A story on Rock, Paper, Shotgun reported a rumor that The Outsider was cancelled, and followed that up with word from Frontier Developments' David Braben that seemed to confirm the cancellation of the ambitious techno thriller as well as some layoffs, as he said: "We have had to change priorities because of requirements on other unannounced projects. Some people have been moved, and we are very sad to have made some people redundant." A subsequent story on Develop also spoke with the creator of Elite about the news, and while Braben again confirmed layoffs, he tells them The Outsider has not been cancelled. "There is still publisher interest in the project, and we haven’t cancelled it," Braben told them. "The priority has been reduced, but we’re still working on it." When asked for clarification he added: "A publisher has not cancelled the project."