Satisfactory will have its 1.0 release this year
Coffee Stain Studios has announced that their factory-building sim game, Satisfactory, will leave early access this year for a full 1.0 release. Satisfactory has been in development since 2019, and has to date released eight major updates to buyers during that time. The 1.0 release will include the full version of the game's narrative story alongside a "factory-load" of new features, Coffee Stain said in a press release.
The announcement was made publicly in a characteristically-comedic video posted to YouTube and embedded above. You can skip to ~3:20 if you want just the announcement.
Coffee Stain says it will run a closed beta for testing before the release of the 1.0 update. Those interested can sign up for the closed beta on the Satisfactory website.
"From our recent sales milestone to upgrading to Unreal Engine 5, the years of development and feedback from our dedicated players are all accumulating to this final lead up to 1.0. Since we released Update 5 in 2021, we have been focused between delivering game-changing updates while simultaneously working on content towards 1.0. With the final update 8 released, the whole team is now working together to finalise the game, and we can’t wait to share more with our players," said Coffee Stain Studio's community manager Snutt Treptow in a press release.
2023 was a pretty big year for Satisfactory that culminated in the in-development game upgrading from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, making it one of the first independently developed games to do so.
Satisfactory's blend of full-3D open world factory building with a dash of aliens to fight and terrain to explore has proven a huge hit with players, driving over 5.5 million copies sold in what was previously regarded as a niche genre. It can be found on the Epic Games Store and on Steam.