Firefall developer Red 5 has announced that it's secured a new round of funding, and will use it to officially launch the game sometime later this year. The Series B funding from Chinese investor Shanghai Oriental Pearl Culture Development gives approximately $23 million, and will be used to finally bring Firefall out of its long-running beta period.

Plans for the full release include a story-based campaign, the introduction of open-world PvP after its previous eSports-focused PvP was pulled, and the ability to push back against the enemy threats and progress into new areas. The announcement didn't detail quite when these changes would be coming.

"This additional round of funding will offer us the means to execute on our plan for successfully launching Firefall in 2014," said CEO James Macauley, in the announcement. "This is the year Firefall takes flight. The entire Red 5 tribe is focused on creating top quality content that will take Firefall to the next level and we are excited for this next stage of development."

Firefall was originally planned to launch in December 2011, but then entered a lengthy closed beta period instead. It went into open beta last July. It had laid off show production staff in September, and the board voted out CEO Mark Kern in December.