The release schedule for Grounded updates is going to be slowing down in the future in order to provide more "meaningful" updates to players. Additionally, there will be no May 2021 Grounded update.
Grounded is an open-world survival crafting game created by Obsidian with a somewhat unique theme — players are shrunk down to a size smaller than a blade of grass and stuck in a backyard packed with deadly bugs and other mysterious happenings. Most recently, the game released an update that improved Creative Mode and added more building pieces. Now, Obsidian has announced that we're going to be waiting a little longer for the next batch of content.
Why Grounded Updates Are Slowing Down
Grounded updates are slowing down for two key reasons: Obsidian wants to deliver more content in each update and it also wants to give its developers more time to deliver something cool to players.
"We are approaching the one-year mark from the Game Preview/Early Access launch and we still have so much that we want to do for the game," read Grounded's Letter from the Developers. "Some of these larger features take time, and with a small team it's difficult to release content every month while balancing larger tasks that need to get done to finish the game. We will be looking at doing larger and slightly less frequent updates moving forward, which will allow us to make our updates more meaningful with more and better content."
"Our goal is to find the right balance of keeping the game fresh with new things while giving the team enough time to make quality features." – Grounded's Letter from the Developers
Previously, Grounded more or less launched updates on a monthly basis, delivering a new batch of content for players to enjoy. This kind of frequency isn't entirely unexpected considering that the game is in Early Access.
That said, the last few updates haven't been particularly heavy on content. Recent updates have largely focused on adding new building pieces or quality-of-life features to the game such as the ability to password protect your servers and the introduction of photo mode to the game, the latter of which will be getting some improvements in the next update with a new capability to set the time of day.
Ultimately, this change of pace means that there will be no Grounded May 2021 update for players to look forward to. That said, Obsidian did tease a few new features that are on the way for the next update including the aforementioned photo mode improvements, new building pieces, and a new modified TAYZ.T variant called ARC.R that specializes in defense.
When is the Next Grounded Update?
The next Grounded update will launch sometime in Late June 2021. You're going to have to wait a month longer for Grounded Update 0.10.0, but this delay means that Obsidian can cram more awesome content into the game.
Going forward, we probably shouldn't expect to get monthly updates any longer. Obsidian isn't entirely ruling them out, but an overall slower development pace means that they'll be much less likely. You can enjoy all of this new content next month by buying Grounded for PC and consoles via its official website for just $29.99 or your regional equivalent.
What do you think about the pace of Grounded updates being slowed down in the future? How long do you think the game will take to get to version 1.0? Let us know in the comments below!
