Elite Dangerous

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Wikipedia

Elite Dangerous
DeveloperFrontier Developments
PublisherFrontier Developments
Directors
ProducerMichael Brookes (former)[1]
Designers
  • Sandro Sammarco (former)
  • Dan Davies
  • Tom Kewell[1][2]
Programmers
  • Mark Allen
  • Igor Terentjev[1]
Artists
  • John Laws
  • Simon Brewer
  • John Roberts[1]
ComposerErasmus Talbot[3]
SeriesElite
EngineCobra
Platforms
Release
  • Windows
    16 December 2014[4]
  • macOS
    12 May 2015[5]
  • Xbox One
    6 October 2015[6]
  • PlayStation 4
    27 June 2017[7]
Genres
ModesSingle-player, multiplayer

Elite Dangerous[d] is an online, space trading and combat simulation developed and published by Frontier Developments. The player commands a spaceship and explores a realistic 1:1 scale open-world representation of the Milky Way, with open-ended gameplay.

Elite Dangerous is the fourth game in the Elite series and the sequel to Frontier: First Encounters (1995).[9] It is the first Elite game to feature massively multiplayer and first-person on foot gameplay, with player actions affecting the story of the persistent universe, while retaining a single-player mode.

In November 2012, Frontier began a Kickstarter campaign for Elite Dangerous due to the inability to secure a publisher. It was released for Windows in December 2014,[4] macOS in May 2015, Xbox One in October 2015[10] and PlayStation 4 in June 2017. Elite Dangerous supports most virtual reality headsets on Windows.[11]

Downloadable content, Elite Dangerous: Odyssey, was released on 18 May 2021. It allows players to land on planets and disembark their vessel, allowing several activities which are all in first-person.[12] By September 2022, sales of Elite Dangerous had passed 4.8 million units.[12]

Gameplay

An Orbis station near an Earth-like planet. Players can dock at stations to trade, obtain ship upgrades or acquire missions.

Elite Dangerous combines features from space simulator, first person shooter and massively multiplayer genres with a persistent-galaxy based on the Milky Way. There are 3 game modes: Solo (single player), Private Group (friends and invites), Open Play (play with everyone).

Upon its release in 2014, Elite Dangerous (ED) began in the year 3300 and has been in sync with UTC albeit 1,286 years in the future. The game is set around 45 years after Frontier: First Encounters.[9][13][14] Elite Dangerous retains the basic premise of its predecessors: players start with a spaceship and a small amount of money in a 1:1 scale, open galaxy and roleplay in various activities to acquire more money (credits) and merit. A key difference is the addition of on-foot, first-person gameplay which was added with the Odyssey expansion on 19 May 2021. This enables first person gameplay such as collect genetic samples of alien flora for exobiology and first-person shooter combat. Other activities are e.g. trading, mining, exploration, exobiology, passenger carrier, smuggling, bounty hunting, piracy and assassination. However, you can socialize in first person with other players and NPCs in the concourse of a space station or planetary settlement. System Colonisation is a major new feature in the Elite series which requires the Odyssey expansion.[15] This was added as a free update in beta on 26 Feb 2025 with the full release on 11 Nov 2025.[15][16] Players can claim uninhabited star systems, build colonies with facilities and shape the economies.[15]

ED is the first in the series to feature online multiplayer with access to a massively multiplayer persistent galaxy via Open Play, as well as an online-only single player mode.[17] Open Play allows many actions that would be considered griefing in other multiplayer games as long as it doesn't violate the terms of service. However, some actions, such as "mob mentality" persecution of players, exploiting game mechanics, and obscene language to attack others could result in a ban from the servers.[18][19][20]

Money (credits) earned throughout the in-game galaxy can be spent on buying or upgrading ships, or on foot equipment for your character like suits and weaponry. Players can customize their ships by changing modules, i.e., engines, weapons, power plants, scanners, etc. The second in-game currency called ARX (buyable with real money) lets players purchase cosmetics for their ships, vehicles, on foot suits, and handheld weapons. Since mid-2024, new ships and some structures (Dodec station) have a 3 months early access for ARX and subsequently available for in-game credits.

