Valheim's Next Update May Be Too Late

Despite the relative popularity of , the game's update schedule might just be too slow to maintain a steady audience. Having been released in Early Access in 2021, the game has seen several major updates since it was initially made playable, and is steadily progressing towards a full release. However, the relatively long wait between updates has seen the game's audience shrink drastically from the time of its launch, and further delays may make the issue even worse.

Although updates fairly consistently with bug fixes, quality-of-life changes, and other minor additions, players have to wait long periods between actual content updates. The most recent major addition, 's Ashlands update, was released fairly recently in May 2024 — roughly 1.5 years after the previous major update, Mistlands, which was released in December 2022. And, while Ashlands is still new enough to keep the game's audience engaged, some players are already wondering if the wait for the next update, which will bring the game into 1.0, will be equally long — or even longer.

With the popular indie game launching on Xbox and Xbox Game Pass, does Valheim have any plans of coming to the PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch?

The next planned update for, which will add the Deep North biome and bring the game out of Early Access, currently has no release date announced or even hinted at — but given the wait between Mistlands and Ashlands, it could be coming in 2025, or even as late as 2026. In an interview with, lead artist Robin Eyre stated that the developers are looking to make the Deep North update "," making it clear that it will "." As a result, it's likely that the game's final Early Access update will take even longer than the previous patch.

And, while the actual quality of 's updates haven't been in question, such a long wait could have a negative effect on the game's playerbase. From the peak of its popularity at release, where the game peaked at an audience of around 400,000 players on Steam,