
As with every era in Elite Dangerous’ history, we will be closely engaging with our community and continuing to react to feedback refining Odyssey through to the console launch.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey pre orders will be able to access the game with this release.
Console release – autumn 2021
After continued feedback, iterations and balancing, we are targeting our release on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One in the autumn of this year.
==
We understand that for many, this additional delay will be frustrating. Once again, we would like to apologise wholeheartedly to our community, especially our console Commanders. However, as mentioned previously, we feel it is vital to ensure that the content being released on consoles meets the highest standards and this will require this additional extension to our roadmap.
Throughout this time we will continue to bring more news, videos and content of the development in progress. We would like to thank you all for the ongoing support and we are very excited to bring in this new era to the game with you. Your feedback, support and involvement is a vital part of this process and we are looking forward to a shared Alpha experience, which will be touching down very soon.
‘Elite Dangerous: Odyssey’ comes to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and pre-order is available now for Windows PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store and FrontierStore.net. Prospective Commanders can now pre-order the Elite Dangerous: Odyssey expansion with an SRP of £29.99/$39.99/€34.99. Also available is the Deluxe Alpha expansion pack, with an SRP of £39.99/$54.99/€46.99, including the Odyssey expansion, Alpha/Beta access and the official soundtrack. Both pre-order packs grant access to the exclusive Pioneer suit skin as a pre-order bonus.
For more information, follow Elite Dangerous on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Visit the Elite Dangerous official website at elitedangerous.com.