Frontier publishes community goals, lore, and large-scale, galaxy-affecting stories via the in-game Galnet News and mail feature. Certain player-driven actions in community goals result in persistent changes to star systems and the ongoing galactic narrative.

Ships and vehicles

There are over 45 flyable ships with highly configurable builds to suit roles and careers. Every ship is powered by a Frame Shift Drive to supercruise at up to 2000+ times the speed of light in a star system. Supercruise Overdrive (SCO) temporarily boosts a ship much faster. Interstellar travel occurs via a higher dimensional region called hyperspace. Players can also acquire capital ships: Drake-Class Carrier and the Javelin Class-Carrier. The Drake is like a mobile base for players with billions of credits. The Javelin has additional features to support the operations of a squadron (guild). There are 2 SRVs (Surface Recon Vehicles): the Scarab and the Rhino. These ground vehicles make it easier to traverse a planet surface for exploration, combat or exobiology to find alien flora.

Galaxy

The virtual galaxy is a 1:1 simulation of the Milky Way where players can explore and colonise around 400 billion star systems complete with planets, moons and gas giants that rotate and orbit in real time, reflecting dynamic day-night cycles.[21][22] Around 150,000 of the game's star systems are taken from real astronomical data,[23] while a few partially fictional planetary systems are included which were created in Frontier and First Encounters before new exoplanets were discovered by astronomers. For example, none of the gas giants of the Fomalhaut system correspond with the detected properties of Fomalhaut b. A handful of entirely fictional systems named in the original Elite are included (e.g. the original starting system Lave). The remainder are procedurally generated according to scientific models.[23] Players can dock their ships at space stations, outposts and facilities on planet surfaces in star systems to trade goods, purchase spacecrafts or on foot equipment, re-arm their ship, perform repairs and accept tasks from the Mission Board.[24] Players may salvage lost cargo, encounter other flyable ships and megaships, interact with the Thargoid aliens, or explore the ruins of the extinct Guardians.

Factions

There are three major factions, the Empire of Achenar, the Federation, and the Alliance of Independent Systems.[25] Patch 1.3 (June 2015)[26] added Powerplay which introduced competitive, galactic faction challenges and charismatic powers some of which are independent. Playesr can pledge their support to a power and contribute by completing tasks while earning various rewards. The collective outcome of each faction's achievements determines a faction's standing, territorial control, and proceeding objectives.[27] The faction-specific in-game manufacturers are Core Dynamics (Federation), Gutamaya (Empire), Lakon Spaceways (Alliance). The Empire and Federation each have a ship line that are obtained by acquiring ranks within the respective faction. Alliance ships are not locked behind a ranking system.

Roles and ranks

All pilots are members of the Pilots Federation. They receive a rank based on their in-game achievements and experience. The main rank categories are: Combat, Trade, Explorer, CQC, Mercenary and Exobiologist. The latter 2 ranks were introduced with the Odyssey expansion. The rank for CQC (Close Quarters Combat) requires competing in PVP ship combat matches. Players gain experience points by doing activities that are related to the rank categories. For example, a bounty hunter destroying pirates gains Combat experience and rank progression. On 15 March 2015, the first player who reached Triple Elite status (Elite rank in Combat, Exploration, and Trading), won £10,000, while the first player who reached 1 Elite rank won £1,000.[28] Players who reach triple elite in Combat, Trade and Explorer are awarded with a special Triple Elite crest by the Pilots Federation. The maximum rank per category was increased to Elite V. Certain ranks in major factions grant permits (access) to special star systems. Benefits also include discounts to ship prices.[29]

Development

Starting in 2012, Elite Dangerous was developed with Frontier Development's own, in-house, Cobra game engine.[30] Frontier had been working on the game as a skunk-works background activity for some time prior to its Kickstarter launch,[31] with other projects being prioritised.[32]

On 14 November 2014, one month before launch, David Braben announced the removal of the game's offline single player mode, the developers having decided that they could not deliver an acceptable offline-only experience based on the original design.[33][34] The Windows version of the game was released on 16 December 2014.[4]

