Elite Dangerous Outlines New Console Transfer Policies And 2022 Roadmap
It’s been a rough year for Frontier Developments ever since the release of Elite Dangerous’ problematic Odyssey expansion. Problems that still haven’t been completely fixed a year after the expansion’s launch. Consequently, the studio has decided to stop all future development on the sci-fi MMORPG’s console version to focus their full undivided attention on the PC version.
Console players were given the option to remain on the console version, which is now in maintenance mode, or start over from scratch on PC. They were also given a one-time chance to transfer their in-game assets, specifically any remaining credits and the credit costs of their ships, but not their DLCs. This was later suspended indefinitely while the team reviewed the transfer policies, giving players hope that the studio might relent and allow them to transfer more than just their credits.
That hope has now been shattered and ground to fine dust as Frontier revealed the revised policies during the latest episode of their Frameshift dev stream.
The good news is that console players will now be allowed to migrate all their account items over to PC including ships and weapons, as well as their commander name as long as it’s not already in use. The bad news is that they still won’t be able to transfer their mission progress. Fleet carriers, NPC crew names and appearances, friends list, squadrons, and remaining ARX credits will also not be available for transfer to the PC version. The latter has raised quite a few eyebrows.
“We recommend that anyone who submits their account for the transfer process purchases any desired cosmetics beforehand,” advised the studio. “Any unspent ARX post-transfer will remain available on the original console profile.”
There’s still no date on when transfers will start but the studio confirmed that the process will only be able for a limited time.
Frontier also outlined their development roadmap for 2022 with a new mission variant as well as stability and optimization improvement arriving with Update 12 this month. Update 13 comes out in August featuring new narrative content and more backend improvements while the next major narrative phase is scheduled for release in Update 14 in November. Players can also expect a key feature overhaul coming in early 2023.
“Our three focuses before the year ends are launching the next phase of the narrative, stability and optimisation. We’ll release three more updates to support these. Within the narrative, human space balances on the precipice as tension mounts within the bubble. The Azimuth Saga will conclude in a grand finale event, the consequences of which will mark the beginning of the next stage of the Elite story in Update 14.”
A Partner Program for streamers is also in the works and is set to launch later this year. Monthly development updates, however, will be cut back although patch notes will still be regularly released.
You can watch the full Frameshift episode below or make your way over to the Elite Dangerous official forums for a detailed rundown.
