As the developers at Frontier Developments admitted, console gamers will have to wait a little longer and will not be given the new Elite Dangerous expansion Odyssey until autumn 2021. As stated in the official justification, the postponement on the consoles is due to the COVID-19-related delays in development.
Last year, the British developers at Frontier Developments officially announced the ongoing work on Odyssey, the latest addition to the space simulation Elite Dangerous.
It was originally planned that Odyssey would be released in spring 2021. As Frontier Developments admitted in a recent communication to the community, the studio can only stick to this project to a limited extent.
Due to the still precarious COVID-19 situation in Great Britain, the lockdowns and the associated delays in development, only the PC version of Elite Dangerous Odyssey will be released on time.
While the alpha phase on the PC starts in early spring, the release of the final PC version of Odyssey is scheduled for the end of spring. The console versions, however, have been postponed to autumn 2021.
“We understand that for many, this additional delay will be frustrating. 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,” Frontier Developments said in a recent release.
“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,” the studio concluded.