Garry Newman admits the sandbox game has struggled to find an audience

Garry Newman, creator of the hugely popular Garry’s Mod, has admitted that his studio’s spiritual successor, S&box, is struggling and announced a series of sweeping changes intended to turn the project around.

In a new blog post titled “Rethinking,” Newman acknowledged that the game has failed to win over players since its April launch. “The platform is not well liked, it doesn’t have good retention,” he wrote. “I’m embarrassed by our reviews, I am ashamed.”

Developed by Facepunch Studios using Valve’s Source 2 engine, S&box was envisioned as a successor to Garry’s Mod, the physics sandbox that has sold more than 25 million copies. But the new project has struggled to attract an audience, with its Steam reviews sitting at roughly 47% positive.

Newman said the studio had focused too heavily on its development tools rather than the experience players actually get.

Facepunch plans to prioritize the game’s core sandbox experience, adding more NPCs and vehicles while improving multiplayer, add-on support, and customization. Newman said the goal is to bring the experience up to parity with Garry’s Mod and eventually surpass it.

The studio is also rethinking how players discover games within S&box . Newman acknowledged that his vision of a “Netflix for games,” where players browse a broad selection of user-created experiences, hasn’t worked as intended. The abundance of low-quality games, including AI-generated projects, has made it harder for players to find worthwhile experiences.

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