Facepunch founder Garry Newman has outlined major changes coming to s&box, the studio’s spiritual successor to Garry’s Mod. The update sets out a new direction focused on improving the core Sandbox Game, tightening curation and addressing long‑standing issues around discovery and low‑effort content.
In the post, Newman says the team will shift its attention toward the player experience, aiming to bring the Sandbox Game to parity with Garry’s Mod and eventually surpass it. This includes expanding NPCs, adding vehicles, improving multiplayer support and strengthening addon compatibility. Newman also confirmed that the Citizen character model will be removed after the team spent “about a year longer than we should have” trying to make it work.
A major part of the update focuses on discovery. s&box has struggled with an overwhelming number of low‑effort or AI‑generated projects, making it difficult for players to find the best creations. Newman says the “Netflix for games” approach has not worked, and the platform will now prioritise a smaller, curated selection of popular, high‑quality games. The Play Fund will shift to an approval‑based system, and Facepunch will move away from its custom backend in favour of deeper Steam Workshop integration.
Facepunch also plans to make s&box free‑to‑play towards the end of the year. Existing buyers will receive exclusive Steam inventory items, with Newman saying the goal is to bring more players in and give the project a clearer path forward while the team implements these changes.
KitGuru says: What do you make of the new direction for s&box?
