A number of huge titles were announced at Summer Game Fest 2022, including Capcom's Resident Evil 4 remake and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us: Part 1. Coffee Stain also surprised audiences with the reveal of Goat Simulator 3 - though part of this surprise came as a result of the Goat Simulator sequel masquerading as Dead Island 2. After getting past the Dead Island ploy, Goat Similator 3's title may still confuse viewers who were not aware of Goat Simulator 2 being on the market.
To put it plainly, that's because there is no Goat Simulator 2. While this may be confusing to general audiences, it's well-within the comedic tone of the brand. The game's development studio and publisher are also very clear to point out that this isn't a mistake, with a press release for its announcement stating it is the "long dreaded sequel to the global annoyance Goat Simulator," specifically following up the 2014 title. Though this is a relatively simple explanation, changes within Coffee Stain offer more to dive into.
Goat Simulator's Changing Hands
The original Coffee Stain Studios was formed by nine classmates at the University of Skovde, Sweden, who began making small mobile titles before gaining steam with the first-person tower-defense game Sanctum in 2011. After the subsequent development of Sanctum and Sanctum 2, current CEO Stefan Hanna told Game Rant that Coffee Stain wanted to have some fun, leading to Goat Simulator being developed "in a couple of weeks," according to its website.
Goat Simulator became a huge hit, as its irreverent humor and intentionally over-the-top ragdoll physics were perfect fodder for content creators on sites like YouTube (for example, Markiplier's March 29, 2014, video has nearly five million views as of this writing). The developer continued working on Goat Simulator through December 2015 with DLC including "MMO Simulator" and "Payday." After that, Coffee Stain began to prototype new ideas like the building/management game Satisfactory in 2016.
Coffee Stain Studios was also able to leverage the success of Goat Simulator into opening the Coffee Stain Publishing arm in early 2017, which primarily helps Scandinavian titles like Lavapotion's Songs of Conquest. One studio under this umbrella is Coffee Stain North; called Gone North Games before it was acquired in 2018. Coffee Stain helped Gone North Games publish A Story About My Uncle in May 2014, and then that team helped develop the "Goat Z" and "Waste of Space" expansions for Goat Simulator. With that experience under its belt, Coffee Stain North is now the primary team behind Goat Simulator 3.
What Goat Simulator 3 is Changing
While many likely saw Goat Simulator 3's announcement at Summer Game Fest, it also made an appearance at the Epic Games Store Summer Showcase on June 10 (the title will be exclusive to this storefront on PC). Following the Dead Island 2 parody trailer, the Epic Games Store showcase trailer was shorter and largely cinematic, showing Pilgor the goat being kidnaped from the wild and brought to a farm where chaos ensues. Though these trailers were more focused on setting a tone, they did reveal mechanics being implemented by Coffee Stain North.
For example, the Epic Games Store trailer shows other goat variants that players can take on, including "tall goat" and "tasty goat" - a giraffe and pig, respectively. Goat Simulator 3 will be set in the new sandbox island of San Angora, with four-player co-op that supports local and online play. There will be mini-games for players to take part in, and the aforementioned press release boasts "over 300 different gear parts" for customizing six different segments of a goat: Head, Back, Feet, Body, Horns, and Furs.
Epic Games Store's official showcase round-up blog also doubles down on the idea that this game's jokey name was intentional, saying it "skips the sequel and goes straight to the third game." Ultimately it promises a bigger, better Goat Simulator experience, which should be what many fans want. Given Coffee Stain North's track record, DLC is likely to follow, though the studio has "nothing to report at this time."
Goat Simulator 3 releases fall 2022 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.