On 4 March 2015, Microsoft announced at the Game Developers Conference that Elite Dangerous would be released on Xbox One.[35] The Xbox One version early access launched in June 2015 as part of Microsoft's Game Preview program briefing at E3 2015.[36] It was fully released in October 2015.[10] On 2 April 2015, the game was made available on Steam with support for cross-buy between the Windows version and the Mac version,[37] the latter being released in May 2015.[38] Although there are no plans for a Linux version of the game, Braben stated in 2014 that "There is no reason why COBRA cannot run on Linux, running through OpenGL."[39] A version for PlayStation 4 was released on 27 June 2017. Support for the Mac version ended with Update 3.3 on 12 December 2018.[40]

Braben has said that Thargoids, the warlike, insectoid aliens from the original games, would make an appearance in some capacity.[41] Mission objectives introduced in May 2015 about ancient specimens fueled speculation of the coming introduction of the Thargoid species.[42] Although wrecks of the Thargoids had already been found in 2016, On 5 January 2017, the first documented sighting of functional Thargoid vessels occurred. While initial Thargoid encounters were non-violent, a number of space stations were since attacked, leading to missions based on investigating, researching, and gathering materials to develop weapons which were designed specifically to combat the Thargoids.

On 25 October 2016, an extinct alien race, the Guardians, was added, with players allowed to explore the ruins they left behind in order to gather data and materials to unlock special Guardian modules and specialized Human–Guardian hybrid weapons with increased effectiveness against Thargoid ships. Thematically, the Guardians were discovered in the year 3302.

On 9 April 2020, Fleet Carriers were added to the game, allowing players to own what are essentially mobile space stations for private use, though they are limited to one per player. They are exorbitantly (though not entirely prohibitively) expensive in terms of in-game currency, owing partially to the fact that they also require periodic refueling stops.

The game's main alien race, the Thargoids, invaded the bubble of colonized space in the galaxy in 2023. The Thargoids would deploy eight of their motherships, officially known as Thargoid Titans (though popularly referred to as the shorter Titans),[43] which added several new types of Thargoid vessel (which some have not reappeared after the destruction of all Titans), and made anti-xeno activities much more accessible for the time the invasion was still ongoing. New modules were added to the game, such as the Guardian Nanite Torpedo Pylon[44] which was designed to prevent the Titans from venting the heat they would generate. This forced the vulnerable core to be exposed in an effort to vent the heat, which would allow the destruction of the Titans.

An alternative variant of the Frame-Shift Drive, the game's method of faster-than-light travel, was developed by integrating Thargoid Titan technology into human components. The Supercruise Overcharge (SCO),[45] as it's called, vastly increased the speed of travel at the cost of lessened stability, excessive heat buildup, and immense fuel usage, all of which are significantly larger issues in ships not designed for the technology. Eight new ships have been released since, all of which were designed for the technology, though with varying degrees of efficiency: Python Mk II[46] (combat), Type-8[47] (cargo), Mandalay[48] (exploration), Caspian Explorer[49] (exploration), Cobra Mk V[50] and Corsair[51] (multipurpose), Panther Clipper MK II[52] (cargo) and Type-11 Prospector[53] (early access, mining).

In the Frontier Unlocked[54] livestream on 20 October, 2024, a new feature, interstellar colonization,[55] was first announced. Players can claim star systems and develop a colony by building ground facilities and space stations.[15] The beta version was released on 28 February 2025.[15] It exited beta for full release on 11 Nov 2025.[16]

Funding and testing

At the 2011 Game Developers Conference, following a presentation on the development of the original Elite, Braben was asked in a Q&A session if Elite 4 was still on the drawing board. He replied "yes, it would be a tragedy for it not to be".[56] The project had difficulty in attracting sufficient funding, which Braben had attributed to the traditional publishing model, which he saw as being biased against games with no recent comparable predecessors.[57]

Braben had previously discussed crowdfunding as a possible solution in April 2012.[58] Public fundraising commenced in November 2012 using the Kickstarter website,[59] the campaign lasting 60 days, with the aim being to raise £1.25m[60] and deliver a finished game by March 2014.[61] Braben described the campaign as a way of "test-marketing the concept to verify there is broader interest in such a game", in addition to raising the funds.[32]

Following the end of the Kickstarter, further public funding was sought through the developer's UK website, via PayPal.[60] By April 2014, £1.7m had been raised,[62] and Braben had reacquired the legal rights to the Elite franchise.[63] Although the game's original total development budget had been £8 million, by September 2014 this had, in Braben's words, "grown by quite a lot".[64]

