Frontier still committed to Elite IV

By Robert Purchese Published 19 May, 2010

Source: pre-production efforts on hold.

Frontier Developments chairman David Braben has told Eurogamer that the studio is still determined to develop and release Elite IV.

Eurogamer has been told by multiple sources that the game was in pre-production stages until recently but has since been put on hold.

"We don't comment on rumours," Braben told us in response. "There have been recent staff changes on the project, and our commitment to the game is as strong as ever."

The game was originally mentioned several years ago in connection with PC and consoles, and our sources confirmed that these were the target platforms.

The original Elite, an open-ended space trading game, was written and developed by Braben and Ian Bell and released for numerous platforms in the 1980s.

It was followed by Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters in the early nineties.

Frontier Developments is also working on The Outsider, about which relatively little has been heard, although our sources indicated that a huge team is in full production on the multi-platform techno-thriller.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (63) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ignatiusjreilly #1 2 years ago

    I can't help thinking if it gets released it will some sort of spaceship shoot-em-up, largely unrelated to its heritage apart from the name. I suspect Eve Online will be a better Elite sequel than any updated, more 'accessible', multiformat reboot.

    Hope I'm wrong, though and I'm doing this team a great disservice.

  • darleysam #2 2 years ago

    I can believe that it'll be a good game when it eventually comes out, I just wish The Outsider would get a move on to facilitate this.

  • NewbieZilla #3 2 years ago

    I wonder what the publisher status is on The Outsider.

  • Goffee #4 2 years ago

    Can't they just put up an ST emulator and run the 16-bit Elite, that was the pinnacle.

  • Eraysor #5 2 years ago

    They should make another RCT while they're at it, I loved RCT3.

  • space_ace #6 2 years ago

    Frontier can't comment on rumours while it's working on another piece of vapourware.
    :)

  • woodnotes #7 2 years ago

    They should call it Elite Forever.

  • enfilade #8 2 years ago

    I heard they're running late because Braben had to let some guys go. They couldn't tell the management what the 1st letter of the 14th word on the 17th line of page 23 of the manual was going to be.

  • Retroid #9 2 years ago

    Get Ian Bell back on board and you have yourself a deal.

    Last I heard he was taking photos of topless models covered in UV paint so we win either way! \o/

  • StooMonster #10 2 years ago

    Elite for iPad FTW!

  • FogHeart #11 2 years ago

    I think these gents are spending too much time in hoopy casinos which are plagued by huge earthquakes.

  • jstar #12 2 years ago

    BRABEN PLEASE MAKE THIS GAME AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

    THANK YOU

  • coastal #13 2 years ago

    hahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa

  • reality_cheque #14 2 years ago

    Seriously Braben, sort it out.

  • MikeP #15 2 years ago

    19th May, 2310. The sixth-iteration clone of the original David Braben tells us from the flight deck of his Cobra MkV he's "still committed to the production of the historically authentic space simulator, Elite IV."

  • Nazo #16 2 years ago

    Does 'pre-production stages' mean 'not started yet'? Not exactly encouraging. Hurry up, dammit!

  • Tyronne #17 2 years ago

    Shame ,I was quite looking forward to playing Elate iv sooner rather than later.

  • PearOfAnguish #18 2 years ago

    By the time Elite IV is released I'll be able to buy my own spaceship.

  • geeza2020 #19 2 years ago

    cant help but feel this will be nowhere near as good as the original.

  • TriggerHippie #20 2 years ago

    David Braben blah blah Elite blah.

  • Stompy #21 2 years ago

    I have no faith in a Braben-headed Elite, because to me Frontier was an unplayable mess of a game.
    Combat was a matter of two masses moving relative to each other at hurtling speeds, losing the arcade immediacy of the original. Generally AI pirates just ended up crashing into me, forcing the most undeserved game over, because presumably they found the flight system impossible as well.
    Secondly, the realistic solar system physics meant that you could warp into a system and then have to spend so many months getting to the required planet that you actually timed out on a mission. This was unbelievably unacceptable to a younger me.

