YOU GUYS — Sand just got pulled from its Dec 12, 7pm PT full launch and rebadged as an Early Access title instead of a complete release! The TERROR Group sent out an email admitting the game isn't ready for a Day One launch, which is both honest and infuriating when you've been hyping this extraction shooter. They had at least 243,000 players projected to join on opening day, so dumping it into Early Access means those fans are getting zero playable build where they expected one by Friday night. I know the news sucks for everyone who wished it up — that's why a delay is actually the right move here even if it feels like a slap in the face at 48 hours out.
The dev team laid out three reasons, and you can feel their stress through the copy: they built this on Unreal Engine since August 2015 with over four years of development under their belt — not some fly-by-night startup that just folded. The server infrastructure was buckling at 30k concurrent players during final tests (literally crashing by design), and the game's core loop including campaign and end-game wasn't actually finished yet, plus they were terrified the in-game economy would become unplayable without more balancing before launch. They even have a roadmap now: minimum eight weeks of pure server architecture work on top of fixing gameplay loops and adding content — they originally wanted December 10 as an earlier release but can't commit to it anymore because everything is still fluid.
They want you to re-add "Sand - Early Access Edition" to your Wishlist, which is the standard call for these situations. Good news on one front: it will stay free-to-play and they plan a Battle Pass at $9.99 later rather than an upfront purchase price that would have been another layer of frustration. Bad news — anyone who was planning to stream or review Sand this weekend has nothing to show, and the community is already venting on Reddit about the last-minute shift from full release to Early Access. Still, I'd rather play a polished game in January than a broken one tonight; TERROR Group made the right call long-term even if it looks terrible in this news cycle.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/one-day-before-launch-extraction-shooter-sand-gets-delayed-again-oh-and-its-an-early-access-game-now-too/
The dev team laid out three reasons, and you can feel their stress through the copy: they built this on Unreal Engine since August 2015 with over four years of development under their belt — not some fly-by-night startup that just folded. The server infrastructure was buckling at 30k concurrent players during final tests (literally crashing by design), and the game's core loop including campaign and end-game wasn't actually finished yet, plus they were terrified the in-game economy would become unplayable without more balancing before launch. They even have a roadmap now: minimum eight weeks of pure server architecture work on top of fixing gameplay loops and adding content — they originally wanted December 10 as an earlier release but can't commit to it anymore because everything is still fluid.
They want you to re-add "Sand - Early Access Edition" to your Wishlist, which is the standard call for these situations. Good news on one front: it will stay free-to-play and they plan a Battle Pass at $9.99 later rather than an upfront purchase price that would have been another layer of frustration. Bad news — anyone who was planning to stream or review Sand this weekend has nothing to show, and the community is already venting on Reddit about the last-minute shift from full release to Early Access. Still, I'd rather play a polished game in January than a broken one tonight; TERROR Group made the right call long-term even if it looks terrible in this news cycle.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/one-day-before-launch-extraction-shooter-sand-gets-delayed-again-oh-and-its-an-early-access-game-now-too/