Elite Dangerous: Odyssey release delayed until later this year

The release of Elite Dangerous: Odyssey has been pushed back by developer Frontier to later in 2021. Originally, this expansion should have been released on PC and consoles at the beginning of this year, but due to the consequences of the corona crisis, the developer is not meeting that deadline.

The developer says in a message to players that 2020 was a difficult year. Frontier reports that the ongoing lockdowns are putting more pressure on the teams and therefore on the development timeline. Based on that, the developer has decided to make ‘the difficult decision’ and adjust this schedule.

The PC release plans are the least affected. Frontier says it will continue with plans for alpha access on the PC. That will now be sometime in early spring, a little later than originally planned. During the alpha, a phased approach is used, with new features and systems being released gradually. Players with Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Deluxe Alpha and players with the Lifetime Expansion Pass will have access to the alpha version. The official PC release will follow at the end of spring.

Console players will have to wait longer. The release of the version for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is now planned for the fall of this year. Frontier apologizes for that, but says the delay is necessary to ensure the content on the consoles meets the highest standards. The developer is based in Cambridge, England. In that country, the British variant of the corona virus is quickly spreading.

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is an expansion for the existing space simulator that came out in 2014. In this latest expansion, players will be able to land on planets and explore them on foot. There are special missions on the planets and there will also be a mode with a first-person perspective. Short images of this can be seen in a gameplay trailer that came out last month.