Elite Dangerous: Arena launches standalone, priced ?5
PVP mode now available separately.
Arena, the PVP portion of Elite Dangerous, is now available to buy separately.
Elite Dangerous: Arena costs £4.99 either via Steam or developer Frontier's own store.
Existing Elite owners already have access to Arena - it is the same mode (previously named CQC) available from main Elite Dangerous menu.
Releasing Arena separately will hopefully boost the number of active players online, something which the mode has needed more of.
In a statement announcing Arena as a separate download, Frontier mentioned the extra players this would bring to the game:
"We believe Elite Dangerous: Arena is a compelling game in its own right and want to offer it to players whose main goal is to play fast paced PVP space combat action.
"This will open Elite Dangerous to a whole new group of players, all of whom you can play against in the Close Quarter Combat Championships (CQC) in Arena mode in Elite Dangerous and Elite Dangerous: Horizons. So if you haven't played CQC already we have a number of challenges starting today that you can join in with."
