As Factorio confirms that its next major update will be its final one, Palworld lead John 'Bucky' Buckley has paid tribute to the construction management sim.
After just over a decade since its launch into early access, Wube Software announced over the weekend that Factorio's 2.1 update will be the "last major update" for the game, with the dev team shifting "the focus onto long-term support" like bug fixes and compatibility changes.
The game has been consistently updated since its release, with the full release in 2020, a massive DLC pack titled Space Age in 2024, and, most recently, a Nintendo Switch 2 edition releasing in December 2025, but it's finally time to say goodbye.
Factorio, perhaps one of the most influential games to ever release on Steam, will end “active gameplay development” after 13 incredible years.I can’t imagine how different Steam gaming landscape would have been if there was no Factorio. Thank you for making an incredible game! pic.twitter.com/VfZM6lVs5VJune 1, 2026
Naturally, fans are sad to see it go and are reminiscing about the 13 years since the game was first announced on Indiegogo. Among those is Pocketpair's head of publishing and communications, Bucky, who said: "Factorio, perhaps one of the most influential games to ever release on Steam, will end 'active gameplay development' after 13 incredible years."
Bucky continues, "I can’t imagine how different [the] Steam gaming landscape would have been if there was no Factorio. Thank you for making an incredible game!" Bucky has been an outspoken fan of the game for years. Back in 2024, when Palworld was doing well in The Game Awards' "Player's Voice" category vote, he noted that, despite Palworld's success, "The two best games of the year weren't even in round 1 at all… Satisfactory and Factorio: Space Age."
