Elite:Dangerous is evolving and the first in a series of expansions, named Horizons, will be available on November 30th – bringing with it a host of new features. One exciting addition is the first inclusion of official HTC Vive / SteamVR support in the upcoming beta release, the development team have revealed.
In a forum post over at Frontier’s community boards, Elite:Dangerous developer Michael Brookes has detailed what players can expect from the first beta of Frontier’s new E:D expansion pack ‘Horizons’. Along with gameplay broadening features like planetary landings, the latest beta release, due to land on November 30th, will also bring enhanced virtual reality support.
See Also: ‘Elite Dangerous: Horizons’ Expansion to Offer Planetary Landings, Crafting and Looting
Despite Valve’s HTC produced SteamVR headset the Vive not actually on general release yet, the E:D developers are ready as SteamVR support will be present in the 1.5 beta release. The development team are continuing to work on Oculus Rift support issues, working to support the latest runtimes, which suffered a troubled time in the wake of recent major Oculus SDK changes – forcing users to switch between older versions to run the game.
“We’re also continuing to further improve the VR experience. HTC Vive and Steam VR support will be added to both the 1.5 and Horizons Beta as well as various bug fixes and tweaks. We’re continuing to work with Occulus, and will let you know as soon as there is any conclusion.”
Elite:Dangerous was one of the first triple-A titles to receive out-of-the-box support for VR headsets, having been implemented at a very early stage. It became one of the benchmark VR titles once the Oculus Rift DK2 headset became available last year. This latest news puts the game in a good position to take advantage of consumers seeking content once the Oculus Rift consumer headset and the HTC Vive go on sale in the next few months.
See Also: First Look: The ‘Elite: Dangerous’ Experience on HTC Vive is the Best Yet
If you don’t yet own Elite:Dangerous, check out the latest Black Friday deals we posted recently and snag yourself a copy on the cheap.