'Elite Dangerous: Arena' News: Standalone Release Pulled Out From Xbox Live, Steam
Frontier Developments recently announced that they will stop the sales of "Elite Dangerous: Arena" a year after its release.
In a message posted through the franchise's community forum site, senior community manager Edward Lewis announced that they have decided to pull out "Elite Dangerous: Arena" from Frontier's online store, the Xbox Store and Steam. The move was immediately applied within the day of the announcement.
"Elite Dangerous: Arena" is a standalone release that includes the multiplayer Arena mode from the main title "Elite Dangerous." The Arena mode was first accessible through the Close Quarters Combat Championship and was introduced with the "Elite Dangerous" Patch 1.4.
The Arena came in with Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag game modes. It seemed to be successful with the main title that Frontier Developments thought releasing it independently would increase the online traffic for the game. However, it looks like that was not the case.
As per the senior community manager's note, Frontier Developments was forced to pull out the "Elite Dangerous: Arena" from various online stores, including their own, after learning that the majority of the new and regular players of the Arena mode are still accessing the game through the main "Elite Dangerous" client.
"We've made the decision to remove the standalone version of Elite Dangerous: Arena in order to reduce the number of builds that have to be maintained and managed across Steam, Xbox One and in 2Q'17 PlayStation Network, as well as clarifying the choices for new players of Elite Dangerous on these storefronts," Lewis further explained.
Lewis also mentioned that new and existing players can still access the Arena game through the main menu of "Elite: Dangerous." For those who have already bought the title and are still accessing the Arena mode through it should not worry because it will still be available for them.
It was assured that the "'Elite Dangerous: Arena' continues to be available and supported" in the "Elite Dangerous" game, while the standalone "Elite Dangerous: Arena" owners can go on opening the game like they always do.
