Fatshark, developer of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (opens in new tab), has issued an "open letter" apologizing to players for the state of the game and announcing that in order to focus on improving the game's underlying systems and performance, the upcoming The company announced that it will delay the launch of content updates and the release of the Xbox Series X/S in order to focus on improving the underlying systems and performance of the game.

We gave Darktide an 80% in our December 2022 review (opens in new tab), calling it "the best iteration of Fatshark's co-op formula to date." However, as good as the core gameplay is, he also noted the fact that Darktide still needs work: the crafting system is not yet fully implemented, and some players reported serious stability and performance issues.

"Sure you can upgrade your weapons, but if that's all you can do, it really limits your build crafting potential.

"For some people, difficulty is progress in and of itself as they strive to get better at the game, but build crafting is so closely tied to that progress that once you hit trust level 30, without having to strive for specific upgrade goals or materials, you quickly run out of things to do.

Similar complaints are reflected in the user reviews on Steam (open in new tab), with about 8,400 posted in the past 30 days, mostly negative. This situation is particularly ugly when compared to the very positive response to Fatshark's previous co-op shooter, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 (opens in new tab).

A few choice comments:

It is worth noting that many of the negative reviews document hundreds of hours of gameplay. However, this dichotomy reflects a widely accepted opinion about the state of the game, dating back to our review: there is real potential, but it needs work, and Fatshark does not communicate well with players.

Fatshark admitted in today's update that it "did not meet [players'] expectations."

"Our sole focus over the next few months will be to address the feedback we've received from so many of you. In particular, we will continue to focus on providing a complete crafting system, a more rewarding progression loop, and work on optimizing the stability and performance of the game."

"This also means that we will delay the seasonal content rollout and the launch of the Xbox Series X-S. We will also pause the upcoming release of Premium Cosmetics. We could not go down this path knowing that we have not addressed a lot of feedback in the current game."

Reaction to this message in the Steam comments (open in new tab) has been mixed: some users welcome the apparent change of direction, while others say it is too late to make changes.

One positive aspect for Fatshark is that so far Darktide has maintained a decent player count: according to Steam Charts (open in new tab), more than 7,100 people are currently playing; according to Steam Charts (open in tab), more than 7,100 people are currently playing; according to Steam Charts (open in tab), more than 7,100 people are currently playing; according to Steam Charts (open in new tab), more than 7,100 people are currently playing, More than 7,100 people are currently playing the game. However, this is not as many players as the five-year-old "Vermintide 2" (which currently boasts nearly 5,800 players).