The Elite Dangerous team has posted a new response to the community over concerns and questions about the decision to make 4.0 available to all PC users, including players who don't own the Odyssey expansion.
Elite Dangerous unveiled its new narrative phase, Aftermath, early this month with the conclusion of the Azimuth Saga. That phase had been running since late 2020, so it’s time for new beginnings, and of course with the events of the Azimuth Saga and a title like Aftermath, that’s clear.
When Frontier last made a big announcement to the community it was to say that all PC players, not just those that had purchased the Odyssey expansion, would soon be getting access to 4.0, whereas previously, non-Odyssey owners were limited to 3.8. Earlier this year, the team announced that they were ending active console development in favor of a PC-only streamlined codebase, but this, at the time, differentiated between Odyssey owners and those who didn't buy the expansion.
The new plan is to let all PC owners access 4.0, with Odyssey owners able to participate in all content, while others would still be able to play through future narrative content but not necessarily all other elements (like on-foot content) or events.
Within this plan, they’ve clarified that players with the same version (3.8, 4.0 Horizons, and 4.0 Odyssey) will be instanced together, meaning that you won’t be able to see or play with others on a different version. So if you are playing on Horizon 4.0, you won’t see anyone on 3.8 or Odyssey. Those with 3.8 can still access it but all future updates aside from essential maintenance patches will be for all players on 4.0.
For those console players who are looking to migrate their profiles to the PC version, this will happen next month and 4.0 will be available.
For more, see the new FAQ over at Elite Dangerous.
