After 12 years, Terraria Developers Say Enduring Demand Makes It ‘Hard to Move On’

As Terraria’s next major patch approaches, developer Re-Logic has revealed it’s “hard to move on” and start a new project owing to the success and demand generated by the 2011 cult game.

“After 12 years the game still sells like hot cakes,” said Re-Logic head Andrew Spinks in a Twitter post from his now deactivated account, as reported by PC Gamer. “There is so much demand it makes it hard to move on.”

Since its release in May 2011, Terraria has graced every active gaming platform under the sun, ranging from the PC and Nintendo Switch to the PlayStation Vita, smartphones, and even Google Stadia, following a fraught development process.

During its 12-year lifespan Terraria has expanded significantly in scope, thanks to a slew of patches and free content updates. It is now one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 44 million copies sold as of May 2022. It is also one of the most-played games in Steam history, boasting a concurrent player peak of almost 490,000 in May 2020, with a current all-time approval rating of 97 percent.

But all good things must come to an end, and it seems developer Re-Logic’s long, and arguably heroic display of post-launch support could finish with Terraria’s next major update, patch 1.4.5. Or, it wont. Only time will tell. The (potentially) final 1.4.5 update will see crossover content from the roguelite metroidvania Dead Cells make its way to the game, along with a slew of other updates and improvements.

It’s worth noting this isn’t the first time Re-Logic has sought to put a bow on Terraria’s post-launch updates. In an interview with PC Gamer, Re-Logic’s head of business strategy and marketing Ted Murphy pointed out the team had initially intended to end support for the game with patch 1.3 back in 2015. However, the team had too many “cool ideas” and “unfinished business, so to speak”, to walk away from the game. 

2020’s Journey’s End update represented another stepping-off point, but that too was followed by a string of patches. Murphy now believes the time may be ripe “to start work on a second project”, which would allow the team to “explore ideas that might not work, or work as well in the current iteration and technology of Terraria”.

However, Murphy also didn’t rule out the potential of subsequent updates. “We’ve felt that way before — so we do never say never. When will Terraria’s final update truly happen? I don’t even think we can say that with certainty.”

In June Re-Logic revealed it had teamed up with Paper Fort Games to develop a Terraria board game. The crowdfunded offering will “expand the universe of Terraria by faithfully combining the digital game’s biome exploration, character progression, base building, and epic combat with tabletop mechanisms”, according to a Steam store update. No release date has yet been given for the project, beyond the admission it likely won’t launch until 2024 at the earliest.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer