Frontier Developments has put to bed its $100,000 Elite Dangerous tournament, citing delays to game features as a primary reason for the tournament's cancellation. On Frontier's forum website, Head of Community Zac Antonaci broke the long lack of communication between Frontier and tournament fans, speaking on how a large update to the game led to delays and canceling the event, promising a contest with a prize fund to be set at a future date.
"In order to run the tournament we wanted to bring in a number of specific features which would allow us to run the event in the way we had planned. However, as you may remember the 2.1 update required a little longer in development as we focused on game improving features that went through the core game play experience and brought our largest Elite Dangerous update to date."
"What that means is that we won't able to run the CQC tournament as we had initially conceived. We will be having a contest with a prize fund at a future date."
Frontier announced the tournament more than half a year ago. Originally Frontier promised multiple phases to the tournament, claiming players would need to "sharpen their skills and unlock the upgrades they want to use on their accounts." Frontier even promised community events to get players ready for the tournament, events which never happened.
The second phase of the tournament would have involved qualifying heats, which also did not happen despite the promise of an early 2016 start. Originally, Frontier planned to spend $100,000 on the tournament on prizes, accommodations, and transportation, with a $15,000 pot to be cut among the top two players. Funny enough, the tournament is still advertised on their website.
While the tournament may be cancelled, Antonaci quickly followed up the statement with an announcement of the first ever in-game PvP tournament called "The Icarus Cup."
"This wing vs wing tournament is a place for the Galaxy’s best to prove themselves in a strategically selected and balanced team of medium and small ships." Antonaci says, "Players will need to assemble themselves into squads of 8 (4 Commanders per match and 4 reserves) so start forming your squads now, ready for when registration opens. The tournament will be open to both Xbox One and PC/Mac players and we will be running two separate tournaments with two separate prizes."
Winners of the tournament can expect to win an exclusive Icarus Cup Decal and dashboard trophy, along with bragging rights of course.
Should Frontier have handled things differently? Do you feel an update is a good reason to cancel a tournament? Does the announcement of a new PVP tournament help? Let us know in the comment below!
