Elite: Dangerous refund policy being reconsidered

Elite Dangerous Planet

Frontier Developments founder David Braben says the studio will re-examine its Elite: Dangerous refund policy in the face of ongoing complaints from fans unhappy about the recent elimination of offline play. The change comes just a couple of days after Braben declared that anyone who has already played the game in either alpha or beta testing will not be eligible for a refund.

"We initially declined some people's request for refund as our records showed they have already played Elite: Dangerous online," Braben wrote in a forum post that went up yesterday. "After listening to many of the comments I received after my AMA here, we have since re-opened these requests and informed those people that we will be contacting them so that we can fully understand their individual situation before making a more informed decision. We will be contacting them each in the next few working days."

Elite: Dangerous was initially intended to support offline play, but Braben said earlier this week that it had been cut. It will still support single-player gameplay, but a constant connection to the internet will be required.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.