Garry Newman admits s&box launch ‘was shit,’ plans character

Garry Newman, founder of Facepunch Studios, has issued a candid acknowledgment of s&box's troubled launch and committed to major changes in response to mounting criticism from the community.

Newman posted an extensive comment on YouTube addressing concerns raised by content creator Eridium, who recently published a video criticizing the platform's state. The response reveals Newman's frustration with the project's stumbling start and his willingness to reverse course on a key design decision that has become a lightning rod for negative reception.

The most significant announcement is Newman's decision to phase out the citizen character model that has defined s&box since its release. Despite his personal attachment to the design, Newman acknowledged that the character has become a barrier to adoption. He explained that while he initially hoped to improve the citizen design and make it more appealing, he has concluded that replacing it with human character models is the better path forward. This transition will occur over the next month, according to Newman's timeline.

Newman's reasoning centered on pragmatism rather than artistic surrender. He noted that the character design, while distinctive, suffers from unfavorable comparisons to Half-Life 2's iconic characters. He also acknowledged the sunk cost fallacy—the tendency to continue investing in something because of prior effort—played a role in his initial reluctance to abandon the design. However, he determined that switching to human characters would reduce ongoing friction and improve the platform's prospects.

Beyond character design, Newman addressed the platform's broader discoverability problem. S&box has been flooded with low-quality content, including AI-generated games and simple clicker titles, which obscures the genuinely good creations on the platform. Newman stated that Facepunch is already developing solutions, including changes to the Playfund monetization system to discourage low-effort submissions. The studio is also transitioning to a Workshop-style subscription and installation model for maps and games, moving away from a system that displays hundreds of titles and asks users to select from them. Newman indicated this approach has proven ineffective, even when quality content is abundant.

Newman was equally blunt about the platform's launch and free-to-play weekend, calling both "shit" and acknowledging they damaged the platform's reputation and alienated the Garry's Mod community. He stated that Facepunch was unprepared for launch and that the poor rollout has created lasting negative perceptions that cannot be easily reversed.

Regarding Eridium's suggestion that he should be hired as a community manager, Newman declined but explained his reasoning in detail. He argued that Eridium is more valuable to Facepunch as an independent critic who can hold the studio accountable without concern for employment consequences. Newman emphasized that he does not want Eridium to feel constrained in making critical videos and noted that Eridium is the primary YouTuber providing extensive coverage of s&box. Rather than a formal hire, Newman invited Eridium to collaborate and communicate directly through personal channels.

Newman concluded by acknowledging the demoralizing nature of s&box's struggles and expressing uncertainty about whether the current moment in AI development represents the worst or best time to launch a user-generated content platform. He suggested that decisions made in the coming months will be viewed with either regret or vindication in a decade. The comments reflect Newman's awareness of the challenges facing s&box despite Facepunch's track record with successful titles like Garry's Mod and Rust, underscoring how difficult it remains to replicate past successes in the competitive gaming landscape.