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Elite: Dangerous Horizons has its full launch delayed

Elite Dangerous

Frontier Developments have delayed the full launch of season two of Elite: Dangerous, which started with planetary landings but will eventually add crafting, multi-crew ships, avatar creation and ship-launched fighters. Here’s everything that’s planned.

In the mood for a bit of intergalactic exploration? Check out our list of PC’s best space games.

In an annoucement to the London Stock Exchange, Frontier explained that update 2.1 wouldn’t be hitting the original launch goal and Horizons wouldn’t be leaving pseudo Early Access in April this year, instead slipping into the company’s next financial year, which begins after May 31.

CEO of Frontier Developments David Braben said: “Over a number of years, Frontier has established an outstanding track record of meeting demanding release schedules and exceptional quality thresholds, so this delay is disappointing.

“However, it is absolutely critical for the longer-term success of the Elite franchise that we maintain our absolute commitment to quality. Despite this temporary setback, the Board and I remain very excited both by the potential of the Elite franchise and the progress that Frontier is making as it transitions to self-publishing.”

The future plans for Elite: Dangerous make the scope of this current set of expansions seem trivial, with landing on atmospheric planets and getting out of your ship both planned to arrive at some point over the coming years. Imagine the undertaking involved in just mapping a 1:1 scale version of Earth, never mind other planets that possibly host intelligent life and other alien species.

Braben did take to Reddit to put fears to rest a little, however, by explaining that the delay wasn’t expected to be a huge one. “What it means is that 2.1 is pushed out by around 6 weeks,” Braben said. “This is to push the quality up, which is a good thing for the game. It’s ready when it’s ready. It does mean you’ll have to wait a bit longer, but it will be worth the wait.”

He went on to say although Frontier plan no major updates before 2.1, “there will still be minor updates”. So expect your usual raft of bug fixes and tweaks.

Although it’s constantly evolving, you can read my initial impressions for Elite: Dangerous Horizons’ planetary landing beta here.

Thanks, Eurogamer.