In 2017, Frontier announced Tencent had acquired a 9% stake of Frontier Development.[65]

A playable alpha version of the game was released to certain Kickstarter backers in December 2013.[66][67] In May 2014, the game entered the first phase of its beta test, focusing primarily on testing the systems and servers with a greater number of players.[68] A pre-release "gamma" build was released to backers three weeks before launch, to give them a head start on other players.[69] On 2 April 2015, the beta Mac version went live, accessible to all backers.[70] ED also supported most virtual reality headsets since launch.[11][71]

Horizons

The first "season" of expansions for Elite Dangerous, named Horizons, was announced on 5 August 2015 at Gamescom, entered beta on 30 November 2015 and was released on 15 December 2015 for PC,[72] followed by a 3 June 2016 release for Xbox One.[73] Frontier Developments currently has no plans to release the expansion for Mac OS X unless Apple provides support for compute shaders, which Frontier believes are required to render planet surfaces and other objects.[74] Elite Dangerous: Horizons is a separately priced product. Original customers who also purchased Horizons received exclusive access to the Cobra Mk. IV ship.[75]

Horizons adds planetary landings, ground vehicles and bases, synthesis of consumables and temporary ship upgrades, ship-launched fighters, passenger missions, a character creator, and co-op multicrew support for larger ships.[76][77] Planetary landings feature procedurally generated planets, initially supporting only worlds without an atmosphere. Players can choose to set down at planetary bases or at any point of their choosing and can deploy a new eight-wheeled ground vehicle called the SRV ("Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle"). This vehicle is equipped with weapons, a "wave scanner" for finding resources, shipwrecks etc., a datalink system for hacking into bases, and thrusters that can lift it off of the ground for short periods of time, depending on the gravity of a world. Thrusters in the wheels can be used to affix it to the ground on worlds with low gravity. Materials found on planets can be combined to boost ship jump range, synthesize repair materials, or upgrade weapons.[78]

Horizons was billed as a season of five expansions, starting with planetary landings and then followed with a more comprehensive looting and crafting system released in May 2016,[79] ship-launched fighters and passenger missions released in October 2016,[80] and support for multiple players working cooperatively on the same ship planned for a future expansion within the first half of 2017 ahead of PlayStation 4 release[81] and with a 5th expansion to follow after that. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th expansions were announced originally for spring, summer and autumn 2016 respectively. But the 5th expansion had no reference to "winter", was not time-scheduled and had no content description, only stating a cryptic "soon" reference.[82][83]

An example of a character on the Holo-Me page in Elite Dangerous

On 24 February 2017, due to the new discovery in the Trappist-1 system, Update 2.3 would be delayed to put it in the game.[84] Update 2.3 called The Commanders was released on 11 April 2017,[85] five days earlier than originally said. It consists of a 'Commander Creator' (also known as the Holo-Me), Multicrew and various other features.[84] Update 2.4 called "The Return", with an expanded storyline for the alien Thargoids, was released on 26 September 2017.

On 27 October 2020, Horizons became a free update for the base game for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox users. People who purchased the expansion before it was free received an exclusive Azure paint job which is compatible with all ships that were available at the time of the update.[86]

Beyond

Beyond is the official title for the series of updates (3.0 onwards) that followed Horizons. It focused on improvements to the core gameplay along with improvements to the game's crime and punishment system, better trading data, new wing missions, new ships (including the Alliance Chieftain, Krait, and Thargoid scouts), more interaction with megaships and installations, a "tech broker" offering more advanced weapons, in-game Galnet audio, an overhaul of mining, new astronomical anomalies to discover, and improvements to planetary visuals and more detailed surface environments. An open beta for 3.0 was released on 25 January 2018, with official launch of "Chapter One" on 27 February 2018.[87] Subsequent "Chapters" were released across each quarter of 2018 culminating in the release of "Chapter Four" on 11 December 2018 that brought night vision capabilities along with a completely redesigned exploration system, planetary probes, and a Full Spectrum Scanner (FSS) tool for scanning star systems.

