Avalanche Studios officially announces Just Cause 3, a third installment in the open-world action series coming to Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 next year. This project has was previously hinted at through a domain registration and a possible screenshot leak followed by an official statement, but now it is confirmed. "We’ve been waiting for this moment ever since Just Cause 2 was released," said Christofer Sundberg, founder and Chief Creative Officer at Avalanche Studios. "This is the culmination of a decade’s worth of open-world evolution and innovation. In JUST CAUSE 3, we’ve sent Rico to a beautiful Mediterranean archipelago. He is of course bringing his Grapple and Parachute, both with game-changing upgrades, as well as the brand new Wingsuit. JUST CAUSE 3 truly represents the next generation of chaotic sandbox fun, and we can’t wait to show you more next year." GameInformer.com reveals this as the cover story of their December print issue, promising more details as part of their coverage. They also have a follow-up to concerns that this will be a free-to-play game with microtransactions, "It will be distributed as a retail box and digital download," says Avalanche chief creative officer Christofer Sundberg. "It is not a Free To Play game. It does not feature in-game micro transactions." Here's Game Informer's coverage trailer and what they have about the game for now:

We got the chance to be the first people outside of the studio to play not just 10 or 20 minutes, but several hours of the game, set in a fictional Mediterranean archipelago. The time flew by as we tried out the vastly improved parachute and grapple mechanics, terrorized the latest dictator’s well-defended bases, and soared through the sky with the all-new wingsuit. Just Cause has never played this smoothly, and as you’ll see in the cover story launching digitally today, it’s never looked this good.