Tactical extraction shooter, Arena Breakout: Infinite, entered Early Access last week. Though the recent beta tests were held on Steam, the launch is only available through the game’s official website.

The plan has always been for Arena Breakout to launch on Steam, however, and today during Gamescom 2024 Opening Night Live, the developer shared new details about the future of the game.

We now know that Arena Breakout: Infinite’s full release is anticipated by the end of the year, and although many of us were hoping for an exact release date, that’s still specific enough to be rather hopeful. The game recently amassed over 1 million wishlists on Steam, already making it one of the platform’s most anticipated games, and while it doesn’t look like Steam Early Access for the title is any closer to being a reality, at least you should have your hands on the full game by Christmas either way.

Arena Breakout is Tencent’s take on the extraction shooter genre, more specifically Escape from Tarkov. It’s considred by many to be an accessible, more friendly version of Tarkov – to the point that its developer got into hot water for allegedly stealing assets.

Although it’s been largely well received during the recent beta tests, many have raised concerns about some of the game’s monetisation aspects, which offer players who pay certain advantages.

As a free-to-play game, Arena Breakout includes several items for sale for real-world money, which the developer said will be limited to “convenience”, but not everyone sees it that way. Nevertheless, this is usually one of those aspects that evolves over time, so we’ll have to wait for the Steam debut (and 1.0 launch) to see where things stand.