7 Days To Die Is Finally Leaving Early Access After A Decade, Will Receive New Console Port

7 Days to Die helped kick off the zombie survival game craze, and now, over a decade since its initial release, it's finally leaving Steam Early Access behind with its planned 1.0 update.

What was originally slated to be the game's Alpha 22 update will instead become its long-awaited 1.0 update. The 1.0 update for 7 Days to Die is slated for June, with a new console version set to come in July. The plan is for the two versions of the game to keep update parity with one another, and though it won't be live at launch, cross-play between consoles and PC is slated to be added in an update before year's end. Launch will bring a new zombie gore system, updated visuals, a new challenge system, and more, according to The Fun Pimps.

It's a huge moment that's been a long-time coming, as The Fun Pimps explain in a comprehensive FAQ about the upcoming changes.

"We've been developing 7 Days for nearly 12 years and have had over twenty large scale early access releases that have brought the game to a significantly different place and quality than where it began," the developer states. "Our team feels satisfied with our efforts, especially with the significant overall progress, art quality, and optimizations that have gone into the current release…We are now turning our focus to other ways we can support all versions of the game--through our planned roadmap, free updates, and beyond."

As part of the shift to 1.0, the old console version of 7 Days to Die, which was released for Xbox One and PS4 in 2016 and received different updates from its PC counterpart, will be delisted from digital storefronts in order to avoid "branding confusion." Owners of what The Fun Pimps is now calling the "legacy" console version will still be able to play the game in the future, but it will not receive future updates and will no longer be purchasable come the release of the new 7 Days to Die Console Edition. Those who purchased the original game will need to rebuy the new one, but The Fun Pimps states it's hoping to provide a discount to legacy owners of the game to buy the new version. Saves from the legacy version of the game will not carry over to the new console version.

"We made the decision early on to focus on a 'new version of the game that is unified with our PC version, and our efforts to update the game post-launch will be entirely focused on that version," The Fun Pimps state.

Those post-launch updates will include a major update before year's end called Storm's Brewing, which will overhaul the game's weather system and add cross-play. The Fun Pimps currently have two updates planned for 2025, the first of which will add bandits, a new quest type, and overhaul the game's UI. Another, slated for the end of 2025, will introduce a story mode, overhaul the game's traders, and introduce yet another new quest type. The Fun Pimps state that the release windows featured on the 7 Days to Die roadmap are rough estimates and are subject to change.

In what is often an early access tradition, 7 Days to Die's exit from early access and into full release will see the game's price increase to $45 on all platforms, up from $25 on Steam and $30 on consoles. The game's current price on PC will remain in place until April 29, after which it will go up. The Fun Pimps state that the quality of the game has "gone up significantly" after a decade of improvements, and that the price increase will help to fund possible expansions and continued free updates.

For more information about 7 Days to Die's full release, be sure to check out the full FAQ on the game's official website.