World War 3's Early Access launch marred by technical difficulties

The Early Access launch of modern multiplayer shooter World War 3 has been marred by technical problems, with many players unable to connect to game servers, leaving them staring at a loading screen.

Developer The Farm 51 nearly postponed the Early Access launch at the last minute on Friday because of "technical difficulties". It managed to get the game out in time, but it soon became clear that the issues had not been resolved: players were not able to connect to matches and sometimes, if they were, the game booted them out straightaway.

The development team have been working ever since to fix the problems, and today said they've made "big progress" in sorting them. They still have a way to go, however, and said they "understand the frustration and the anger" from fans.

2/2 It's really hard to put in words how sorry we are this happened. We understand your frustration and anger - it's well justified. Thank you all for your patience and many messages of support we receive. That's heartwarming and gives us a huge boost to fix all the problems asapOctober 21, 2018

The launch has attracted a fair amount of interest, with nearly 4,000 players leaving a review since the launch on Friday, but just 42% of those reviews are positive because of the server issues.

World War 3 aims for the more realistic end of the shooter spectrum, with a detailed bullet vs armour system and plenty of weapon customisation. It's split across two modes, both of which rely on teamwork: Warzone sees infantry, armored vehicles, and drones battle over fortified points, while Recon asks you to capture various objectives in small reconnaissance squads.

Currently, there are three maps modeled on real-life locations—Warsaw, Berlin and Moscow—with more on the way.

The Early Access version costs $28.00/£24.00, and The Farm 51 says the final version should be ready to go in the next year and a half.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.