Warhammer 40K: Darktide developers delay seasonal content and Xbox launch after admitting the game is not in an ‘engaging and stable’ state

Almost two months after the launch of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, the developers in Fatshark have come forth and plainly admitted that the game in its current state has fallen short of meeting the expectations they had set for themselves.

In a Jan. 24 post on the game’s official Twitter account, Martin Wahlund, CEO and co-founder of Fatshark, said the company fell short of delivering “an engaging and stable game with a depth that keeps you playing for weeks, not hours.”

Looking ahead, Wahlund said the team is prioritizing “a complete crafting system, a more rewarding progression loop, and … game stability and performance optimization.” This also means that the launch of upcoming seasonal content, premium cosmetics, and the Xbox Series X|S version have all been delayed.

Since the game’s launch, one of the main selling points has been how it plans to adapt and change over time with new content over months and even years. But the current amount of content plus the state of the game has struggled to keep players around for consecutive weeks, let alone months or years.

As weeks have gone on, players have discovered more and more instances in which the game clearly shows signs of being unfinished. The crafting system promised at launch is still unavailable. The game doesn’t support any type of crossplay, so PC players on Steam and the Xbox app (the game is on Game Pass) can’t play with each other. There’s no story campaign, mission select, or numerous other promised features.

The overall review score on Steam has fallen to “mixed” and recent reviews from the past 30 days are “mostly negative.” If you go to the Darktide subreddit and sort by most popular posts from the past month, they’re virtually all about a lack of content and communication from Fatshark amidst the game’s steady player base decline.

While many fans are a little skeptical about the promises made considering how the developer has fallen short on previous promises, others are hopeful that the game can see a resurgence over time, which is becoming a frustratingly common practice for unfinished games launched before they are ready.