More radical changes beyond just giving the characters necks are coming to Garry's Mod successor s&box. Facepunch Studios' game creation platform's launch in April was met with a swarm of negative reviews, complaints of AI slop filling its user-generated game collection, and swiftly plummeting user numbers.

Now creator Garry Newman is reversing course on some of his decisions, such as pivoting to a 'greenlight type system' for user-generated games and announcing that the platform is going free to play much earlier than expected.

"Our focus has been on the engine and the development experience. That’s what we love, that’s what turns us on—but we’re not selling an engine, we’re selling a game," Newman wrote this week. "So we need to do much much better on the game, we need to shift our focus to what players are experiencing, not developers."

That focus, Newman said, will be on improving the sandbox mode for players by adding more NPCs, vehicles, and customization. "I’ve let everyone down that was expecting that. I accept that, and I’m sorry—we are going to do better," he said.

Another issue Newman addressed is making it easier for players to find quality games amidst the, and I quote, "ton of shit games" Facepunch has allowed creators to upload to s&box.

"The player is overwhelmed by choice," he said. "They choose a game, it takes a while to download, and it’s immediately shit. How many times will they try games until they find one they like?

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