 Frontier just announced some delays to the Odyssey release schedule for both the PC and in particular the console versions. In this video we're going to break down the announcement and detail exactly what it all means. If you enjoy this video remember to subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications and if you'd like to support our work you'll also find us on Patreon. Links to everything you need are in the description below. So very early this morning UK time Frontier let go some Odyssey release details to the community forums and to the city's financial markets before the day's share trading got underway. The short version of the announcement is that the PC Alpha and full release and the console full release versions are going to see delays to their launch due to the working conditions the company finds itself in as a result of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic with the console versions unfortunately experiencing the lion's share of the delay. So what kind of delays are we looking at? Frontier haven't given specific dates but are rather talking in general terms and launch windows so let's break down those windows now as succinctly as we can with what we know. PC's first. The Alpha release window for the PC has now been stated as early spring 2021. Spring in the UK where Frontier is based is between the 20th of March and the 21st of June. Early spring would therefore seem to be anywhere between the 20th of March and around the end of April. According to Frontier's forum post announcement this morning the full release of Odyssey on PC is now being earmarked for late spring 2021 which technically gives them up until June the 21st. However, importantly at the same time as the community announcement this morning Frontier was also obligated to release a trading statement to the London Stock Exchange and in that statement it says that the Odyssey release date will be before the end of the financial year which gives them a hard border of up until May the 31st 2021 to get Odyssey out the door. There's obviously no fixed time frame on how long a public Alpha test has to be but Frontier also stated this morning that the Alpha test is planned to be a phased approach with features added as the test progresses so whilst it's not impossible it's hard to imagine the Alpha will be anything less than a month long at the minimum. That information lends further weight to the supposition that the Alpha could kick in around mid to late April at the latest. Now, for the consoles and this is where it gets challenging there is no mention in any of the statements, community or financial about a specific console Alpha. In lieu of any specific announcement we're assuming that means there isn't going to be one. The console release window is now being stated as Autumn of 2021. Autumn in the UK is the 22nd of September to the 21st of December. That being the case, obviously September is the best case scenario but if I were a betting man I would say set your expectation for a Christmas release on consoles and if it arrives earlier then consider that a bonus. That is going to be a bitter pill for our console brothers and sisters to swallow without a shadow of a doubt. The reason the consoles are getting the raw deal here is essentially down to how challenging it is for Frontier to get content onto the consoles. It has to go through Microsoft and Sony's approval process before it can be released. That means in order to launch at the same time as the PC it would need to be ready earlier. In order to be ready earlier more resources internally at Frontier would need to be devoted to the console versions which would delay the PC version. The cold hard facts are that the PC player base is orders of magnitude bigger than the console version. Just the release on the Epic Store for example added 8 million new base game owners to PC according to this morning's trading statement. Whilst a lot of that is going to be second accounts for existing players or accounts that never get used it's still a huge amount of potential Odyssey sales that the company can't ignore and indeed the company's financial controllers won't let the developers ignore no matter how much they might want to do a simultaneous release across all platforms. When all is said and done rushing any software release just to meet an arbitrary release date is never a good idea. The quality of an end product always suffers and the user experience suffers as a result of that and nobody wants that just ask anyone trying to enjoy Cyberpunk on the PlayStation 4 recently. So in summary given the facts that they stand here's our best guesses for when we might see launches. PC Alpha probably around the start of April. PC full release toward the end of May. On the consoles any Alpha is unlikely and the release of Odyssey we think probably set your expectation for mid December and hope to be surprised if it's any earlier. Frontier have made no mention yet of how the staggered platform releases will effect first discovered for new life forms and first footfall on planets etc. It would be nice to think some kind of allowance could be made there while we wait for our console commanders to join the Odyssey but it's honestly hard to see how that could work and still make those aspects of Odyssey worthwhile to the PC players in the meantime and that may be the bitterest of pills for the console players in all of this. At the time of recording we've no idea how community goals will be affected by the presence of Odyssey or indeed a lack of Odyssey access. Again it's hard to see a way around any planned Odyssey specific community goals without diminishing the experience for the PC crowd at the same time. With regards to BGS activities without knowing exactly how Odyssey affects the BGS and indeed how the BGS affects Odyssey it's difficult to offer any solid thoughts however account will have to have been made for commanders playing the BGS who simply don't own Odyssey in the first place regardless of the platform they're on so you could possibly take some comfort there that a lack of Odyssey access won't adversely affect anyone's ability to affect change in that part of the game. Frontier have said that they will continue with development, updates and feature drops through these delays it would be nice to see that process ramp up somewhat as we honestly really know very little about what Odyssey will look and play like at the moment. So how have these announcements left you feeling about Odyssey? Are you a console commander yourself? I have to say here at the pit we're absolutely gutted for our friends on consoles but also aware of the situation that the developers must find themselves in. The team at Frontier are clearly working under extraordinary circumstances at the moment whilst this is disappointing news it's important to keep perspective on things and understand that the development team are human beings just like the rest of us we all have to protect ourselves and our family in these challenging times. As far as we know there's still a planned Ask Me Anything session on the forums this afternoon it's likely Frontier will be filled in questions about the release date in that session and if we get any more details on that or anything Odyssey related we'll report them on this very channel so make sure you're subscribed and turn on notifications to ensure you don't miss anything. That's it for now thanks very much for watching we'll be back later this week with more videos until then 07 Commanders follow the Greens on the way out and do keep clear of the toast rack we very much look forward to seeing you next time.