It’s joining the base game next month
If Elite Dangerousis the final frontier, then its Horizonsexpansion is the free frontier. Starting in a month, anyway.
Elite Dangerousis getting an update next month that rolls the Horizonsadd-on into the base game on all platforms. You could look at this and say it’s permanently free. But, it might be more appropriate to say that Horizonsis just part of the standard Elite Dangerousexperience from now on.
Whichever way you view it, Elite Dangerousis going to get bigger on October 27. For anyone who already purchased Horizons, they’ll get Azure paint jobs that can be used on all ships in the game. Horizonswill remain on sale until October 26, effectively only so people have a last chance to buy those Azure paint jobs. That doesn’t seem like an amazing use of $30 but I’m not in charge of your personal finances.
Horizonsis Elite Dangerous‘ only real content expansion, but this shrewd move is clearly a means of onboarding new players before 2021’s Odysseyadd-on. There’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to Odyssey, as this is the expansion that’ll allow you to ditch the spaceship and explore planets on foot. Developer Frontier is knocking down barriers to get deep into the Elite Dangerousecosystem in hopes that it’ll translate to Odysseysales. It makes sense. When a game like Elite Dangerousgets its hooks in someone, it usually doesn’t let up for a long time.