Fair question and one I have't address in some time.
The team talked about a release date while we were in Amsterdam at Unite 2012. In short, this project is talking longer than originally expected because we're making more changes and improvements than originally expected. We're adding some new features that I'm really excited about.
Current Plan
- Release a closed beta at the end of 2012
- Public release in 2013
- Begin working on improvements and updates
We've missed our release date in 2012, I'm sorry about that. In compensation Universe Sandbox going to be more awesome than original conceived of when the 2012 date was promised.
In addition to all the improvements, the new code base is a dramatic improvement from the current version. Writing good code also takes longer, but it makes it more flexible, easier to squash bugs, and future proof.