'Rust' Release Date News: Survival Game Leaves Early Access Next Month

By Jessica Ferrera, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, January 25, 2018

"Rust" developer Facepunch Studios recently revealed that the game will leave the Steam Early Access program next month.

In a recent blog post, Facepunch Studios announced that they "plan" to release the survival video game on Thursday, Feb. 8. "Rust" first came to Steam Early Access on Dec. 12, 2013.

"We're not planning any 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," the developer added.

However, Facepunch Studios also reminded players that moving "Rust" out of Early Access does not mean that their work for the game is over. The developer said: "Don't think of this as us claiming that the game is done."

Facepunch Studios further explained that one of the reasons they were moving "Rust" out of Early Access was to let the game-making process become "more stable." By Feb. 8, players can have two different versions of the game that the developer calls the "main branch" and the "staging branch."

The main branch will have a regular flow of patches that includes "tested updates with smaller irregular hotfixes" arriving every month. Meanwhile, the staging branch -- which the developer also previously called the development version -- will see daily changes.

To answer some players' questions on their decision to leave Early Access in the coming weeks, Facepunch Studios explained that the improvements they see applied to the game now compared to what it had since its launch in 2013 "qualifies" it to go out in the wild.

Meanwhile, the developer also confirmed that leaving Early Access will increase the cost of the game from $19.99 to $34.99.

"Rust" is an open-world survival game played from a first-person perspective. Gamers will start out without anything, not even clothing, and will have to explore their surroundings as they loot rad towns, build bases, hunt animals for food, defeat enemies, and create alliances to form their own town.