by Jesse Houston, CEO and Co-founder Phoenix LabsEarlier this year we released Dauntless on the Epic Games store. Today, we are excited to announce the next evolution for Dauntless, with Aether Unbound arriving on September 26. This new season brings with it many new features, but it also marks an important milestone for us as a studio: Dauntless is leaving Early Access.So why leave Early Access now? Great question. Dating back to when we ran our first Technical Alpha tests, we valued feedback early and often. Patching, polishing, and iteration were paramount in establishing our live service, and that ethos is still true today. Over the last four months, we’ve been listening to the Dauntless community, now 15 million strong, and iterating on their feedback. We’ve been polishing the game and squashing bugs. We’ve also been making our way through our 1.0 feature list. Since launch, we have added Trials and the Wall of Champions -- a brand new way to earn bragging rights and take on the most challenging content Dauntless has to offer. We also added saved loadouts, one of our players' most highly-requested features.With Aether Unbound, we’re going even further, adding our seventh weapon class -- the aether strikers -- and empowering players with a new way to slay. A fearsome new Behemoth, Tempestborne Stormclaw, is also making its way to the Shattered Isles, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. A new Bounty system and Hunt Pass season arrive in 1.0 as well. And these are just a few of the many improvements that have been introduced to Dauntless since our May debut.1.0 celebrates everything that Dauntless has become, and our continued collaboration with our vibrant and growing community. But we’re not stopping here. 1.0 is the next step toward Dauntless’ storied future, and we’re already hard at work on more Hunt Pass seasons, Behemoths, weapons, and more. We’re very excited to have everyone join us in Aether Unbound and we can’t wait to hear your feedback.From everyone here at Phoenix Labs, thank you for joining us on this journey. We’ll see you in the Shattered Isles!⦁ Jesse “GTez” Houston