Elite Dangerous: Odyssey devs cancel console plans to focus on fixing PC version

In a development update from founder and CEO of Frontier Developments, David Braben, it was revealed that console plans for the Odyssey expansion have been set aside. Not only that, but the game won’t be receiving any non-critical updates, including the aforementioned Odyssey DLC, on console.

Instead, the developers are shifting focus over to a PC-only launch of Elite Dangerous: Odyssey. The reason cited for this shift is the game having two different codebases, one for consoles, and one for PC. Rather than juggling two different codebases, Frontier Developments will focus solely on the PC codebase to allow the studio the ability to “move forward with the story of the game.”

The Elite Dangerous team is shifting focus over to the PC version of the game.

The full statement from David Braben reads as follows:

“Greetings Commanders,

Elite Dangerous is a game close to my heart. 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. 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.

Over the last several months, we have been wrestling with the best way to move forward, and it is with a heavy heart we have decided to cancel all console development. We need to be able to move forward with the story of the game, and in order for us to do this we need to focus on a single codebase.

Elite Dangerous will continue on console as it is now together with critical updates, but we will focus on new content updates on PC on the post-Odyssey codebase. We appreciate this news is not what our console community were hoping for. This was not an easy decision to make, but it was made with the long-term future of Elite Dangerous in mind. With regards to what is coming next in Elite Dangerous, we look forward to sharing further news in due course.”

For console owners that may be feeling a little frustrated about the news, Frontier Developments noted they are exploring ways for console players to transfer their progress from console to PC.

Community Manager, Paul Crowther, responded to the question regarding transfers on the forums by saying, “We are exploring options for transfers but at present have nothing to announce.”

We’ll be sure to keep you posted on whether or not you’ll be able to transfer console account data over to PC, and on additional updates for Elite Dangerous: Odyssey. Until the development team shares new information, we’re curious what you think of the shift in focus to the PC version of the game, with the console version only receiving critical updates moving forward?