Question 1

What was the budget of Elite Dangerous?

Accepted Answer

over $13 million (as of September 2014; Source: Eurogamer).

Question 2

How much has Elite Dangerous raised through crowdfunding?

Accepted Answer

$2.5 million (as of January 2013; Source: Eurogamer).

Question 3

What was Elite Dangerous's all-time peak of concurrent players on Steam?

Accepted Answer

27,568 players (as of May 2021; Source: SteamCharts).

Question 4

How many hours does it take to beat Elite Dangerous's main story?

Accepted Answer

112 hours (as of October 2026; Source: HowLongToBeat).

Question 5

What Metacritic score did Elite Dangerous get?

Accepted Answer

80/100 (as of October 2026; Source: Metacritic).

Elite Dangerous in numbers

What was Elite Dangerous's original budget according to David Braben (in dollars)?

Metric	Number	Date	Source
BudgetOriginal development budget (£8m), which later "grew by quite a lot"	over $13 million	September 2014	Eurogamer
CrowdfundingKickstarter campaign (£1.58m)	$2.5 million	January 2013	Eurogamer
Peak concurrent players (Steam)All-time Steam peak (SteamCharts)	27,568 players	May 2021	SteamCharts
Length (main story)HowLongToBeat, Main Story	112 hours	October 2026	HowLongToBeat
Metacritic scoreMetascore, PC version (55 reviews)	80/100	October 2026	Metacritic