Living Dangerously
Frontier Developments has announced the cancellation of the console version of Odyssey, the DLC expansion for its sci-fi sandbox title Elite Dangerous. Furthermore, the studio announced that it is unlikely that any more content will be developed for the PlayStation or Xbox editions of the space opera epic.
Odyssey, which launched on PC in May 2022, was expected to bring a major new dynamic to Elite Dangerous, allowing spacefaring traders the opportunity to leave their ships and explore the planets around them on foot — further expanding the title’s fascinating interstellar universe. Unfortunately, the DLC was plagued with issues at launch, necessitating the need for numerous patches and post-release fixes.
“It’s no secret that Odyssey’s launch was less than ideal, including the need to split the PC/console player base to focus on a PC-only launch,” writes developer David Braben on the official Elite Dangerous blog. “Since Odyssey’s release in May 2021, we have worked tirelessly to improve the Odyssey experience on PC, and whilst we have made great progress there is still more to be done. We have been supporting the pre-Odyssey and post-Odyssey codebases since.”
Braben goes on to announce that, in order for the team to ensure the core PC edition of the game is ship-shape, Frontier Developments has been forced to abandon its work on the console port of Odyssey, with no plans to return to developing console content at any point in the future. Braben notes that it was heartbreaking for the team to make this decision, but it was taken with the future of Elite Dangerous in mind.
“With regards to what is coming next in Elite Dangerous,” concludes Braben, “we look forward to sharing further news in due course.”