Odyssey expansion

Odyssey was announced by Frontier Developments on 3 June 2020 via a video trailer and summary post on their official forums, with launch scheduled for 19 May 2021. [88] The first in-game footage of Odyssey would be shown at The Game Awards 2020 in the form of a minute long gameplay trailer. Referred to as "New Era" in prior communications, full production on Odyssey began in Summer 2018 with a large majority of the Elite development team allocated to it.[89] While this was a paid update for Elite Dangerous base-game owners, Lifetime Expansion owners received it as part of their Pass.[90] It was originally planned for the Elite Dangerous major update to release in December 2020, but in the context of the then current COVID-19 environment, Frontier announced a PC release date of 19 May 2021 on 22 April 2021.[91]

On 13 January 2021, Frontier Developments announced that their release roadmap for Odyssey had shifted as a result of the on-going COVID pandemic: the PC version of Odyssey was now slated to release in late spring 2021, while the PS4 and Xbox One versions had been delayed to autumn 2021.[92]

From 29 March – 5 May 2021, a public alpha build of Odyssey was available. It was split into four phases, with each phase opening more of the game up. In phase 1, players were unable to access their ships, which meant that they were only able to get around using the newly added "Apex Interstellar" taxi service, and they were limited to a single star system. From phase 2 onward, players were able to access ships and could access other star systems. Phase 3 was focused around new exploration features, meaning that players could purchase exploration tools and a Genetic Sampler to study any Flora that they happened upon. Phase 4 imported players' accounts from the main game to test compatibility. The alpha was limited, and a lot of features from the final release of the DLC were cut off. Before the alpha ended, text appeared on screen that said (paraphrased) "See you all on May 19th, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish!"

On 19 May 2021, Frontier Developments released the DLC on PC. The launch was followed by major issues of client/server stability, several gameplay bugs, and inadequate performance for PC clients stated within the hardware requirements. It resulted in a "Mostly Negative" global review on Steam store.[93] Players also complained widely on both Steam and the official forum about a steep increase in time to collect instrumental resources, broken mechanics, and missing end game activities.[94] Frontier Developments have subsequently released 7 major updates with the first 5 released on a weekly schedule. These focused on stability and bug fixes, with critical performance issues left to be addressed in later updates in the run up to the planned console release.

Odyssey adds first-person features on planetary surfaces and inside bases to the game. The player can traverse these environments on-foot while wearing a space suit. On-foot gameplay has survival mechanics such as health, oxygen, energy and coordinates which are indicated in the head-up display. Odyssey's first person mode does not support virtual reality headsets.[95]

On 4 June 2021, Frontier Developments announced the focus of Updates 3, 4 and 5, postponing the performance optimization to following console related development.[96]

On 12 July 2021, Frontier Developments announced that console release had been delayed indefinitely.[97] Later, on 10 March 2022, Frontier CEO David Braben announced on the company's forums that all further content development for console versions of Elite: Dangerous was being cancelled, citing the need to move the game's story forward by focusing on one post-Odyssey codebase. [98]

On 29 July 2021, Frontier Developments released Update 6 with declared corrections to missions, POIs, interface problems, and the addition of AMD's FSR technology to address in minor measure performance issues for affected hardware configurations by downgrading and then scaling the effective resolution.[99] This update introduced new severe issues (e.g. certain mission types weren't available in stations, and certain engineering unlocks were inaccessible for some users, and players would occasionally be charged for weapon modifications that weren't actually applied to the ship) and did little to address long-standing critical performance issues.

On 7 September 2021, Frontier Developments released an Issue Report announcing at the same time the focus of the Updates 7 and 8 while postponing to 2022 the addressing of some major issues, including problems with anti-aliasing and a limited framerate.[100]

On 22 September 2021, Frontier Developments released Update 7 after being postponed for several weeks, which fixed many outstanding issues, added quality of life changes, and optimized some game features. Previous performance issues remained unresolved, but Frontier Development's official update notes would mention "tweaks made to hopefully positively contribute toward current player performance issues".[101]

Elite Dangerous: Arena

Simultaneously announced and launched on 16 February 2016,[102] Elite Dangerous: Arena was a low-priced standalone version of the CQC (Close Quarters Combat) arena mode from Elite Dangerous allowing newcomers and those who already have Elite Dangerous to compete against each other. The corresponding game mode in Elite Dangerous was also renamed from "CQC" to "Arena" on the same day. From 7 to 11 July 2016, the game was offered for free on Steam.[103] On 10 February 2017 it was removed for sale on Steam[104] but it remains available as an in-game mode in ED.

