As Terraria turns 15, Re-Logic confirms crossplay is "soon" and that "updates will continue beyond 1.4.6"

Terraria is 15 years old this weekend, in just the latest terrifying video game anniversary to make me feel ancient. That's given developer Re-Logic a moment to reflect on how far it's come, share a few of its most impressive stats, and note that crossplay is getting close. "That is a long time indeed," Head of Business Strategy Ted 'Loki' Murphy writes. "That's 131,400 hours - which quite a few of you have chosen to spend with our humble game."

Before we dig more into those numbers, Murphy asks, "Where does the path lead from here? What does the future hold for Terraria and Re-Logic?" It's been a perpetual question, with contemplations on a potential sequel in discussion as far back as four years ago. "For now, we are comfortable confirming that crossplay is on deck soon… and that Terraria updates will continue beyond 1.4.6/crossplay," Murphy says. The studio's longstanding 'final update' curse continues unabated, it seems.

"How that will work and what those entail will be shared as we go along," he continues. "You will want to stay tuned for that. Beyond that, we have other plans and ideas that we will share when the time is right, but suffice it to say that the world of Terraria remains and will remain vibrant and alive for as long as we have anything to say about it. Here's to 15 more years… and beyond!" To mark the occasion, the team is creating a special 15th anniversary collector's edition box set, with preorders due to open in early June.

Stats time. Murphy reveals the total Terraria sales count is now at 70 million, making it the eighth best-selling game ever. Of those copies, 39.6 million of them are on PC, and Re-Logic adds that tModLoader, the platform used to run Terraria mods, has racked up 12.3 million downloads on Steam alone. Across just the last year, the base game has averaged 461,000 players logging in each day, peaking at a high of 1.4 million - presumably in coordination with the launch of Terraria 1.4.5, known as the 'Bigger and Boulder' update.

Most striking to me, especially for a game with 40 million sales on PC, is that the average playtime comes in at 101 hours and 18 minutes, with tModLoader boasting 89 hours and 52 minutes on its side. This is naturally where you come in and say, "Terraria Tim's 100,000 hours are a statistical outlier and should not have been counted," but I'm sure there are millions of people who picked it up cheaply and bounced off fast, so reaching a triple-digit average is still quite the achievement.

I'll hold my hands up and admit to being someone dragging that number up, although certainly not by nearly as much as I'm sure many of the most hardcore builders are. Yet I bounced off Terraria on three separate attempts before the one where it finally clicked for me. In retrospect, I was probably treating it too much like a pure Minecraft-style sandbox, instead of the more fully fledged exploration and combat-led RPG that it actually is.

"To say that reaching this milestone is equal parts insane and humbling is a massive understatement," Murphy remarks. "It is really hard to put into words what your support for these many years has meant to our little studio. Simply put, you are the engine that makes this all work. Your support allows us to keep going, keep expanding upon Terraria, without having to fall back to price increases or microtransactions. This is becoming increasingly rare in modern gaming, and we cannot thank you enough for making what we do every day possible.

"From the hardcore players with thousands of hours to those just discovering our 'metroidvania in a sandbox' today… from the builders to the speedrunners… from those that we interact with regularly to those that just enjoy the game in silence… from those that are regular Terraria enjoyers to those that like to shake things up with all sorts of mods on tModLoader… each and every one of you is precious to us.

"We hope that our game has brought you some joy over the years," Murphy concludes. "Terraria is a unique experience, one that we like to think that we have shaped together alongside the fans into the awesomeness that it is today. This is as much your journey as it is ours."