The Game Census
Elite Dangerous cover art

Elite Dangerous

Frontier Developments · 2015-04-02

SteamPlayStation StoreEpic Games StoreMicrosoft StoreGame Pass

ActionAdventureMassively MultiplayerRPGSimulationStrategy

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) · Perspectives: First person, Third person, Virtual Reality

Releases: Jan 19, 2016 (Oculus Rift), May 12, 2015 (Mac), Oct 06, 2015 (Xbox One), Dec 16, 2014 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Dec 15, 2015 (SteamVR), Jun 27, 2017 (PlayStation 4)

Take control of your own starship and blaze your trail in an ever-changing galaxy. Master the arts of combat, mining and trade or venture out into the unknown across a 1:1 scale universe.

Elite Dangerous is an Action, Adventure, Massively Multiplayer, and RPG game released in 2015, priced at $5.99, with an owner estimate of 2,000,000 .. 5,000,000 and a review sentiment of Mostly Positive (77% of 107612 reviews).

2,685
playing now
77%
positive of 108k reviews
Mostly Positive
steam's rating (official)
2,000,000–5,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
465
twitch viewers (latest)
31.0
viewers/channel (concentration)
82/100
critic score (21 outlets, IGDB)
80/100
IGDB user rating (186 ratings)
11
Nexus mods (12k downloads)
4.11★
PlayStation Store rating (16,722 ratings)
79/100
opencritic · strong · 72% recommend · from 70 critics
254h
to beat · rushed 113h · completionist 677h
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Playable
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$5.99
steam price (US)

2,685 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 10:00 UTC (census sample)

Elite Dangerous is an online space, trading, exploration and combat simulation game developed and published by Frontier Developments. The player commands a spaceship in a realistic 1:1 scale open-world representation of the Milky Way, with open-ended gameplay. Players can explore and engage with a procedurally generated galaxy, which includes around 400 billion star systems. The procedural system allows landing on planets with no or tenuous atmospheres. Many planets have special flora and fauna including alien and human settlements.

Trailer

Elite Dangerous trailer thumbnail

Elite Dangerous Trailer

≈1,000,000 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 2,685 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 3,170 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~396/week).
  • · Review velocity down 21% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 1% of 27,667 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-28

Estimated sales: 2.7M–6.5M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 107,989 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GameBillet$5.12-74%
Gamesplanet$5.77-71%
Microsoft Store$5.99-70%
GamersGate$6.00-70%
GreenManGaming$6.00-70%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $1.88 at GameBillet (2025-09-30) · bundled 4×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $19.99 · on sale 130 of 176 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
1.8k1.8k20182026Week of 2018-03-01: 394 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 229 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 246 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 149 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 169 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 100 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 216 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 109 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 246 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 100 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 156 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 88 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 146 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 98 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 124 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 57 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 1,044 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 87 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 477 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 350 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 328 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 126 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 189 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 120 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 138 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 51 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 271 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 195 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 159 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 56 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 584 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 94 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 816 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 137 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 174 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 95 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 205 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 136 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 300 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 76 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 1,419 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 145 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 1,437 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 193 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 1,240 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 161 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 626 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 70 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 676 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 111 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 1,361 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 330 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 967 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 171 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 1,743 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 352 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 1,170 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 213 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 663 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 157 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 659 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 116 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 1,051 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 228 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 1,752 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 240 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 1,206 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 226 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 1,196 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 179 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 976 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 183 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 1,003 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 132 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 1,095 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 251 negativeWeek of 2021-05-01: 1,617 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 571 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 735 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 408 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 492 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 251 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 394 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 155 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 366 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 122 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 373 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 96 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 568 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 130 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 637 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 162 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 691 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 171 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 529 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 156 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 422 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 115 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 443 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 219 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 318 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 140 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 373 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 110 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 359 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 168 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 335 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 86 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 329 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 109 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 305 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 111 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 411 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 90 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 429 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 149 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 400 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 130 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 246 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 79 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 318 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 86 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 362 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 224 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 309 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 143 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 224 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 113 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 251 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 140 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 198 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 81 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 278 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 126 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 187 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 68 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 255 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 72 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 243 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 83 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 234 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 95 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 212 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 53 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 241 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 76 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 299 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 179 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 297 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 336 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 177 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 78 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 219 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 84 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 233 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 103 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 257 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 105 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 239 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 82 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 512 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 146 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 535 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 143 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 484 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 247 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 363 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 88 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 497 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 186 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 393 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 169 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 341 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 110 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 290 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 112 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 337 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 134 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 361 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 123 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 248 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 129 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 473 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 293 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 464 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 145 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 327 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 141 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 303 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 135 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 246 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 92 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 291 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 96 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 301 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 127 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 308 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 108 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 293 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 131 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 314 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 167 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 219 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 99 negativeWeek of 2026-09-01: 258 positiveWeek of 2026-09-01: 120 negativeWeek of 2026-10-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2026-10-01: 27 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

