Squad has hit a rough patch on Steam, with recent user reviews falling into the mixed category, and developer Offworld Collective saying it needs to rebuild trust with the player base. The change starts with people. Dustin ‘SgtRoss’ Ross is stepping away from an executive development role and now leads a new Community Development Team focused on listening to and acting on player feedback. Ross wrote that “trust has been shaken, and that’s on us,” and the studio is promising more transparency around how community input is handled.
Executive producer Peter Maurice will take over overall development duties. Maurice says the team has at times “lost sight” of Squad’s core community and plans to run a player survey as the first concrete step toward rebuilding dialogue. He also pledged “smaller, meaningful updates” and ongoing community playtests.
One of the first technical priorities is vehicle handling. Maurice laid out a three-month roadmap for tuning and updates, with community discussion and playtests promised along the way. For players who want to see what’s already changed recently, Squad Update 9.0 arrives with Unreal Engine 5.5, and a free weekend on Steam is our prior coverage of the big engine refresh and free weekend playtests.
Offworld published the full note on the Steam news feed, which includes Ross and Maurice’s comments and the developer’s immediate next steps; the studio points players to a community survey to capture feedback.
Read the developer announcement on Steam at the official news post for the app for the full text and community links: Steam announcement. If Squad’s recent turns have left you waiting, there are other multiplayer options to try while Offworld works through this phase, or you can jump into the developer playtests and the survey to make your voice heard. Cardi B cosmetics optional.
Tell us what you think in the comments and follow us on X, Bluesky, and YouTube.
