It’s important to understand fully what this “soft launch” entails. Early access allowed us to work with our community over the past 10 months, in which time the game has evolved drastically to shape itself into what we feel has become the most intense and strategic, yet rewardingly fun, shooter on the market. This has always been our goal from day one, but a lot of things have stood in our way. A small team, a failed Kickstarter, constantly running out of money – just a few of the hurdles we’ve dealt with. Ultimately, early access is what saved this game. It allowed us to buy more time and expand our community; vastly improve the game and discover a niche in the process.

There is a very fine line when it comes to early access, and its concept spurs questions such as: “What makes a game ‘final’?” For developers like us, using an iterative approach to multiplayer game development, it’s really hard to answer this question. On one hand we want our product to be perfect, but on the other hand we have bills to pay, workers to feed and simply want to keep building this game. So I think to us, the concept of releasing signifies a turning point where we are accepting our game as “reviewable” by the press and can begin promoting the game to a larger audience.

While it’s easy for us to recognize the game’s shortfalls, we still feel the gameplay is strong, distinct, and will only improve as we keep working on it. In the process of “launching” today, we will see a great influx of new activity from all corners of the globe, and support these new players with strategically placed official servers thanks to a newly formed server partnership, complemented by a robust matchmaking system. We are to be promoted on Steam, and eligible for sales throughout this year. We will continue to update the game in both frequent hot fixes and major content updates every 1-2 months.

Throughout our Early Access campaign we have been spending a lot of time analyzing our sales, the price points of competitive games, and the overall perception of our game to the public. In the process of exploring all of this, we have determined that our game sells best at $14.99. For those of you who paid a full Early Access price of $19.99, we hope you will understand that this price drop has your best interests in mind, as well as the best interest for the long term success of this game. Furthermore, we have plans to incentivize those of you who paid extra with something special, which we will reveal in the near future.

The lower price point, we feel, will lead to a much more successful reception of the game by players around the world. It will mean more players, more server options, better perception by the critical press, and at the end of the day your Early Access contribution will bear more value.

We should all want this game to get bigger, and we feel pricing the game at $14.99 increases those odds, and that for every person who feels this game is the best $19.99 purchase they’ve made, there will be 10 people who feel this game is the best $14.99 purchase they’ve made.

We have a list of things we plan to focus on post-release. Many of the items we had hoped to accomplish before launch, which was also factored in when considering the price drop. Here is an official list of things we plan to focus on:

  • Frequent updates containing gameplay improvements, usability enhancements and bug fixes.
  • Major content updates every 1-2 months including new maps (original and classic from the mod), new weapons, and new features.
  • We will work with Valve to isolate some of the crashes we’ve been dealing with that seem to be issues with Source Engine and not our game code.
  • Continued support of our modding (theater scripting) and map-making community, with map contests, extra SDK content, and Workshop support.
  • New weapons (FN FAL, M-14, and more) as well as new weapon attachments (Grenade launchers, bipods, and more).
  • New characters with increased customization and more realistic variety depending on theater (Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia).
  • Full body awareness so the player can look down and see their body.
  • Cover system where going into iron sights dynamically peers over varying wall heights.
  • Vaulting system allowing players to quickly hurdle over low walls without jumping.
  • Increased stats support with global stat tracking and leaderboards.
  • New achievement sets to be released alongside these major content updates every 1-2 months.
  • A “Personal Items” menu from the Main Menu that allows you to track your achievement progress, see personal stats as well as upgrade personal sidearm.
  • Improved spectator support and features.
  • Steam Machine and Linux support.
  • Oculus (virtual reality) support.
  • Twitch API integration.
  • Major AI improvements, the bringing back modes Outpost and Hunt, and the transformation of Checkpoint into a dynamic mission-based cooperative experience.
  • Improved player animations.

There are a few things we are happy to announce will make the official release, such as a new training level, a basic set of achievements, a command system, voice (non-VOIP) communication, HQ radio messages to relay important gameplay scenarios, matchmaking (multiplayer and coop) menu, end-round statistics, new third person weapon models, updated maps, and a major sound update. We have worked very hard to get all these in and we hope you will enjoy all the added immersion and polish!

Thank you all for sticking with us through the ups and downs of Early Access. We are excited about the future of Insurgency, and look forward to seeing you on the servers when we launch. If there are any crashes or major issues with the launch, we will resolve them in an immediate and timely manner, as we have been known to do in the past.

Jeremy Blum
Founder & Game Director
New World Interactive