Spend Xmas on the Red Planet in JCB Pioneer: Mars launched for Nintendo Switch Yesterday!

Official JCB engineering team design futuristic in game vehicles for this survival sandbox dig ‘em up!  

Liverpool, UK – 24th December, 2018 – Liverpool based indie studio Atomicom has launched its Mars based survival sandbox game JCB Pioneer: Mars for Nintendo Switch in EU and AUS, and will launch on 3rd January, 2019 in NA for £19.99 / €22.19 / $24.99.

Previously released on Steam Early Access, the Switch version builds on the original; addressing user feedback, adding a tonne of new updates and improvements including a huge increase in performance, new and improved UI, new tools, refined gameplay and much more.

“We’ve taken the time to really think about how we can bring the game to the Switch market.” said Tamsyn Hastings, Designer at Atomicom. “We’ve made drastic improvements across the board; refining playability and in game experiences, implementing new explorable areas and mechanics which allow us to show more game depth than the original early access release. We hope these improvements will give players a deeper more expansive and fulfilling gameplay experience”.

“At JCB, innovation is in our lifeblood and we are constantly exploring new thinking and JCB Pioneer: Mars provides a vision of the tools needed for future space colonisation”, said Worldwide Marketing Director, Michael Plummer. “It’s been an incredible experience for our visionary design team to build a series of futuristic heavy-duty construction and mining vehicles, optimised for exploration and mining on Mars”.

About JCB: Pioneer Mars
JCB Pioneer: Mars begins as the player awakes from a crash, surrounded by the wreckage of a Lander vehicle amidst falling debris and hurtling winds. Survival is the first goal – the location of oxygen and the founding of an outpost. As the player slowly begins to establish themselves on Mars, learning to combat the planets fierce and hostile weather patterns, they’ll begin a larger operation of colonisation. Life-support infrastructure is crucial but so to is the mining of natural resources, part of a broader mission to save an ailing Earth.

JCB Pioneer: Mars is a hardcore blend of survival and construction gameplay set on a hostile, alien planet. Meteor strikes, dust clouds and electrical storms all threaten the player’s survival and chances of a successful colonisation effort. Equipped with the futuristic, heavy-duty construction and mining vehicles specifically designed by JCB Engineers, every would-be astronaut has a chance of surviving and thriving in the face of extreme planetary challenges. Esteemed astrophysicist, Dr Maggie Lieu, provided advice to Atomicom during the development process, as well as making an in game cameo appearance.