The next year is supposed to be a big one.

DayZ debuted as a mod for ArmA 2 way back in 2009 and came into existence as a standalone product in 2013. Since then it has been lingering in Early Access.

Bohemia Interactive now says that enough is enough and 2018 will be the year the game takes the next step. As lead producer Eugen Harton explains:

“Let’s just state the obvious: the PC beta is not coming before the end of 2017. We tried to get it done sooner, but it’s going to be 2018 folks. Both the beta update and any further 0.63 updates, up to 1.0, will happen in 2018, which is shaping up to be one of the most important years for DayZ. That is as much as we are sure of yet. I’ll be honest, it has been a long wait already—even for us—but that’s all we got now.”

Harton detailed the game’s state in a status report if you’re interested in more information.