I’m afraid that while the latest Elite Dangerous missive was seemingly intended to bring players into the loop of the game’s current development, it’s left many gamers even more confused about the state of the game.
For starters, Frontier says that Update 15, which will “build upon the narrative and unlock the next major stage of the Thargoid War,” has been pushed off to May.
Players were also anticipating a “major feature rework” in April. What was the major feature rework? No idea, but Frontier had previously promised it’d come in April. Now it’s not; it’s been delayed until at least the end of 2023 and probably well beyond since they won’t even be talking about it until late this year (and maybe haven’t even started?), though as players point out, it’s hard to be excited or disappointed when nobody knows what the heck is (the rumor, however, is that it’s engineering).
“Last year we announced a major update that would rework a long standing feature. This is still being investigated, however a number of changes (not least the Thargoid War itself) have required our attention as a priority. We will share details of this investigation and our plans towards the end of this year.”
Frontier also tells players that it’s shutting down applications for player-made factions, saying its “focus is now turning to investigate how upcoming systems will allow every player and player group to have a meaningful impact on the galaxy’s landscape.” Furthermore, the studio warns about a switchover on Steam that’ll make the live version of the game the default version, rather than the legacy (though legacy will still exist).
There is a little bit of good news here in that Frontier is promising to finally re-open console transfers to PC in April (following the end of console development for the game last year). “We are pleased to announce that this is a far more complete process than we anticipated,” the studio says. “We look forward to more console Commanders joining us on PC, especially to enjoy the features offered by Odyssey.”
💥 Update 15, the return of the Console Profile Transfer service and more!
📆 Check out the upcoming plans for Elite Dangerous!
🔗 https://t.co/4wvWlfpqtO pic.twitter.com/xknQmuaAfI
— Elite Dangerous (@EliteDangerous) March 23, 2023
