Worry no longer, early Elite: Dangerous supporters: you will be getting free keys for the Steam version after all.
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The indie title was not originally planned for release on Steam, leading many to purchase the standalone version of the game straight from Frontier Developments' website. Its eventual surprise release on Steam created a bit of an uproar among fans who would have preferred Steam support once the game was announced for Valve's platform, but the developers have righted the ship.
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Frontier Developments Community Manager Edward Lewis posted in the official forums, announcing the news. Here's what Lewis had to say, including how it will be implemented:
"We'll soon be offering Steam keys to anyone who bought Elite: Dangerous from the EliteDangerous.com store who would like a key, and to anyone who buys the game from our store in the future. We always appreciate it when you buy direct from our store because it means we can put more into supporting and developing Elite: Dangerous, but we know a number of long-time players and backers like to play through Steam and we think it's fair everyone has that option, not just new players."
"Elite: Dangerous runs on Frontier's servers, so we've been working with Valve to give you a way to seamlessly connect your Steam and existing Frontier accounts in a way that's easy. It's coming soon. From May 28 you'll be able to generate a Steam key from your account page, and we'll have full instructions right here on the forums closer to the time."
All is well for Elite: Dangerous owners in the end, who got what they asked for when the Steam version was announced. It's good to see developers listen to fans (especially the earliest supporters), and Frontier acted in a pretty swift manner, to boot.