Chris Roberts sends congrats to Braben on Elite: Dangerous launch, plays down rivalry

Elite: Dangerous

It is a fundamental law of the internet: an Elite: Dangerous article cannot exist without Star Citizen cropping up in the comments. But the sometimes bitter rivalry doesn’t appear to have crept from the community into Roberts Space Industries itself. The patriarch of the crowdfunded Star Citizen empire has written to congratulate Frontier on this week’s Elite: Dangerous launch.

“I know that many Star Citizen backers imagine there to be an intense competition between our game and Elite, but nothing could be further from the truth,” said Roberts. “I’m looking forward to taking a little bit of time off of Star Citizen during the holidays and firing up the finished version of E:D.”

“Rather than be worried about Elite or No Man’s Sky, I welcome them,” Roberts went on. “It’s been a long time coming but space sims are finally getting the love they deserve.”

The onetime Origin designer pointed out that he has been a backer of Braben’s game – and Braben a backer of his – since their first days on Kickstarter.

“We both believe that the world is better off with more PC games and even better off with more space games,” he wrote. “In the nineties there was plenty of room for multiple space sims and there is no reason that still can’t be the case now!”

Better still, reckons Roberts, is the fact that the genre revival has been a grassroots success – free from publisher poking. He believes not only that Star Citizen and Elite can co-exist as two “distinct” games – but that both have benefitted from one another’s public development.

“I would encourage anyone who loves space sims to take a look at Elite: Dangerous,” he finished. “The team at Frontier has done incredible work, and there’s a fascinating universe for pilots to explore.

“I have fond memories of playing the original Elite on my BBC Micro many years ago, and I’m very pleased that a new generation of gamers will get to have exactly that experience today.”

We’re convinced the new Elite is already one of thebest space games on the PC. Hopefully Star Citizen will follow suit.Who said there’s no love in a vacuum?