Space sim Elite: Dangerous will release on December 16, developer Frontier Developments has announced.

The game has been available to backers and player who preordered it in various alphas and betas for months, and Frontier Developments always said that the plan was to release it by the end of 2014, but it didn't get an exact date until now.

Elite: Dangerous will cost $60 when it's released on PC, but you can preorder the game's Mercenary Edition right now for $50 and some extra rewards including an Eagle fighter ship docked in a secondary location in the game, and an exclusive pack of ship paint jobs. You'll also get a digital players guide, a "day one" ship decal, a digital concept art book, and other digital rewards.

Frontier Developments CEO David Braben also previously said that the game could come to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

For more on Elite: Dangerous, check out this "making of" video and the rest of GameSpot's previous coverage.