Elite Dangerous: Odyssey offers the tantalizing promise of finally being able to jump off the ship and go wandering. Scheduled for release early next year, the expansion sounds like the most significant update yet for the space sim, but Frontier has confirmed that it will not be something that can be experienced in VR.

So far we've only seen the cinematic trailer, but eventually we'll be putting on our digital boots on distant worlds, hanging out in social hubs, and teaming up with other pilots for tactical FPS missions.

On the official forums, community manager Tim Smith said that since the scale of the expansion added some more wrinkles for VR, Frontier needed to reevaluate the features, meaning that you won't be immediately exploring new worlds in virtual reality and participating in gunfights He explained that there was a need to.

"We are big fans of VR and are really proud of the great experience we are currently offering with Elite Dangerous. However, the new gameplay, mechanics and features being introduced in Elite Dangerous mean that we had to introduce VR: However, with the new gameplay, mechanics and features being introduced in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey we had to re-examine whether we could deliver the same experience without compromising it.

It is unclear when VR support for Odyssey will be available, but if it is, it will not affect the other games. The base game and Horizons will continue to support VR, and Frontier will provide more information closer to launch on how it will handle the transition from VR in vehicles to non-VR when walking around.