Hey everyone,
It’s getting late in 2025, and we’ve been hearing a familiar question more and more: "When is the game actually coming out?" So, let’s talk about it. I’ve got good news and bad news.
The good news: We finally have a release month
The bad news: It's not until next year
We are going to release SimplePlanes 2 on Steam as Early Access in March of 2026. We're still considering what the initial price will be, most likely it will be $20 or $25 with a 10% launch discount and that price will go up when we exit Early Access. At this point we don't expect to delay the mobile release, but it's certainly possible it will slip to 2027.
Why Early Access? Because we wouldn't dream of trying to finish this game without the community's input. We’ve built something here that we’re truly proud of and it's shaping up to be our most exciting, feature-packed launch ever. But there's still work to do: localization, VR support, more parts, more environments, and most importantly, time to listen and respond to the community before calling it final.
Early Access is the only sensible way to release a game like this, for a community like this.
But, wait! There's more good news!
Now, for the really exciting part. This October, we're releasing a free, limited-time demo on Steam for everyone. This demo, which we're internally calling the Flight Demo, is focused on letting you experience multiplayer and a taste of the new environments. Here's what to expect:
The designer will be "read-only": You can load up and look at any craft, including your SP1 crafts, but you can't modify them. You won't be able to add, remove, or modify any parts. However, the designer will let you paint your craft so you can check out the new texture system which is pretty sweet.
New stock crafts: We have a new set of stock crafts built with love by our playtesters. They are awesome. We'll have a showcase post for them in the future.
Driftwood Island: You will be restricted to a small island just east of the main SP2 Isles. It has plenty of great stuff to check out, so don't try to leave because Nathan has installed a very accurate missile system that will shoot you down.
Aside from those limitations, the demo will let you do quite a lot. You'll be able to start activities such as air & car races, a bomber defense mission, play multiplayer with your friends, or just explore the island! We're really excited to get the game in your hands soon, and we hope this demo will help alleviate some of the sting of having the game delayed. You might even come across a developer in a multiplayer lobby on occasion :)
One last thing. When you check out the Steam page, you might notice some new art. We got new key art for the game from the very skilled Daniel Liske! It turned out really nice, and you'll be seeing it all over the game on Steam now; in the thumbnail, your library, and so on.
Thanks for your patience and thanks for playing!
-Andrew
If you haven't already, please consider wishlisting SimplePlanes 2 on Steam and joining our Discord Server! We hope to see you in October when we release the demo!
@Graingy
The underlying transport system is not fixed, so I can't guarantee it won't change between now and full release. But currently, and likely for the demo, we use steam's networking backend, which relays packets over the Steam Datagram Relay network, so packets should in theory not come from your IP address directly to other clients. However that code is all Steam's internal stuff so I can't give my own assurance about how it works.
@VTPADELTA glad we agree
@TunderTunder I understand that it makes sense from your perspective, I said as much in my earlier response. When it starts to not make sense is when you consider the perspectives of others
@TunderTunder Fr. As long as not done maliciously (which includes not teaching others how to do it) I don't really see the harm so long as the game as bought in the end. Besides, many of us have bought SimplePlanes multiple times for one reason or another.
That being said, I'd suggest holding off actually making anything until the game is in early access. It'd be unfair to get a head start over others because you did something technically not allowed.
"Nathan has installed a very accurate missile system"
I am going to just treat that as an challenge of skill....
@WNP78 I have SP2 in my wishlist, and I ready to buy it as soon as possible.
My desire to get a ces to forbidden zone is directed by curiosity and love to game, that we all been waiting for years...
it's fine bro, y'all are epic for not rushing unlike so many other developers
Chad coconut mod when?
@WNP78 Who? The coconut???
IS CHAD SECRETLY A COCONUT?????
...
Aw damn, the coconut isn't real.
@Graingy I'd not pay too much attention to them
@TunderTunder I've been well aware that some people will try to circumvent any restriction from the start, even if they hadn't proudly announced it to our faces. The truth is I don't like having to put in these sort of restrictions too, and from the outside it's natural to see a lock and percieve it as a challenge, so I can see why you feel that way. But everyone on the team has spent years and years of hard work on this game, and we want the launch to go as well as it possibly can, for everyone - and that means putting forward what's ready when it's ready. Trying to grab the full game for free is not just disrespectful to the thousands of hours of work I've seen everyone at Jundroo put into the game, it's also disrespectful to all the other players who wait patiently for the game to be ready - something which they'll be waiting for just a bit longer because we have to take time away from working on the game to work on preventing things like this. And then the cherry on top is to talk about it in front of our faces as if you think that not only are we too dumb to think that it might happen, but that we also can't read...
Also, I'm sorry to be the fun killer here, but the TF2 coconut thing is not real. I guess that's a lesson in taking internet folklore for fact.
The day is coming!
Also ngl, I kinda appreciate the decision to delay it a bit, it's always wise to take your time to make sure everything's the way it should be or add anything, no?
@CaptainNoble Skill issue.
@SupremeDorian HOLY FRUITCAKE GENERAL GRIEVOUS!?!?!?
@Pedro Glad to hear. To be fair, the free demo is definitely leagues above what KSP2 did, since the game (and plenty of potential bugs, as all games have) can be partially experienced without forking over the wallet.
@TunderTunder coconut.jpg ? world.detonate(nuke) : world.defuse(nuke) ;
@Graingy I ain't shitting planes bruh
@SupremeDorian 2.5 scripts. But again, rest of the map will not be in demo build, but im almost sure that designer code is untouched
asd
so cool thanks
@Graingy if coconut.jpg exist
then dont detonate the nuke
Will the Vr support be available on quest? And if so will it be like simple planes 1 where you can’t build or access certain features?
@Graingy we don't have a big publisher behind our ear defining our times. The issue with KSP2 is that they had no control over when to release or what to call it, our case is very different as it is a decision we truly believe in.
The game is already in a good state, we have tons of fun every week playing for hours with the playtesters.
We want to hear from you though, thus the demo, and the extra time to let us react to the feedback from the demo.
We also would like to give some crucial aspects of the game more time to cook, because we've pushed some others so far forwards (wings, fuselages, missiles, wheels, jet engines...) that we feel like more parts need the same level of polish.
Also Early Access here is not us saying we are not delivering an unfinished product, pay full price. This is us recognizing we can't call it done without letting it grow with the community for a while, like we did with SP1 and Juno.
We get GTA 6 before SP2
I called it! They pulled a rockstar on us
ITS THE SAME MONTH AS GTA6 2026 IS GONNA BE FIRE
@Graingy If you manage to get past the missiles, an invisible hand will simply throw you back into place :)
At least it's releasing, looking at you rockstar