The celebrated strategy game Stellaris on Steam has received a major new update and a DLC for its birthday. However, fans are disappointed by the many issues. Now the boss has apologized.
Why is there a shitstorm? The 4X strategy game Stellaris is actually one of the long-standing favorites on Steam in the genre. For 9 years, it has been receiving continuous free updates and paid DLCs. However, the new version update to version 4 of the strategy game is causing problems.
What was meant to be a birthday gift ended in a shitstorm. The new version of the game suffers from bugs, performance issues, and crashes. Even the first hotfixes have not yet satisfied the community.
While the new features are generally well-received, the overall impression of players suffers due to the problems. Now the boss is speaking in an interview and apologizing to the fans but also explains that they should have known better.
Here you can watch the trailer for the new update of Stellaris:
“We released it in a rough state”
What does the boss explain in the interview? In an interview with PCGamesN, Game Director Stephen ‘Eladrin’ Muray explains that the developers knew in what kind of state they were releasing the new update and the DLC.
We released it in a rough state […] I felt that we were showing this a bit by having a big list of known issues in the patch notes, [but] I should have been clearer about the state we had it in. [Players] need to know what is happening and how it will get better.
Murray later apologizes in the interview for disappointing the fans. He further explains that he still stands by his decision not to delay the update:
If we had delayed it by two weeks, I don’t think we would have recognized as many of the issues – it would have been in a better state, but we still would have been intensely patching for a week, [although] not as intensively as at the moment. It’s difficult because there are so many moving parts.
How will it get better in the future? Stellaris always releases a DLC together with a free update. Both versions work hand in hand. While the free update brings new features, the DLC provides additional features for a fee. The team is now considering ending the simultaneous release of the updates. Instead, they might release them at different times.
“This is something we are discussing internally for the future when we make changes of this magnitude again,” says Murray. The endeavor would be very difficult, “but I think it could be worthwhile in the future. This way we could receive more information about the base game without the DLC,” says the Game Director.
Stellaris is part of the portfolio of strategy games from publisher Paradox Interactive. The strategy geniuses from Sweden are also currently working on the continuation of another title, but the fans are afraid of what is to come: The next game from the Swedish strategy geniuses shows a new trailer and fans are immediately afraid that they will need a doctorate
