It's been a while since our last update, and we think it's time to let everyone know where Army Ops stands.
As some of you already know, we ran into legal issues regarding Army Ops over the past one and a half years. Unfortunately, we can't share any details about that, but those challenges forced us to pause, rethink many parts of the project, and significantly change our plans. It was frustrating for us, and we know the silence has been frustrating for many of you as well.
The good news is that those issues are now behind us.
We finally have a clear path forward, and development is moving again. While we're still not ready to reveal everything we'd like to share, we're finally in a position to start talking about the project again.
Since so much time has passed, we decided not to continue building on the old version of Army Ops. Instead, we are migrating the project to the latest version of our internal development framework.
What does that mean?
It allows us to develop the game much faster and more efficiently than before. Our networking code has become roughly 90% leaner while also being more reliable. Performance is now fully decoupled from individual gameplay systems, allowing the game to scale much better across different hardware.
Our current internal build is running reliably on PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, and approval for Xbox development is currently in progress.
This does not mean release is just around the corner.
Because of the legal situation, we are no longer able to use the original maps from the previous version of Army Ops. As a result, every environment has to be rebuilt from scratch.
To keep development focused and get the game into your hands sooner, we've decided to reduce the initial scope of the project.
Our launch goal is now five polished maps. We're also returning to the classic America's Army style class and weapon setup. The Pioneer class will not be part of the initial release and may return in a future update.
Once that foundation is complete, we plan to continue expanding Army Ops through free regular updates, adding new maps, weapons, gameplay features, and more over time. Right now, two maps are progressing beyond the greybox stage and are slowly becoming ready for internal and community testing. We'll share more details about the playtest as soon as we're ready.
Army Ops is not dead.
The project faced some major obstacles, but we've overcome them. Today, we believe the project is in a stronger position than ever before, with better technology, a clearer direction, and a much more solid foundation for the future.
We can't wait to get you into the game and start testing together.
Hooah!