As with so many online games lately, it's easy to wind up confused about the official Stormgate launch time. Frost Giant's free-to-play RTS has been technically playable for about two weeks but hasn't actually launched yet. Its Steam page may say it launched in July, but the actual release date is on August 13.
Stormgate has done that thing where developers co-opt the phrase "early access" to refer to a period of time where players who pre-order the game get to play early—starting back on July 30 in this case. To add further semantic confusion, Stormgate is in fact launching in Steam Early Access, the thing we're all used to calling "early access." And even though it offered a preorder package for $25, don't forget that Stormgate is indeed a free-to-play game. Despite all that unnecessary confusion over what words mean, Stormgate is about to launch, for real and for free.
When is the Stormgate launch time for early access?
Stormgate launches in early access on Tuesday, August 13 at 10 am Pacific according to its official Discord server. You can check what that equates to in your local timezone, but here's how that breaks down around the world:
- 10 am PDT (Los Angeles)
- 1 pm EDT (New York)
- 2 pm BRT (São Paulo)
- 6 pm BST (London)
- 7 pm CEST (Berlin)
- 3 am, August 14 AEST (Sydney)
- 5 am, August 14 NZST (Auckland)
Stormgate is launching in early access with competitive 1v1 matches, the beginning of its campaign, and 3-player co-op versus AI. It's planning to remain in early access for at least a year to add 3v3 matches, more heroes, a map editor, and other features detailed in its Stormgate roadmap.
Fraser Brown got to play Stormgate with a pro in June and had a good time getting back into an RTS, saying "for the first time in a while, I'm excited to dip my toes into the competitive side of real-time strategy again."
As for players who've already been playing its early-early access, the Steam user review rating is still aggregating to "mixed" but Frost Giant is confident that won't last. "Mixed reviews are to be expected at this stage," said Frost Giant CEO Tim Morten. "There are so many amazing games that get polished into gems after mixed initial responses. We firmly believe that we’re building something special, and we have big plans for Stormgate’s future."
