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Factorio, the legendary management sim that proved a smash hit on Steam – and later, the Nintendo Switch – will no longer be receiving updates.
Or, well, significant updates, anyway. With patch 2.1, indie developer and publisher Wube Software plans to step away from gameplay development on Factorio and move on to other projects.
The team announces as much in a new blog post on its website, first outlining what the plan with 2.1 is. There are no major additions to the game, perse, but rather quality-of-life tweaks and "some small features," as the studio puts it. The real highlight is the fact that 2.1 marks the end of Factorio – or, at least, its updates.
"We envision 2.1 as our last major update of Factorio," as Wube Software explains, "and we will shift the focus onto long-term support… things like bug fixes, platform support/compatibility, modding features, etc. Other than that, we feel we've reached a good place to conclude the active gameplay development."
It's certainly bittersweet, but it makes sense.
After all, Factorio began its journey sometime in 2012. Its devs grew into the team we now know as Wube Software in 2014, and early versions of the game went up on the studio's own site before its official debut on Steam in 2016. Then came its full release out of Early Access in 2020.
On Valve's platform, it racked up "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews and a perfect 5/5 rating – no small feat for a title that boasts such humble origins. Factorio went on to drop on other platforms like the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, reaching an even wider audience, too.
It's safe to say that Wube Software has more than made a name for itself with the unique construction and management sim – one that's now revered as one of the greatest to date.
Thankfully, even though 2.1 closes the book on Factorio, the devs are working on other games. In fact, it sounds like they're doing so quite actively.
As per their post, "We have been starting work on projects other than Factorio. Honestly, there will not be anything to share for a long time, but you might notice some of our team members less active fixing bugs and working on Factorio as they spend their time on other game prototypes/experiments. We have hired a few new humans to help with development of Factorio and the new projects."
No word on what those are, of course, but still.
Here's hoping we hear more from Wube Software later down the line on what those "new projects are" – and, for now, get to enjoy Factorio 2.1.
