While V Rising isn't Stunlock Studios' first major game release, it may well be its most successful project yet, having sold more than 1 million copies since it came out on May 17 and reaching 150,000 concurrent players in its first weekend. As the game is currently in early access, its continued production and development is a major point of consideration, and it seems like Stunlock Studios has big plans for the future.
In its latest blog post, Stunlock talked about the success of V Rising and what that means for the next steps in the game's development. According to the developer, however, this may mean that there could be fewer hotfixes and updates coming out in the short term, as the studio seems to be regrouping with plans for bigger and more comprehensive content releases in the long run.
Stunlock Studios doesn't seem to have expected the sort of attention its new project received following the full reveal and release of V Rising. Johan Ilves, the game's Marketing Director, has said that the support that V Rising garnered from the player base has given the studio what it needed to finalize its plans for the game, but the team's plans for its production have now also been substantially expanded upon. "We can promise you something very special for 1.0," he said.
Since combat forms the core of V Rising's progression system, it's a very action-oriented survival game, meaning it's more engaging and interesting than many other early access survival titles at this stage of development. With a significant chunk of content already available even in early access, Stunlock Studios can take this opportunity to pivot away from putting out fires via hotfixes and focus instead on producing substantial, potentially game-changing content updates instead, explained Ilves.
The blog goes into some detail about why players should expect fewer hotfixes and less communication from the developers in the near future, as Stunlock Studios takes a step back and re-establishes its plans for the game. While there aren't any hard dates available yet, the blog suggests that the next major update for V Rising might drop sometime in the fall, meaning that its meta-progression and gameplay are unlikely to receive any major changes in the interim, and newbies looking for early V Rising guidelines can settle in.
V Rising got lucky when it got picked up by some of the biggest Twitch streamers on the platform, giving Stunlock Studios the opportunity it needed to continue the game's development. While there's no telling what the future might hold for V Rising, it's clear that the developer has big plans for the game, even though early adopters might need to wait a few months before the first major content updates get released.
V Rising is available now on PC.
Source: Stunlock Studios