It’s been a whirlwind year for Company of Heroes! With only a couple of months before we launch CoH3, we wanted to recap all the news we’ve shared with you, along with some of your feedback that made it into the game.
Our team will be taking some time to rest over the holidays, so things will be quiet for a bit. We hope that you and those close to you will also get a chance to enjoy the holiday season and will ring in a happy new year! Our team will be back in full swing as we get ready for January’s Multiplayer Tech Test and CoH3’s launch in February.
The start of 2022 was quiet, as the team was heads down working on the game and getting some big things ready. We had some great announcements this year and kicked those off in July with our North Africa reveal. We announced that CoH3 will not only include the Italian Dynamic Campaign, but also the North African Operation giving players the chance to see the Deutsches Afrikakorps with their Italian Battlegroups in action for the first time in the series. Players had a chance to test them out in the Mission Alpha, and a few thousand lucky folks got a chance for more hands-on time at both Gamescom and PAX this past Summer.
The great thing about the Mission Alpha (and the Multiplayer Pre-Alpha and Pre-Alpha Preview before it), is that these public tests give us an opportunity to review your feedback, process it, and make changes in CoH3 to improve the experience.
Another important aspect for us when it comes to CoH-Development is being as transparent as possible – both when it comes to the development process and the decisions we’re making. As an example, we grilled our Executive Producer with your questions while we were at Gamescom in August!
In December we also revealed that CoH3 will be coming to consoles later in 2023, giving so many more players a chance to experience the action, strategy and tactics of the Mediterranean theatre. The team has had tremendous support in this effort from our SEGA partner studios, ensuring Relic can focus on delivering an amazing PC experience at launch, while also overseeing the work to bring the game to Xbox and Playstation 5. The major design difference for the Console Edition is to adjust the HUD and to build out controller support. The team is adamant that we have to deliver on our intended vision for CoH3, regardless of platform.
One question we see a lot is “what sets CoH3 apart?” or “what am I actually getting?” The answer is … a lot! CoH3 will be our biggest game at launch, and we have a ton of plans to keep supporting it in the future. You can find an exhaustive list of everything coming on launch day here. In September we also announced that mods will be coming to CoH3 at launch, and you can find more details on modding support here. You can also check out our developer diary from July that outlines our plans for the future.
Showing off gameplay throughout the development process has been incredibly important for us, even if the game was early, had some obvious bugs, or needed a bit more polish. Fancy trailers are great to get hyped up, but we know gameplay is paramount. We hope that you’ve been able to see the iteration and progress since we started showing footage in the Summer of 2021. Though we had to move our launch date from November to February, we knew it was the right call. There’s been a lot of improvement along the way, especially if you compare this video from last December with our Campaign Update livestream in June or our recent US Forces Deep Dive in October.
Our team is also developing a lot of programs to support the cool things our community is working on. In March we first launched a Support Request Form for community run events and tournaments, and then in July we debuted our official Creator Program, which we’ll be expanding down the road!
Launching our first Wire Report in November was a labor of love, and we can’t wait to showcase the work of the development team, plus all the awesome content from the community. If you want us to see your content and get a chance for us to share it in future Wire Reports, don’t forget to include the hashtag #CoHCommunity when you post!
We have so much planned for the coming months, including a public Multiplayer Tech Test, more faction deep dives and even some chill play sessions between the community and the team. Oh, and, you know... CoH3’s launch! February 23rd is getting so close, and we can’t wait for you to start playing and sharing your experiences. Enjoy the holidays and we’ll see you in January!
