S&box plans to go free-to-play and embrace human curation saying "Netflix for games doesn't work"

S&box, the gaming platform developed by Facepunch Studios, has announced plans to transition to a free-to-play model by the end of the year. Founding CEO Garry Newman stated that this shift is driven by the platform's current issues, such as poor retention and difficulty in acquiring players. Newman explained that Facepunch initially placed focus on the engine and development experience, but their ultimate goal is to sell games, not just an engine.

He acknowledged that combining a paywall with skin sales has been a significant deterrent for potential users. To address this, Newman emphasized the importance of players over the entrance fee, stating that the platform needs players, not just entry fees. He shared that discovery has been a major challenge, as AI has made game creation too easy, leaving players overwhelmed by choice.

Newman dismissed the idea of a "Netflix for games," asserting that people discover games through recommendations, active multiplayer games, and streamers, influencers, and content creators. Instead, he advocated for a platform featuring the best and most popular games, where good taste and expert opinions are valued over AI-generated content.

As part of this change, Facepunch has transformed the Play Fund into an approval system, where creators must apply and be accepted, rather than self-enrolling. This change aims to discourage subpar games and mitigate issues like botting. Furthermore, the studio is moving towards the Steam Workshop, which Newman believes has mostly been a waste of resources.

Maps are the first to be moved to the Workshop, and Newman expressed confidence that S&box would eventually surpass its predecessor, Garry's Mod, with enhanced NPCs, vehicles, multiplayer features, and support for addons and customization. Additionally, the Citizen avatar model has been removed from the menu and avatar editor, with the human model now being the default.