Prison Architect leaves Early Access, gets full release next month

After years in Early Access on Steam, Prison Architect will receive a fully-featured release on Oct. 6, developer Introversion Software announced today.

Introversion Software, the developer behind the prison simulator, gave the news on its Twitter page, as well as in a press release.

6 Oct 2015: Prison Architect V1 Launches. After 3 yrs of early access we're finally able to confirm our launch date! #prisonarchitectlaunch — IntroversionSoftware (@IVSoftware) September 21, 2015

According to the release, the new features and modes of the full Prison Architect 1.0 will be revealed on stage at this weekend's EGX, the United Kingdom's largest gaming expo. The premiere will take place at 2 p.m. GMT on Sept. 26, and will also be live streamed on the event's official YouTube channel.

Prison Architect has been available to players in an alpha version for nearly three years. Its launch coincided with that of Steam Early Access, which was first announced in October 2012 and became available to the Steam community in March 2013.

Various pricing tiers for the Windows PC game are currently offered on both the Steam store and the developer's website. These range from the Standard edition at $29.99 to a $49.99 option that allows you to name your own prisoner. Each option grants immediate access to the full game upon its launch.

We last checked in with Prison Architect back in December 2013, when the developer added a new mod system.

The game's most recent alpha update, which the developer noted then would be the last prior to the full release, launched in late August of this year. That update, the alpha's 36th, added a new random event system.