Reception

Critical response

Elite Dangerous received an aggregated score of 80/100 on Metacritic based on 55 critics, indicating that the game received "generally favorable reviews" (84% positive) from critics.[105]

Chris Thursten of PC Gamer rated the game 86/100, considering it to be "potentially a classic", depending on Frontier's ability to build on the "broad but somewhat shallow foundations" of the released version. Thursten described the gameplay experience as "exhilarating excitement, matched by nothing else this year, contrasted with moments of emptiness, frustration, and boredom".[112] Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer gave the game 8/10 and considered it to be "probably the most immersive and compelling recreation of deep space ever seen in gaming", while finding some of the gameplay repetitive.[109] Andy Kelly of GamesRadar gave the game 4/5, calling it a "compelling space sandbox" and a "welcome return" of the Elite franchise, but felt that the game at launch was "missing a lot of important features, especially when it comes to multiplayer".[110] Roger Hargreaves of the Metro gave it 7/10, describing the game as a "solid start" that had yet to fulfil its potential.[114] Reviewing the game for IGN, Rob Zacny called it "one of the most enthralling and evocative space combat and trade sim games I've ever played" and "also one of the most boring", seeing the balance of "brief, intense emotional peaks and long, shallow valleys of boredom" as "fundamental to Elite's identity".[115] Reviewing a later version of the game in April 2015, after playing the game since launch, Lee Hutchinson from Ars Technica described Elite Dangerous as "so damn good that it transcends its problems".[116] Joel Peterson of Destructoid gave the PlayStation 4 version of the game 9/10, calling it "A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage."[117]

The announcement of the removal of the offline mode on 14 November 2014 was met by a number of complaints from customers, with some saying they had backed the game on the understanding that it would feature offline play and others that there had been no prior warning of removal during the whole of the preceding development period.[33] Frontier offered refunds to customers who had pre-ordered the game without playing it,[118] and said that those who had already played the game, in alpha or beta form, would not be eligible for refunds.[119][120] Later, Braben, speaking for the company, announced that refunds would be judged on a "case-by-case" basis.[118][121][122]

Elite Dangerous won "Best of E3" from The Escapist and games.cz in 2014.[123] Elite Dangerous won the Game Developers Choice Award 2015 for best audience.[124] During the 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Elite Dangerous for "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay".[125] It was ranked as the Best VR Game of 2016 from Game Revolution.[126] It was nominated for Evolving Game by the British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA) in 2017.[127] The game was also nominated for the "Still Playing" award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards.[128] Elite Dangerous: Beyond was nominated for "Evolving Game" at the 2019 British Academy Games Awards.[129] The astronomy news website Space.com ranked Elite Dangerous as the best space flight simulation game of 2025.[130]

