Elite: Dangerous beta build rolls out today for premium members ahead of May 30 trial

Elite: Dangerous developer Frontier Developments will roll out a single-player version of the game's premium beta starting today, ahead of the full multiplayer test beginning May 30.

In a press release sent to VG247 today, Frontier confirmed that the Elite: Dangerous premium beta will go live here when available, and will offer a single player combat build with purchasable upgrades, until the full premium multiplayer test goes live on May 30.

Before this, Frontier will release one final alpha build which will include travel and trading updates, two modes of faster-than-light travel, and delivers the full Milky Way galactic map with some 400,000,000,000 star systems. The build features gameplay based in a 200 cubic light year volume of space, which is far from Earth.

Dates and times for the fourth alpha will be revealed in due course, and alpha access is still available until April 25.

David Braben, CEO of Frontier, said in a statement, "The Alpha process has worked well for us. We have gradually built out the key elements of the game, first locally, with single player combat, then with a few thousand players across the internet. On 30th May the Premium Beta extends this to many thousands of players worldwide, with an increasingly rich game.

"I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who have played such an important role in Alpha testing, and I’m very happy that we will continue to benefit from their valuable input as they test Beta builds approximately 2 weeks in advance of release. On 30th May we move into a new phase of Premium Beta testing, and I’m delighted to be able to welcome a significant numbers of new players to Elite: Dangerous today.”

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