6.2k2.2k2026-09-15 11:00 — 2,827 players2026-09-16 19:00 — 4,969 players2026-09-18 03:00 — 2,855 players2026-09-19 10:00 — 3,564 players2026-09-20 18:00 — 5,751 players2026-09-22 02:00 — 3,112 players2026-09-23 09:00 — 2,425 players2026-09-24 17:00 — 4,233 players2026-09-26 00:00 — 3,735 players2026-09-27 08:00 — 3,361 players2026-09-28 15:00 — 3,942 players2026-09-29 23:00 — 3,447 players2026-10-01 06:00 — 2,184 players2026-10-02 14:00 — 3,611 players2026-10-03 21:00 — 5,273 players2026-10-05 05:00 — 2,455 players2026-10-06 13:00 — 3,076 players2026-10-07 20:00 — 4,409 players2026-10-09 04:00 — 3,144 players2026-10-10 11:00 — 4,777 players2026-10-11 19:00 — 6,235 players2026-10-13 03:00 — 3,125 players2026-10-14 10:00 — 2,685 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
11k2.3kApr 2015Aug 2026Apr 2015 — avg 4,471 · peak 9,139Aug 2015 — avg 3,918 · peak 6,685Dec 2015 — avg 6,022 · peak 15,316Apr 2016 — avg 2,842 · peak 5,337Aug 2016 — avg 4,397 · peak 9,334Dec 2016 — avg 3,993 · peak 7,005Apr 2017 — avg 5,324 · peak 11,078Aug 2017 — avg 3,910 · peak 7,113Dec 2017 — avg 5,041 · peak 12,708Apr 2018 — avg 5,054 · peak 10,154Aug 2018 — avg 3,232 · peak 5,712Dec 2018 — avg 6,343 · peak 13,822Apr 2019 — avg 4,228 · peak 9,109Aug 2019 — avg 4,102 · peak 8,052Dec 2019 — avg 5,133 · peak 9,756Apr 2020 — avg 8,240 · peak 15,403Aug 2020 — avg 5,333 · peak 9,382Dec 2020 — avg 8,517 · peak 15,281Apr 2021 — avg 9,386 · peak 16,681Aug 2021 — avg 3,851 · peak 6,319Dec 2021 — avg 4,821 · peak 8,615Apr 2022 — avg 4,180 · peak 7,618Aug 2022 — avg 3,870 · peak 6,493Dec 2022 — avg 5,491 · peak 10,168Apr 2023 — avg 4,000 · peak 7,274Aug 2023 — avg 2,531 · peak 4,317Dec 2023 — avg 2,503 · peak 4,159Apr 2024 — avg 3,054 · peak 5,738Aug 2024 — avg 3,176 · peak 5,794Dec 2024 — avg 5,904 · peak 9,695Apr 2025 — avg 5,696 · peak 10,111Aug 2025 — avg 5,638 · peak 10,315Dec 2025 — avg 4,573 · peak 8,261Apr 2026 — avg 4,007 · peak 6,797Aug 2026 — avg 3,870 · peak 6,599
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Chart history

PositiveNegative
18182026-09-222026-10-132026-09-22: 7 new positive2026-09-22: 4 new negative2026-09-23: 10 new positive2026-09-23: 4 new negative2026-09-25: 3 new positive2026-09-25: 7 new negative2026-09-26: 8 new positive2026-09-26: 3 new negative2026-09-27: 10 new positive2026-09-27: 3 new negative2026-09-28: 13 new positive2026-09-28: 2 new negative2026-09-29: 1 new positive2026-09-29: 2 new negative2026-09-30: 5 new positive2026-10-01: 11 new positive2026-10-01: 5 new negative2026-10-02: 11 new positive2026-10-02: 4 new negative2026-10-03: 8 new positive2026-10-03: 4 new negative2026-10-04: 9 new positive2026-10-05: 14 new positive2026-10-05: 4 new negative2026-10-06: 9 new positive2026-10-06: 2 new negative2026-10-07: 7 new positive2026-10-07: 2 new negative2026-10-08: 10 new positive2026-10-08: 2 new negative2026-10-09: 7 new positive2026-10-09: 4 new negative2026-10-10: 4 new positive2026-10-11: 18 new positive2026-10-12: 18 new positive2026-10-12: 14 new negative2026-10-13: 5 new positive2026-10-13: 4 new negative
New Steam reviews per day (census review snapshots). Positive above the line, negative below.

