Frontier Developments stocks sink on news of game delay

Investors reacted swiftly to bad news from Frontier Developments on Wednesday, as the video game developer revealed a major development setback for its Elite Dangerous: Horizons (EDH) franchise.

The AIM-traded company had released EDH in early access in December, and expected to bring the game out of that stage this April, coinciding with the planned launch of the game's next expansion, The Engineers.

Frontier said that, along with associated revenues, would now occur in the first half of the next financial year.

"Over a number of years, Frontier has established an outstanding track record of meeting demanding release schedules and exceptional quality thresholds, so this delay is disappointing," said CEO David Braben.

"However, it is absolutely critical for the longer-term success of the Elite franchise that we maintain our absolute commitment to quality. Despite this temporary setback, the board and I remain very excited both by the potential of the Elite franchise and the progress that Frontier is making as it transitions to self-publishing," he added.

Frontier's board confirmed second-half revenues would now be substantially below prior expectations. At 1200 GMT, shares in Frontier Developments were down 13.42%, trading at 200p.