Sales

By the end of April 2015, Elite Dangerous had sold more than 500,000 copies, with Frontier Developments expected to generate £22 million from sales.[131] The game had sold around 1.7 million units by the end of May 2016.[132] By the end of December 2016 over 2.1 million paid franchise units were sold of Elite Dangerous.[133] On 15 January 2019, cumulative sales of Elite Dangerous exceeded 4.3 million franchise units, composed of 3 million base game units and 1.3 million Horizons expansion units.[134] In April 2020 the sales of Elite Dangerous base game units had passed 3.5 million.[135] During an interview published on 23 October 2020, Frontier CFO Alex Bevis announced that Elite Dangerous had generated more than £100 million of revenue.[136] By September 2022, over 4.8 million base game units were sold.[12]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Until December 2018
  2. ↑ Until March 2022
  3. ↑ Until March 2022
  4. ↑ Originally released as Elite: Dangerous, the name was changed to remove the colon when Horizons was released.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Elite Dangerous Team". Frontier Developments. 14 June 2013. Archived from the original on 2 January 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Wesley Yin-Poole (23 April 2015). "Powerplay update makes Elite Dangerous a lot more interesting". EuroGamer.net. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Elite Dangerous composer announced". Frontier. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 "Elite: Dangerous release date set for next month". PC Gamer. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "Elite: Dangerous now available for Macs, both direct and on Steam". Ars Technica. 12 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Martin, Michael (8 September 2015). "Elite Dangerous Xbox One Release Date Revealed". IGN. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  7. ↑ Groizard, Matthew (16 May 2017). "Elite Dangerous Touches Down on PS4 June 27". PlayStation.Blog. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  8. ↑ Alec Meer (16 December 2015). "Elite Dangerous Planetary Landing Expansion Out Now". Rock Paper Shotgun.
  9. 1 2 "Elite Dangerous Gameplay Demo - IGN Live: Gamescom 2014". 15 August 2014. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  10. 1 2 Microsoft. "XBOX One store page for Elite Dangerous". Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  11. 1 2 Jamie Feltham (16 December 2014). "Frontier developments launches Elite dangerous with oculus rift support". VRFocus. Archived from the original on 9 April 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  12. 1 2 3 "Annual Reports and Accounts 2022" (PDF). Frontier Developments. 14 October 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 September 2023.
  13. ↑ "Elite: Dangerous: the David Braben interview". Eurogamer. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "Elite: Dangerous Fiction Diary #5". 23 August 2013. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 "System Colonisation Guide". Elite Dangerous. 28 February 2025. Archived from the original on 31 July 2025. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  16. 1 2 "Elite Dangerous: Dodec Update". Elite Dangerous. 11 November 2025. Archived from the original on 18 December 2025. Retrieved 18 December 2025.
  17. ↑ Royce, Brianna (16 December 2014). "Elite: Dangerous' launch-day roundup". Joystick. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  18. ↑ "Elite: Dangerous - Community Code of Conduct". Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  19. ↑ Sammarco, Sandro (27 January 2015). ""Combat Logging": Update". Frontier Developments. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
  20. ↑ Brookes, Michael (7 May 2015). "Dev Update - 07.05.2015". Frontier Developments. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  21. ↑ "Elite: Dangerous Newsletter #36". Frontier Developments. 15 August 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  22. ↑ "Elite: Dangerous | Gameplay + David Braben interview". 18 August 2014. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  23. 1 2 Parkin, Simon (9 July 2014). "The Video Game That Maps the Galaxy". The New Yorker. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  24. ↑ "Elite: Dangerous review". gamesradar.com. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  25. ↑ IGN (11 January 2015). "Factions". IGN.
  26. ↑ Lewis, Edward. "Powerplay launches today". Frontier Development Official Forums. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  27. ↑ Lee Hutchinson (23 April 2015). "Details revealed about major Elite: Dangerous overhaul: "Power Play" in May". ArsTechnica.
  28. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (24 March 2015). "Elite: Dangerous' first Triple Elite player just won £10,000". EuroGamer.
  29. ↑ Wolf, Fenris (28 March 2015). "Permits – access required". Frontier. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  30. ↑ "Cobra game engine". forums.frontier.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 September 2014.
  31. ↑ Sharwood, Simon (6 November 2012). "Classic game 'Elite' returns … on Kickstarter". The Register. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  32. 1 2 Yin-Poole, Wesley (6 November 2012). "Elite Dangerous Kickstarter from series creator David Braben". Eurogamer. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  33. 1 2 "Elite Dangerous enrages its players and backers with the elimination of offline play". Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  34. ↑ "Elite Dangerous single-player offline mode officially ditched". Hexus.net. 17 November 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  35. ↑ Tuttle, Will (4 March 2015). "Phil Spencer Announces Developer Tools to Bring Games to Billions". Xbox Wire. Microsoft. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  36. ↑ "Xbox One Early Access Programme Announced at E3 2015, Launches Today". GameSpot. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  37. ↑ Hall, Charlie (2 April 2015). "Elite Dangerous makes a surprise jump to Steam, offers cross-buy between Mac and PC". Polygon. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
  38. ↑ "Elite Dangerous Newsletter #25 - Mostly Harmless Questions". Frontier Developments. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  39. ↑ "Interview: David Braben, Elite". Tux Radar. 20 January 2014. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
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