For four years, Facepunch Studios has been developing Rust, the wilderness survival game, through Steam Early Access. Much has changed throughout its development, and Garry Newman, head of Facepunch Studios, announced today on the official Rust blog that the title will be leaving Steam Early Access in early February.
Newman states right out of the gate that there will be nothing special about the full release with no “big reveals, launch parties, around the world tours or cash prize giveaways for this event. We’re not going to move staff onto other projects. It’s very much going to happen without much fuss. It’s business as usual.” Newman also notes the many steps Rust has taken since the early days to reach its current state, the most notable change being the removal of zombies to provide a more wilderness-focused survival game.
Since it will be leaving Early Access, there will be two separate Rust clients for players to play and download. There will be the “live” version, or stable version, and the unstable version, a version of the game that will be used to test new features and fixes. The game will still receive frequent updates, but they will be slowed down from a weekly basis to a monthly basis. The unstable version will receive minor updates basically every day, and once those updates have been tested sufficiently, they will be patched into the stable version at the end of each month.
When the full release of Rust hits, the only major change will be the price change. The game, currently available for $19.99, will have its price increased to $35.99. “It sucks, it’s going to cost more, but this was always the deal,” says Newman. “This is one of the main reasons we’ve decided to post this blog rather than quietly slipping out of Early Access, we felt like this is something you’ll all want to be warned about.”
Garry Newman closes out the blog by thanking everyone for their contributions to the game. He extends his thanks to his team, to the Rust community, and to everyone who took a risk and purchased the game while it was in Early Access. Rust will have its full release on February 8.