7 Days to Die is leaving early access after almost 12 years

Since launching in 2013, the zombie survival game 7 Days to Die has been in early access, but that’s about to change. Studio The Fun Pimps announced Monday that the game is finally getting its 1.0 release.

This update was previously known as Alpha 22, although the plan was always for it to be 1.0. There will be an experimental release in May and a stable 1.0 launch in June, although no specific dates are available just yet. The game will also be launching on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X with the 1.0 version.

“When we first set out to make 7 Days to Die, we never thought our game would bring this much interest or have this much success. This would not be possible without the continued support of our incredible community, who have stood buy us for over a decade,” studio co-founder Richard Huenink said in a YouTube video posted over the weekend. “7 Days is our team’s greatest passion, and TFP will continue to make content and add new features and grow this franchise because it’s our favorite game too.”

The 7 Days to Die alpha launched in August 2013 after a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, where the developers met each of their stretch goals. Players came for the Minecraft-esque voxel-based sandbox and stayed over countless updates. While the team still hasn’t fulfilled many of its Kickstarter goals, there’s a roadmap that shows three major updates, starting with “Storm’s Brewing,” which will overhaul the game’s weather system. Even the 1.0 update will bring major changes, including new vehicles.

While the console versions won’t ship with features like crossplay, an FAQ posted to explain the update news shares that the team hopes it’ll be ready by the first big update. However, do note that saves will not carry over from the legacy version.

To coincide with the news, Huenink also announced 7 Days to Die would receive a price increase to $44.99. This will not only standardize the pricing across both PC and console, but reflects the work the developers have put into the game over the past decade or so.

“We feel as though the quality standard of the game has gone up significantly from when the initial price was set over 8 years ago along with over a decade of content and improvements. We’ve looked at how others have handled leaving early access, and this is a common practice,” the FAQ read. Current PC owners won’t have to pay extra for the 1.0 release, and new players can get the game on sale starting today until April 29. At the time of writing, 7 Ways to Die costs only $5.99 on Steam.

Things will be a bit more complicated for console players. Those who own the legacy edition will have to purchase a new copy, although the studio is working with Sony and Microsoft to potentially offer discounts on the new version.