You know what? You're absolutely right. I had a vague sense that this was once a popular game, but didn't understand how so.

>Elite is one of the most popularly requested games to be remade,[42] with some arguing that it is still the best example of the genre to date, with more recent titles—including its sequel—not rising up to the same level.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game)

Still, it seems criminally lazy to put such little effort into asking for $2 million.

Elite was such a popular game that its still being implemented on the old 8-bit systems by dedicated fans, just for the love of doing it (and also for the love of old hardware):

http://1337.defence-force.org/

Minimum Viable Crowdfunding ;-)

Exactly. If this is indeed David Braben, all he had to say was "I want to make a game", and I would throw money at him.

It is indeed David Braben :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20165344