Elite: Dangerous Beta will cost $150

Between EVE: Valkyrie and this, I guess space dogfight simulators are popular these days… but don’t tell Star Wars: Attack Squadrons, it might break its poor heart.

But it’s a welcome thing to see return, I suppose.  It was a really big genre back in the 80’s and 90’s, especially in PC Gaming, and one of the most iconic of those titles was Elite, which was toited as having one of the first games with true, full 3D.  It’s got quite a following, is still popular today, so it came to no surprise that a reboot of the franchise, Elite: Dangerous, would do so well over kickstarter—raising 1.6 million pounds from fans hungry for more.

Well with 1.6 million in backing, an extra 150 bucks doesn’t seem like that much, does it?  Because according to a new announcement from the developers, that’s how much it’ll cost to get access to the premium beta.

"The start of the Premium Beta phase is another exciting moment in our development," said Frontier CEO David Braben. "This is a significant and sensible step-change with which to test the next level of scaling of our cloud-based systems and servers as we move towards the very large numbers of people we will eventually have playing.

Granted, it may seem like a large number to access the beta—and it is—but it’s not without it’s bonuses.  People who buy into the premium beta also get access to all future data stages, all significant DLC in the future release, and a copy of the game itself at launch—so I suppose it’s more of an early access program than a simple beta key.

The beta, as it is, will have multiplayer and single player, and will include five star systems that cover, apparently, “200 cubic light years of space”. That’s pretty intense, but then, ‘nothing’ doesn’t take up a lot of processing power.

Cuz that’s what would be inside most of 200 cubic light years.  A whole lot of nothing.

Either way, if you’re a fan, it’s a great opportunity to get your hands on a copy early—especially if the 300 dollar alpha access was too rich for your blood.