Update (Dec 21, 3:28 pm EST): Atlas has been delayed until tomorrow, as revealed in the game’s Discord: “Pathfinders, we expect early streaming of ATLAS to start this evening at approx 9:00 PM PST. Following that, the game will be ready for full Early Access Launch tomorrow by noon PST. We’ll keep you updated should there be any changes. Thank you for your patience and support "

Atlas, the super ambitious and impressive looking pirate MMO game, has been delayed again and in a really weird way. A surprise announcement at the 2018 Game Awards from developer Grapeshot Games, a sister team of ARK: Survival Evolved maker Studio Wildcard, Atlas was unveiled with a quick release date, and has now missed its date twice.

Initially planned for a December 11 release on Steam Early Access, Atlas got pushed a back six days for the devs to run through the massive game’s set of content, and massive it is since being described as “1200 times bigger than Ark.” Atlas hosts up to 40,000 players exploring an oceanic world simultaneously. The trailers along make it feel like a thousand times the game Sea of Thieves is, which is absolutely shocking.

So, today, December 19 2018, was the day. There was even a big countdown timer on the official playatlas.com website. The Steam discussions were abuzz, the Reddit threads and Atlas Discord were insanely active, and the game - not even released - topped Twitch.tv right up there with Fortnite. And what did Grapeshot Games do with this next-level launch buzz? Delay it another two days.

Oof.

Delays are good things in video game development, as has been proven time and time again over the last few years. However, what’s also very good is transparency and therein lies the issue. By not informing the overly eager community and influencers, people wasted their time for something that Grapeshot wasn’t putting out. They did however, release the extended gameplay trailer - an extension of what was revealed during the Game Awards (since for the show it was capped at 60 seconds).

When is Atlas Actually Releasing in Steam Early Access?

Barring yet another last minute delay, Atlas now releases this Friday on Steam Early Access (December 21, 2018). The specific time of day has yet to be given but it should be here for our weekend enjoyment. We’ll even stream it if you want to see it live.

Grapeshot has not offered any information as to the why of the last minute, not-communicated-beforehand delay which is causing the extreme (and entitled in a lot of cases) negative reaction. Communicate, devs. Please. It’ll prevent the below on trailers that are otherwise impressive:

The game looks great though and offers so much more - at least from what they’ve teased and described - from anything even remotely comparable.

How Much Does Atlas Cost to Buy/Play?

Atlas will be $25 USD on sale at launch on Steam and $30 USD otherwise during the Early Access period. Upon full release, Atlas will be priced at $60 USD.

More: Check Out The First Set of ATLAS’ Amazing Screenshots!

Atlas releases on Steam Early Access on December 21, 2018.

Source: Steam

Atlas Screenshots, Logos, and Official Key Art

See below for logos and the first set of official screenshots for Atlas, the massive scale pirate MMO from Grapeshot Games!