    There would need to be strong elements of the original, in which a comparative simplicity drove the apparent chaos, mixed in any new Elite for me to take back my hard words.

  • FladgeMangle #22 2 years ago

    From my experience, EVE Online is the spiritual successor to Elite. Maybe that's the reason they're having so much trouble coming up with Elite IV, as every idea they have is already being played out on an Icelandic server?

    I'd say keep the galaxy, economy and excellent spacecraft modding, add a decent single player story arc and then lose the griefers, space pirates and war-spammers. That would be a good start.

  • cnlfailure #23 2 years ago

    [alternate perspective]

    I loved Frontier for precisely those reasons. It truly was an open ended experience.

  • YenRug #24 2 years ago

    @Stompy

    Did you make the mistake of leaving your engines running, just increasing/decreasing speed, in combat? If so, what you really needed to do was shut your engines off as soon as you entered combat, then use the forward/reverse thrusters; in that way, your general momentum was still towards your intended target in system, but when you use the thrusters you are then moving relatively to the combat target.

  • hiddenranbir #25 2 years ago

    If they make it as a deeper, bigger Space Rangers 2... Maybe more strategy AI for empires doing their own political battling. HELL TO THE YES.

    But yeah they better sort it or abort it.

  • Stompy #26 2 years ago

    @YenRug:

    But that's not Elite - that's Mr. Braben's Astrophysics Simulator (with, by necessity, some concession to gameplay and combat).
    That concession was not big enough for me.

  • gizmo_1990 #27 2 years ago

    @Yenrug

    I'm sorry but as Stompy says that is completely missing the point. Elite was so good because it struck a perfect balence between the immediacy of arcade thrills, the combat and the open ended structure of an adventure, the trading and exploring. Frontier completely removed an integral componant of it, hence it was utter utter shit.
    Stompy I salute you sir!
    Sadly I've been trying to get a space game off the grid for years now.. Where's a good, commited, time-on-his-hands programmer when you need one!
    Edited by 1 at 19/05/10 @ 18:31

  • glaeken #28 2 years ago

    @Stompy You are actually making Frontier sound really good to those of us of a particular mind set. Might be better to talk about how crap the resolution was ;)

  • drxym #29 2 years ago

    EVE online provides much of what made Elite good, and adds in multiplayer and a massive dynamic universe for good measure. Any new Elite is going to have to compete with that and I can see why it might be a huge task.

    Perhaps the thing to do is go the other direction. Go extremely casual and capture the handheld or social networking sites with something which is basically a glorified flash game.

  • TheRealBadabing #30 2 years ago

    Ellie MkIV - now immune to review backlash!

  • ST.. #31 2 years ago

    Frontier are the kings of VAPORWARE!!!

    I can't wait to play Outsider and Elite 4 on my Playstation 10.

  • Optyk #32 2 years ago

    First thing i thought of was Pokemon.

  • beastmaster #33 2 years ago

    Outsider need to be something pretty fucking special for me to have any faith in Elite 4.
    Edited by 1 at 19/05/10 @ 18:48

  • Ged42 #34 2 years ago

    Maybe they keep crashing into the station?

  • metalangel #35 2 years ago

    Maybe development keeps stalling because they have to take the engine in to be serviced every 12 months?

  • TomSwift #36 2 years ago

    ARGRGRGGGG!GHGHHHGGHHH JUST MAKE IT ALREADY!!!!!

  • jefranklin18 #37 2 years ago

    Good grief, Elite 4 has been off in and out of pre-production since about 2001. The bloody Eurofighter had a (roughly) 10 year gestation before it flew. How long do they need?

  • TOOTR #38 2 years ago

    Right On Commander!

  • loki88 #39 2 years ago

    From deep in his bunker, brabbens been saying next up on elite 4 since 1999.

    There is allways another game frontier need to finish up first. I tell you now, same shit different day in 3 years time, it's coming.. but ohh this game first.

