Elite Dangerous director apologises for Odyssey's bug-ridden launch
"We take these issues very seriously and they are our top priority and focus"
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey, the new expansion for Frontier's space exploration sim, launched in a pretty rough state last week. Players have reported crashes, loads of bugs and performance issues, giving the game's Steam reviews the damning "Mostly Negative" tag. While the devs have already released two hotfixes, some issues are still persisting. On Friday, the studio's CEO issued an apology, saying they're "taking these issues very seriously, and adding that a second hotfix is on the way.
"First and foremost, I would like to apologise wholeheartedly to those who have been suffering from these problems," studio CEO and Elite Dangerous director David Braben said on the Frontier forum. "I would like to reassure you that we take these issues very seriously and that they are our top priority and focus."
Odyssey is a new DLC for Elite Dangerous that, for the very first time, lets players stretch their legs and roam around outside of their ships. Unfortunately, when it came out on Wednesday, it was met by a lot of unhappy players. "A buggy unoptimised mess" and a release that "makes the Cyberpunk launch look good" are amongst the kinder criticisms on Steam. Players reported bugs like not being able to see others when teaming up online, being kicked from missions at random, and a whole lot more.
Frontier released an initial hotfix on Thursday, followed by a second on Friday. These brought general stability improvements, as well as fixes to various missions and weapons, but the game still isn't as stable as it should be.
"We will continue to work on updates which will resolve more bugs and improve stability further," Braben added. "We understand that there are a number of players who have had problems accessing and playing the game and I can assure you that we are focusing fully on improving this for those affected and communicating with you openly and regularly about how these issues are being addressed."
Brendy had a good time with the game in his Elite Dangerous: Odyssey preview, though he had a few issues himself with bugs - ones he'd hoped might be dealt with once the expansion left alpha.
"Despite the wobbliness present in the alpha, I'm still hopeful with what Odyssey is promising," he wrote. "When it's all fleshed-out, the best thing a returning space pilot can do, in my eyes, is to land on a far-flung moon and step out onto the surface. Enjoy the view, take some screenshots, jump around in low gravity and watch out for Vultures overhead."