Price history

$59.99$1.992015-04-032026-10-092015-04-03 — best price $59.992017-07-05 — best price $29.992018-05-28 — best price $29.992019-02-22 — best price $14.992019-11-12 — best price $8.992020-06-12 — best price $29.992020-08-22 — best price $23.552020-10-23 — best price $29.992020-12-17 — best price $26.882021-02-16 — best price $6.892021-04-26 — best price $25.052021-07-10 — best price $29.992021-10-22 — best price $8.092022-01-07 — best price $26.882022-03-22 — best price $26.882022-06-16 — best price $22.062022-09-06 — best price $29.992022-12-04 — best price $26.282023-02-13 — best price $5.492023-05-03 — best price $24.402023-08-28 — best price $22.652023-11-17 — best price $4.992024-01-31 — best price $7.502024-04-03 — best price $5.992024-07-14 — best price $5.802024-09-27 — best price $5.752024-12-06 — best price $17.992025-01-27 — best price $5.302025-03-23 — best price $19.992025-06-05 — best price $19.992025-09-03 — best price $5.992025-11-25 — best price $5.062026-02-06 — best price $18.792026-04-27 — best price $4.382026-06-30 — best price $5.572026-09-03 — best price $5.162026-10-09 — best price $5.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

4742002026-05-30 — 278 pageviews2026-06-03 — 302 pageviews2026-06-07 — 329 pageviews2026-06-11 — 302 pageviews2026-06-15 — 258 pageviews2026-06-19 — 229 pageviews2026-06-23 — 233 pageviews2026-06-27 — 326 pageviews2026-07-01 — 306 pageviews2026-07-05 — 329 pageviews2026-07-09 — 247 pageviews2026-07-13 — 351 pageviews2026-07-17 — 322 pageviews2026-07-21 — 286 pageviews2026-07-25 — 200 pageviews2026-07-29 — 262 pageviews2026-08-02 — 264 pageviews2026-08-06 — 262 pageviews2026-08-10 — 325 pageviews2026-08-14 — 226 pageviews2026-08-18 — 474 pageviews2026-08-22 — 293 pageviews2026-08-26 — 425 pageviews2026-08-30 — 394 pageviews2026-09-03 — 353 pageviews2026-09-07 — 334 pageviews2026-09-11 — 296 pageviews2026-09-15 — 277 pageviews2026-09-19 — 302 pageviews2026-09-23 — 278 pageviews2026-09-27 — 290 pageviews2026-10-01 — 289 pageviews2026-10-05 — 334 pageviews2026-10-08 — 283 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Twitch viewers

633302026-09-30 22:34 — 315 viewers2026-10-01 07:34 — 78 viewers2026-10-01 16:34 — 337 viewers2026-10-02 01:34 — 286 viewers2026-10-02 10:34 — 157 viewers2026-10-02 19:34 — 251 viewers2026-10-03 04:34 — 79 viewers2026-10-03 13:34 — 168 viewers2026-10-03 22:34 — 357 viewers2026-10-04 07:34 — 72 viewers2026-10-04 16:34 — 257 viewers2026-10-05 01:34 — 169 viewers2026-10-05 10:34 — 172 viewers2026-10-05 19:34 — 351 viewers2026-10-06 04:34 — 155 viewers2026-10-06 13:34 — 541 viewers2026-10-06 22:34 — 202 viewers2026-10-07 07:34 — 101 viewers2026-10-07 16:34 — 265 viewers2026-10-08 01:34 — 61 viewers2026-10-08 10:34 — 248 viewers2026-10-08 19:34 — 209 viewers2026-10-09 04:34 — 235 viewers2026-10-09 13:34 — 182 viewers2026-10-09 22:34 — 207 viewers2026-10-10 07:34 — 112 viewers2026-10-10 16:34 — 192 viewers2026-10-11 01:34 — 225 viewers2026-10-11 10:34 — 147 viewers2026-10-11 19:34 — 232 viewers2026-10-12 04:34 — 126 viewers2026-10-12 13:34 — 358 viewers2026-10-12 22:34 — 262 viewers2026-10-13 07:34 — 180 viewers2026-10-13 16:34 — 310 viewers2026-10-14 01:34 — 142 viewers2026-10-14 10:34 — 158 viewers2026-10-14 19:34 — 296 viewers2026-10-14 21:34 — 465 viewers
Hourly Twitch viewers (census snapshots).

Details

WindowsSingle-playerMulti-playerMMOCo-opVR SupportedVR SupportIn-App PurchasesPartial Controller SupportRemote Play on TabletFamily Sharing2 DLC

5 supported languages: English, French, German, Russian, Spanish - Spain

Post-launch support: 2 DLC released, first 2021-05-19 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Xbox One (Xbox)21,8650%225
PS4 (PlayStation)12,3380%64

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

VRSpaceActionSci-fiSandboxAdventureSpace SimOpen WorldSimulationExploration

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

StarMadeStar Control®: OriginsMiscreatedSurvivalistImmortal: UnchainedEmpyrion - Galactic SurvivalBorderlands 3Force of Nature

Similarity via IGDB.

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