    And don't even go there with eve/elite, eve is full of asshats on every level from the developers down to the scuzzy greifing element that pad out the win (cheat) at all cost social outcasts.

    You'd need to do away will all of that to make elite 4 work, otherwise the millions that don't bother with eve will be drawn away.

  • Silvergun-Blue #40 2 years ago

    Looks like enfilades comment went over most peoples head, well said sir! +1! I remember having a stapled together photocopy of the whole manual just so I could get the bloody game to start.

    I'm also thinking that ancient method of copywrite protection is far superior to the current DRM methods and the like. At least it would piss less people off without being any less secure.

  • TexMurphy01 #41 2 years ago

    I shit you not, I emailed these people in 1998 (I was at college then, and about twelve years younger than I am now) and they told me that they wouldn't comment on it until 18 months from release, which was 18 months away (approximately) from when I emailed them.

    I honestly can't believe anyone would seriously report on this story. There is no way this game will be any good. They're going to try and make it console friendly and probabaly have it tie in with one of their shitty mobile phone games. I'm sorry Frontier, I loved the early titles as much as anyone, but I'm damned if I'm going to buy what will surely be an absolute piece of shit.

  • Spuzzell #42 2 years ago

    I don't need a new Elite really, EVE already exists for the trader space sim hit and Freespace 2 nailed space combat way back when.

    A new Freelancer on the other hand would cause a Spuzzell happy dance. I loved that game with a passion right up to the dull unfinished brick wall of an ending.

  • dr_shambles #43 2 years ago

    It will be released on the same day as Duke Nukem Forever.

    /gets coat

  • Stuz359 #44 2 years ago

    Pre-Production? Come on, get your finger out Braben.

  • BIG-GIT #45 2 years ago

    Elite 4 ... about god dam time :p

  • CheesecakeBobby #46 2 years ago

    Yeah, right. Braben has been saying this for years. 3 years ago a former Frontier employee told me that Elite IV was nothing more than vapourware, a pipe dream used to lure in employees who are then told 'oh, we are using our current projects to develop the tech that will one day become Elite IV'. I'm skpetical that this has changed.

  • Connobi #47 2 years ago

    Elite 4? Pfft, does anyone care anymore? 1st game was awesome, the rest were toss. How long will Braben dangle the carrot with elite 4?

  • Stompy #48 2 years ago

    I hope Braben doesn't drop his kids off at school while dangling his carrot, I'm not sure the other parents will be pleased.

  • neems #49 2 years ago

    Secretly, I believe most people's experience of playing the original Elite was as follows - Buy goods, undock, choose destination, jump. Arrive in empty space. Work out where destination is. Pootle through vacuum for an hour. Check map. Make cup of tea, possibly watch a movie. Come back, see tiny dot in distance which is the destination. 2 hours later, collide with space station while trying to dock. In fit of pique, open fire on station, cue swarm of police ships. Spend a vaguely enjoyable 3 minutes desperately trying to draw a bead on any of the dozen ships shooting chunks off your hull. Die.

  • girth #50 2 years ago

    The problem with Elite is that it is largley seen as an old retro game (largely because it is exactly that!). It's been so long now that most gamers today wouldn't really know what it is and how important it was as a game. So getting the funding for an old IP that most people have forgotten is very difficult.

    Then you have the obvious problems of what type of game do you make? Space sims only really work on PC as it's very difficult to get a flying sim working on a console control pad. As we know - the PC has been going through painful times these last 6 odd years as piracy has killed it off as a viable games machine. So most publishers wouldn't dream of releasing a game on PC only.

    THEN, you have the problem of cash - a true Elite sequel would demand a AAA game - one where the game really pushes the boundaries and offers innovation in its genre. Most publishers don't do innovation. Most publishers wouldn't spend tens of millions of pounds on a game that in all honesty - would be a massive risk!

    So many problems with Elite IV. No wonder it's been in development limbo for so many years.

    Shame. Real shame. I regard Elite in the highest degree - it's one of my personal favourite games ever and one that inspired me to join the industry & become a games designer.

