Paris, France – Today our new publishing partner, Focus Home Interactive, has revealed an exciting new project we are developing – Insurgency: Sandstorm – available for PS4, Xbox One, Windows, OS X, and Linux in 2017.

“Considering our indie background, it was not easy finding a publisher we felt compatible with. We decided to work with Focus because they understand our game and they believe in our vision.”

Jeremy Blum – Founder and Game Director of New World Interactive

The decision to collaborate with a publisher is primarily for their expertise in console distribution and broader marketing reach. New World Interactive retains full ownership of the Insurgency brand and creative direction on the project.

Source UE4

Sandstorm is powered by Unreal Engine 4 and will be a major visual and technological upgrade to Insurgency. Although the game is being developed for console, it will stay true to its PC roots by ensuring our dedicated audience has a seamless transition to the new game. Sandstorm retains what makes Insurgency unique and challenging, bringing this experience to a new console audience.

In addition to console support, Insurgency: Sandstorm will contain some exciting new features such as a new story mode and eSports framework. The game is being built from the ground up with competitive multiplayer, console split-screen, and singleplayer in mind. The story mode will focus on a squad of characters as they face increasingly challenging chapters, from the invasion of Iraq in 2003 through the insurrection period and leading to the present day.

Source UE4

New World Interactive is currently developing a new eSports framework that it plans on deploying into Insurgency: Sandstorm upon release. In the meantime, New World Interactive intends to release a fully functional beta of these competitive systems into the current Source Engine version of Insurgency. The systems will be stress-tested and improved upon with the help of the community leading up until the launch of Insurgency: Sandstorm.

“The industry is going wild about the potential of eSports and we recognize the potential Insurgency has from the very root of its gameplay. Taking the time to build our competitive systems, while receiving data and feedback from the community will allow us to iterate towards quality and ensure we have a solid framework for the new console launch. We look forward to delivering to our passionate competitive fanbase the experience they’ve long been waiting for.” – Andrew Spearin – Creative Director of Insurgency.

There is no official release date planned for the competitive beta rollout, but the team is hard at work and intends to test as soon as possible. In the meantime, we will taking community questions about our plans with the current Insurgency and Sandstorm on our weekly live stream, this Saturday February 27 at 3pm EST on our official Insurgency Twitch.tv channel.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for updates in the coming months.