Elite IV is happening, but "very slowly"

Elite IV is happening, Frontier boss David Braben has confirmed, but "very slowly".

At GDC this year the legendary British game developer gave us an update on the status of Elite IV, saying "it would be a tragedy" if it was not still on the cards.

This week at the Develop conference in Brighton Braben told Eurogamer: "We're not announcing anything yet. I'm not giving a timescale because that constitutes an announcement. If you announce an announcement, that's an announcement.

"The trouble is, I get a lot of people saying, oh you really need to announce it now, and why are you doing x, y, z, a, b, c?

"But it has to be right. It has to be the right thing. You have to have the right people on it. It's all a question of balance.

"It's happening, very slowly."

Braben refused to comment when asked whether Elite IV is intended as a current generation or next generation game.

He did, however, confirm that work on the oft-delayed The Outsider, announced in 2005, is "on hold".

That, he said, "is a real shame". But there is hope.

"The Outsider is a brilliant game. I do want to do some sort of, not so much an announcement, but show people that. It's currently de-prioritised.

"It's on hold, if you like, which is a real shame. But that's not to say it might not go somewhere in the future.

"It's amazing how quickly the industry changes. And, among others, we're trying to change it. We've just got to think carefully about what we do.

"It's a lovely idea. I'm sure it will come out in some form at some point."

The Outsider, announced as a game that would bring around the same sort of freedom as Braben's other famous creation, Elite, is a high-tech thriller that pops you in the shoes of an Elite CIA agent made public enemy number one at the outset of the game.

Frontier is currently hard at work on Kinect Disneyland Adventures, due out this Christmas. It created Kinect launch title Kinectimals.