Frontier Developments announces plans to bring official support for SteamVR to Elite Dangerous, their space combat MMOG. They say a free update will come this holiday season adding support for the HTC Vive headset, and they celebrate the news with a week-long sale on the Frontier Store and Steam. They also reveal a new two-week long "Mayhem" community event to test a new patch that will go live next month.

Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV) today announced it will support SteamVR and the HTC Vive virtual reality headset in the PC version of its massively multiplayer space epic Elite Dangerous.

The HTC Vive will be the first virtual reality headset available to consumers, and Elite Dangerous will support Vive on PC from launch via a free update available Holiday 2015.

SteamVR support in Elite Dangerous marks the latest step in Frontier Developments’ ongoing commitment to immersive, high resolution virtual reality experiences.

‘We’re thrilled to announce SteamVR support as part of the ongoing expansion of Elite Dangerous,’ Frontier Developments' Chief Creative Officer Jonny Watts said. ‘Back in December 2013 we were among the first to support virtual reality with a triple-A game, and for me, exploring, trading and fighting throughout Elite Dangerous’ 1:1 scale Milky Way remains an unequaled virtual reality experience. We have been working closely with Valve to bring Elite Dangerous to HTC Vive, and we are delighted with the quality we have been able to achieve.’

‘Frontier's Elite Dangerous is an excellent example of a team leveraging the versatility of the Vive and Steam VR,’ Valve's Chet Faliszek said. ‘Players take the helm of an amazing starship experience, and we look forward to showing it for the first time on Vive at EGX.’

Visitors to this week’s EGX 2015 gaming show can experience a preview of Elite Dangerous and HTC Vive at the Elite Dangerous and HTC booths. EGX 2015 takes place in Birmingham, UK from Thursday 24 September until Sunday 27 September.