Some games plant deep roots in Early Access, leaving players convinced a 1.0 release will never see the light of day. After nearly 12 years in alpha, the popular survival game 7 Days to Die seemed like it’d never leave, but TFP Entertainment’s Saturday announcement has proven us wrong. 7 Days to Die is finally leaving Early Access this June, yet some 1.0 details have fans asking, “Is it really?”
In an official video titled “Alpha Exodus: The Road to 1.0,” TFP Co-Founder Richard Huenink discussed 7 Days to Die‘s 1.0 features, pricing, and future launch windows. Though this should all technically be good news, fans were quick to point out that TFP turned off YouTube comments, a major red flag for this skeptical player base. “Disallowing comments on the YouTube video is all you need to know about how much faith they have in their product…” said Reddit user Malphos101.
Huenink announced that, though the game is leaving Early Access, the team will continue supporting 7 Days to Die. TFP also intends to follow through on its remaining Kickstarter goals and promised features… after launch. Future alpha updates will now be considered major content patches, which has left many players wondering why the game is eyeing a full release with an unfinished product.
The video also revealed that 7 Days to Die is launching with an experimental version in late May, followed by a stable 1.0 launch in June for PC. This, however, comes with a price hike for those who haven’t purchased the game on PC just yet.
While you can still snag the PC version at a discounted price starting April 22, the price will go up after launch, so you should grab it soon if you haven’t already. Unfortunately, those who own the legacy console version will also have to repurchase the game. “Due to the differences between old and current hardware, the legacy edition cannot be upgraded,” Huenink explained. On the bright side, the team is working with Sony and Microsoft to provide a discount to those legacy owners.
From the price hike to missing launch features, 7 Days to Die fans aren’t convinced this is a true 1.0 launch. The prevailing opinion is that it’s technically still an alpha product just with a different label. “This feels like ‘we are running out of funding’ more than anything,” GloriousDuck said on the game’s subreddit.
Official 7 Days to Die release dates for PC and console are still to be announced.