According to Garry Newman, S&box will become free-to-play. He said the change will occur toward the end of 2026.
Owners of S&box will receive exclusive Steam inventory items (cosmetic items or rewards granted on Steam). These items are compensation for the free-to-play change. Newman stated that attracting more players is more important than earning cash upfront. He said this motivation led to the early free-to-play move.
According to PCGamesN, the shift to free-to-play aims to broaden the player base and community feedback indicated that the paid model limited adoption. Newman acknowledged that S&box has consistently failed to meet stable frame rates on lower-end hardware. He also said that even on higher-end hardware the frame rates are unacceptable.
According to PCGamesN, S&box currently has a 47% positive Steam review score based on responses from 3,600 users, and Garry’s Mod has a 97% Steam review score based on over 541,000 user ratings.
Newman said he feels embarrassed by S&box’s reviews. He also said he feels ashamed of the current reception. Newman stated that the platform is not well liked. He also stated that it has poor player retention.
According to GameRant and The Escapist, S&box is built on Valve’s Source 2 engine and uses C# for its editor and high-level systems. Newman said Facepunch’s focus has been on the engine and development experience. He said they need to shift attention to what players experience.
According to GameRant and KitGuru, S&box was officially released on April 28, 2026. According to PCGamesN, 80Lv, and Rock Paper Shotgun, Facepunch plans to replace the current ‘Citizen’ character model with standard human models and overhaul their appearance.
According to PCGamesN and 80Lv, the Play Fund will move to an approval basis to discourage low-quality, clicker, idler, slop, and UI-based games.
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