Elite Dangerous standalone Arena removed from sale, still available to existing players

Almost a year ago to the day, Frontier Developments launched Elite Dangerous: Arena—a repackaged standalone version of Elite Dangerous' competitive dogfighting Close Quarters Combat game mode. Now, the developer has pulled Arena from Steam, it's own store and the Xbox Games Store.

Taking to its official forums to deliver the news, senior community manager Edward Lewis explains the company's metrics suggest most Arena players, both old and new, continue to access the game mode via the base game as opposed to its standalone variation.

"We’ve made the decision to remove the standalone version of Elite Dangerous: Arena in order to reduce the number of builds that have to be maintained and managed across Steam, Xbox One and in 2Q'17 PlayStation Network, as well as clarifying the choices for new players of Elite Dangerous on these storefronts," says Lewis.

He continues to say Arena remains available and will continue to be supported as part of the wider Elite Dangerous game.

"Existing and new players that join the Elite Dangerous galaxy will continue to be able to enjoy the fast-paced action of Arena through the main menu," adds Lewis. "Existing Elite Dangerous: Arena client owners will still be able to enjoy Arena as they have always done. Not much change but we just wanted to give you a quick heads up, to avoid any confusion."

Cheers, Eurogamer.