'83 was announced in 2019 as a persistent FPS for up to 80 players set in an alt-history world where the Cold War was heating up. Development was handled by Antimatter Games, the studio behind the excellent Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, but work was halted in May 2022, leaving the team to focus on the IGI Origins reboot. After the studio's closure, the fate of '83 and IGI Origins was uncertain, but neither was a good one.

Now, however, it appears that at least one of them has been resurrected from what was thought to be a dead state: a studio called Blue Dot Games announced on Discord earlier this week that it is looking for playtesters for a pre-alpha build of '83 in preparation for further development. [Blue Dot Games was founded earlier this year by Tony Gillham, who founded Antimatter Games in 2013. He left the studio in late 2014 before the release of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, but told us in our chat that he has kept track of the company's activities since then.

"When I heard that Antimatter Games was planning to close, I started contacting former colleagues and others within AMG about the possibility of doing business with their owner, Enad Global 7. It was one of their staff members, Chris Rickard (now my co-director), who mentioned the possibility of doing a deal with their owner, Enad Global 7."

At this time, Blue Dot has signed a letter of intent to acquire the rights to produce the game and is currently finalizing the terms of that agreement. Blue Dot is also increasing the number of developers working on the project: it already has "senior people in all major areas, including code, level design, art, and animation," as well as "negotiations are well underway with several key senior people involved in '83."

"Obviously, the string of terrible layoffs this year has led to us being spoiled for choice in terms of hiring, but there is a strong feeling that we need good representation of OG 83'er throughout the company," Gillum said.

While the 83'er is on the move again, it will be some time before any kind of public release is made. Blue Dot is looking for people to test the old version of the game and "refine the gameplay to the point where it is clear that the publisher has "found the fun."

"This will take some time because game development has essentially been stalled for over a year," says Gillam. We believe we've found the sweet spot between Twitch, 360 no-scope shooters, and tac bro, milsim, wide map titles. We offer intense, realistic tactical engagements on maps that are not so wide that they become walking simulators, but not so wide that they become walking simulators."

He also credited the "strength of the '83 community" for helping to revive the project. He said, "Since the days of Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, the community surrounding these games has been a great asset to the developers, and '83 is no different." The positive response and support from the "'83" community has been mind-blowing.

Unfortunately for gamers eager to play more IGI, Gillum confirmed that there are currently no plans to revive IGI Origins. 'The deal was for us to get permission to use the '83 IP. We were only interested in this particular IP (not IGI): because they were the ones who had been making this kind of game since we were modders for 'Ostfront' around 2007."

"I think trying to run two games at once has historically proven to be a stumbling block. So let's see what happens with '83 first. "

The situation is still very preliminary, but as Gillham says, the response from the community seems to be very positive: currently, on the playtest application page, Blue Dot Games has temporarily suspended accepting applications "while we process the applications received to date." Gillham hopes that the studio will be able to resume accepting applications within the next week.

See screens from a recent Unreal Engine 4 build of '83 below. (Don't ask why the dots are red.