s&box pivots to free to play after poor launch

Garry Newman says his "Netflix for games" approach to s&box failed. The platform suffered from poor reviews and a collection of user-generated games filled with AI content. Facepunch is now shifting focus from engine development to the player experience.

Planned changes include adding more vehicles and NPCs to the sandbox mode and replacing the "Citizen" character models with generic humans. To fix discovery, Newman is implementing a greenlight system for user-generated content. Developers wanting Play Fund money must now apply rather than receiving it based on map and player counts. Paid users will receive exclusive Steam inventory items when the game goes free.

Read more at PC Gamer and Rock Paper Shotgun.