It seems the whirlwind of attention given to Wild West Online last week has done the game a lot of good. The Red Dead Redemption look-alike game has now received enough funding from investors, that it will no longer be coming to Kickstarter or Steam Early Access.

Developer 612 Games announced today that buzz Wild West Online will move forward with the development using the funding provided by initial investors, and that the game is still planned for release later this year. Additionally, there will be a beta for Wild West Online sometime this summer, though no details about when it’ll happen or what will be included have yet been released.

In a statement about the developer’s funding success, 612 Games chief creative officer, Stephan Bugaj, shared the company’s excitement with supporters. Bugaj said:

"The community's response to Wild West Online is something we never imagined, and thanks to it, we're able to fully develop a robust Western experience for PC. We've been fortunate enough to have our initial investors step up and provide additional funding to make the game we wanted, without having to raise money via crowdfunding. Westerns are lacking on PC, so we can't wait to release the game to the public."

While there will certainly be some gamers who are bummed not to gain access to Wild West Online via the discounts that usually come with Kickstarter and Steam Early Access, it’s nice to know the company is planning to release the game only when development is completed.

Gamers have become frustrated with some Early Access games of late, which seem to be stuck in a constant state of Alpha-stage development. A prime example is DayZ, which has been in Early Access for about four years, and will finally be moving into beta stage sometime this year.

Granted, the recent success of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a good example of a Steam Early Access game that has experienced significant success and seems to be on track with development. However, despite the game’s popularity, there are still numerous issues that need to be worked out before the battle royale game is ready for a full launch.

With Wild West Online moving forward with a full release thanks to investor funding, 612 Games has revealed that the features that were planned as stretch goals with Kickstarter will all be included in the final release of the game. This includes features like card games, localization for other languages, and female characters. Additionally, 612 Games is already planning “several” expansions for the game after launch.

Wild West Online is expected to release later this year for PC.

Find more information about Wild West Online at playwwo.com.