New World Interactive revealed today that Insurgency: Sandstorm will miss its intended September 18 release date, arriving instead on December 12, 2018. The extra development time will ensure that players get to experience a far more polished game, and as a bonus, the pre-order beta will be extended so owners of the tactical shooter can keep playing this early version until the day the full game hits stores.

The decision to delay the game was based on community feedback, and New World Interactive plans to use the extra time well, upgrading to a newer Unreal Engine version and continuing with the ongoing optimization work, which will in turn allow players to enjoy the game on lesser hardware than the beta version currently requires.

Features requested by the Insurgency community will also make it in on day one now, with unofficial servers and custom games being part of the tactical shooter’s feature list at launch instead of being “future” content.

The pre-order discount has been extended until the new release date, and beta access is instantly granted to anyone who pre-purchases Insurgency: Sandstorm.