Elite Dangerous Confirms Three-Version Split When Version 4.0 Comes Out

Earlier this month, Frontier Developments announced their plans to merge the Horizons and Odyssey codes for the PC version of Elite Dangerous as they make the move to Version 4.0 sometime next month. Following the merge and the new version release, console players will remain on Version 3.8 and will effectively be in maintenance mode for the foreseeable future as previously announced.

In their latest dev update, Frontier Developments explains that the move will split the sci-fi sandbox MMORPG into three versions – Odyssey, Horizons, and console, not just two as players had hoped. Horizons will continue to remain separate from Odyssey regardless of the merge which prompted the community to call out the studio for its earlier promises that players on both versions will eventually be able to play together alongside the game’s launch on consoles. Console development has now been permanently halted but the feature has yet to be released.

The split has also raised concerns that it will make grouping and matchmaking for close quarter matches much more difficult. This will be addressed in a separate thread on the official forums sometime in the future.