    David? If your listening - I have an idea or two. :)

  • parablax #51 2 years ago

    I still can't believe the lack of space sim games available on the consoles. In fact I can't actually think of any except star wars starfighter and the terrible battle star galactica game.

  • Stop-gap #52 2 years ago

    You guys are going to hate me for this, but isn't there even less to show for Elite IV's "determination" than there was for DNF's supposed development? If you're planning to make something, it's generally a good idea to do it while people still care.

  • girth #53 2 years ago

    The difference (from what I understand) is that DNF was actually in full development and underwent complete changes again and again until it finally died.

    I believe Elite IV has only ever really been in concept & pre-production phases. (Someone can correct me if I'm wrong).
    Edited by 1 at 20/05/10 @ 10:18

  • metalangel #54 2 years ago

    @Parablax: Project Sylpheed!

  • jefranklin18 #55 2 years ago

    @girth & Stop-Gap:

    The only E4 media that has been ever been shown were a couple of pictures (hand drawings) of a female character in tight clothing running around with guns. It got pretty much slammed by the regulars on alt.fan.elite as Tombraider in Space. That was pre-2000 that I recall.

    I would never consider getting an Elite game on a console, even though I own as PS3. It would not feel "right" and the game itself lends itself towards keyboad/mouse play, or a HOTAS joystick...

    I have a mate that is trying to convince me to join him on EVE, but I am not convinced by having to shell out to play something every month, when I may only want to play it periodically. That is why I still have to drag myself back to the Direct X version of Frontier, as there is little else to choose from.

  • Soton4084 #56 2 years ago

    The potential on the PS3 in particular, with it's large blu-ray storage capacity, for a huge universe to explore is an exciting prospect. Unfortunately, I can't see Elite 4 ever coming out and if it does, I won't have high hopes.

  • Matfink #57 2 years ago

    Best hurry up... [link url=http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums /mod/journal/journal.asp?jn=263350
    ]http://ww w.gamedev.net/community/forums/...[/link]

    ed: U tube vid: [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7eREddM jt4&feature=player_embedded&fmt=22
    ]http://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=h7eREddMj...[/link]

    @ gizmo: are you a programmer yourself?
    Edited by 1 at 20/05/10 @ 13:17

  • Psi #58 2 years ago

    I was a child when the first two came out, I've now got kids.

    I think they may have kids by the time this games out.

    It's a shame, but if they'd churned out sequal's every year, we'd also be piss sick.

  • PlugMonkey #59 2 years ago

    FladgeMangle
    From my experience, EVE Online is the spiritual successor to Elite. Maybe that's the reason they're having so much trouble coming up with Elite IV, as every idea they have is already being played out on an Icelandic server?

    I'd say keep the galaxy, economy and excellent spacecraft modding, add a decent single player story arc and then lose the griefers, space pirates and war-spammers. That would be a good start.

    To me, EVE is basically the anti Elite. I didn't even get to fly my ship any more! And all the bloody trading. Ugh. The 'X' games had the same problem. I don't want a massively complicated and realistic trading market. I know some people do. I had a mate who found a choice trading route in Elite and just spent hundreds of hours going backwards and forwards making mountains of cash.

    Elite for me was about exploration and space combat. Becoming 'Elite'. Fuck the rest of it. Why does everyone focus on the dull arsed trading elements? That's the one bit that didn't NEED developing.

  • Ocid #60 2 years ago

    Atleast now i know i'll have something to play during the downtime while in my own spaceship.

    Interested in any space game of course and was a big fan of elite but i remember reading about this in PCGamer back in '03 or even earlier than that. Screw Outsider just get on Elite IV.

  • RandomTerrain #61 2 years ago

    Would be nice to have a good space game on the PS3. But sounds like I'll be waiting a while.

  • Nuntius #62 2 years ago

    I have no doubt females in tight clothing will be ruling the future.

  • MdaG #63 2 years ago

    Too bad I'm not a PC gamer anymore...