Frontier have just confirmed in the PlayStation forum - after a year of speculation - that they have no plans to bring Odyssey natively to the PS5 or XBox Series X/S. Essentially this means they're not willing to invest any effort in current-gen architecture for the game on console and are only targeting the 8-year old PS4 and Xbox One.
The game will run on the current-gen consoles, but only in backwards compatibility mode, meaning any improvements available are limited to an unlocked frame rate and improved SSD R/W times. For example, playing Elite or Odyssey on the PS5 will offer a maximum resolution of 1080p.
The lack of investment in current architecture sends a clear message that Frontier do not view the console market as a worthwhile investment, outside of any sales they might pick up via existing players on the 8-year old PS4 and Xbox.
Why then, do we think they are delaying improvements to the PC version of Odyssey for the console release, when the console version of the game has just had it's death-knell sounded?
RIP Elite on console. You were always the unloved step-child.
I would say that this only further cements EDO is likely the last major installment for Elite. Not moving forward on console generation not only locks Elite down from continued improvement, but also contractually obliges the PC side to be hindered as well. Knowing this, and knowing that the growth potential for Elite is
in consoles not PC...
(I'm a PS4 player by the by, so this makes me particularly sad)
Elite Dangerous is probably done for major development post console launch. New ships, continuing story, sure. It's not going to just 'die' (I hope?) but EDO has probably played it's best cards already: space legs. The fact so many features remain broken or at V1.0 in Horizons or base game speaks volumes about the future of EDO content. Installations and Megaships are still bugged, Powerplay...oh powerplay...C&P is still a joke, squadrons remain a woefully underbaked tool, and multi-crew...
Oh man, multicrew. The
one feature that could really breathe life into Elite,
especially on console.
This iteration is on its way out the door, me thinks. I could be wrong and we're spitballing months before EDO even launches (horribly, if I had to guess) on console. But when it
does 'launch' (becomes accessible, bug-ridden and even worse-performing than PC on its first day) I suspect that'll be the first death knell. Because the PC sales, while I think good, didn't make enough scratch. Especially as more and more press realized how misleading (and still
is misleading) the marketing for EDO has been. The console crowd is even more likely to review ratings on a title like this, now with multiple DLC (and thus higher cost of entry) and thus avoid it altogether in favor of other titles.
It's too bad. Elite has a great future on next-gen, especially if VR were taken seriously. VR is steadily breaking out (slowly by certain standards) on consoles. PS5's new VR
could make a big splash and I suspect X-Box wouldn't be far behind. Microsoft certainly hasn't stopped investing in VR. The
only thing that keeps Elite being a smash hit on consoles, really, is the severe quantity of keybinds. That's part of what makes it a great game, too, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at the game and identify better UI architecture to reduce those to something more manageable.
I was so hoping to experience Elite on PS5 (and in VR)...too bad, really. I'm still looking forward to trying VR in NMS when I get it, among many other titles I've got on backburner while waiting to get the new console.
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I haven't had a virus on my various PCs in decades, and I'm using standard MS Defender only. Being careful what to click on goes a long way.
