It’s been a little while since our last major development update, and during this week’s livestream we wanted to take the opportunity to talk openly about where Broken Arrow currently stands, what the team has been working on behind the scenes, and what players can expect over the coming months.
If you missed the stream, you can watch the full VOD here:
Baltic Battalion & PTE
Following the release of the Baltic Battalion DLC, we’ve been incredibly happy to see the positive reception from the community. While the DLC was designed as a smaller-scale content release from our perspective, the impact it had on the game and community activity exceeded our expectations.
The new hybrid deckbuilding options, strong infantry-focused gameplay, and fresh tactical combinations brought a lot of players back into the game and gave us valuable insight into how players want to expand their armies in the future.
At the same time, the PTE branch has become an important part of development. It allows us to experiment with gameplay changes, rebalance systems, and new features while gathering direct feedback from the community before deploying them to the live version of the game.
Right now, roughly one third of active players are using the PTE regularly, which gives us a strong testing ground for future updates while still keeping the main branch stable for the wider player base.
Incoming gameplay patch
Our next major step is the upcoming gameplay patch, which is currently planned for release within the next few weeks.
This patch will bring a number of features and balance changes currently being tested on the PTE into the main game, including various unit reworks, gameplay adjustments, and configuration updates.
We only move features from the PTE to the live game once we are confident they are stable and ready. Our approach is intentionally careful, with the goal of improving the overall gameplay experience without disrupting campaigns, scenarios, single-player content, or the core experience players already enjoy.
Not every experimental PTE feature will immediately move to the live branch, and the PTE will continue to serve as our long-term testing environment for future mechanics, balance iterations, and new systems.
The goal is to improve overall gameplay quality while maintaining stability for campaigns, scenarios, and single-player content.
Spectator Mode is almost there
One of the most requested features since launch has been the Spectator Mode, and we’re happy to confirm that development is nearing completion.
The first version of spectator mode will focus on core functionality:
Team-specific observers
Neutral observers
Switching between team perspectives
Basic tournament spectating support
A second phase is already planned for later updates and will introduce more advanced tournament-oriented functionality, including visibility into player decks, economy information, and expanded esports-style tools.
The recent community tournament demonstrated just how much potential Broken Arrow has as a competitive RTS experience, and spectator mode is a major step toward supporting larger official events in the future.
Technical patch & quality of life improvements
After the gameplay patch, the team will shift focus toward a more technical update aimed at improving multiplayer stability, networking, and overall user experience.
We know many players have experienced frustrations related to multiplayer connectivity and netcode, and improving these systems is currently a major priority for the team.
This technical patch will also introduce a large set of quality of life improvements that have been in development over the past several months.
Planned improvements currently include:
Chat access during deployment phase
Improved unit statistics panels
UI improvements
Order feedback improvements
Line of sight tool
Offline skirmish lobbies
Additional multiplayer usability updates
Some of these systems are already deep into polishing, while others are still actively in development.
The next DLC
Work is also progressing on the next major DLC focused on Russian forces.
Unlike Baltic Battalion, this will be a significantly larger content release featuring:
New units
New maps
Additional single-player content
A brand-new campaign
The campaign itself will be shorter than the main release campaign, but it will take place in entirely new locations that the team is especially excited about.
Looking ahead
Beyond new content, one of the team’s biggest long-term goals remains improving the game’s core technology and overall stability. A large amount of work is currently happening behind the scenes on engine improvements and technical overhauls that may not always be immediately visible, but are intended to strengthen Broken Arrow for the long run.
We also want to thank everyone who continues sharing feedback on Discord, Reddit, Steam reviews, and during livestreams. The team actively reads community discussions every day, and your feedback continues to shape the direction of future updates.
We’ll have more to share during the next Broken Arrow livestream around the game’s anniversary in mid-June.
Thank you again for your support and we’ll see you on the battlefield.