Terraria at 70 Million: The 'Final' Update That Keeps Not Being Final

Every few years, the makers of Terraria announce what they call the last major update. Every few years, they make another one. In 2026, they finally stopped pretending.

On 17 May 2026, Re-Logic confirmed that Terraria will get update 1.4.6, and that development will continue beyond it, dropping the "final update" framing for good. The news came just after the game passed 70 million copies sold in May 2026, putting a 2D pixel sandbox from a small independent studio among the best-selling video games of all time.

A leaked beta and a rushed launch

Terraria began in January 2011, when Andrew Spinks started work on a 2D world you could dig, build and fight through. The Windows version launched on Steam on 16 May 2011, earlier than planned, because a beta version had leaked.

The rushed release did not hurt. Terraria sold more than 50,000 copies on its first day and 432,000 in its first month. Early updates came quickly: version 1.0.5 in June 2011 added potions, and 1.1 in December 2011 added new enemies, NPCs and bosses, including the infamous Wall of Flesh.

The updates that would not end

Terraria's history is a series of updates that each seemed like a farewell:

• 1.2 (October 2013): new items, NPCs, bosses and enemies
• 1.3 (30 June 2015): the Moon Lord, Expert difficulty and Steam friend invites for multiplayer
• 1.4 "Journey's End" (16 May 2020, the ninth anniversary): Master and Journey modes, plus official support for the tModLoader modding tool
• 1.4.4 "Labor of Love" (28 September 2022): a large batch of quality-of-life features
• 1.4.5 (27 January 2026): crossover content with Palworld and Dead Cells, more than three years after it was first announced in late 2022
• 1.4.6: confirmed on 17 May 2026, with no date yet

Each was free. That generosity, update after update for fifteen years, is a big part of why Terraria's audience never left.

The day Terraria fought Google

In February 2021, Spinks announced he was cancelling the Google Stadia version of Terraria. His reason: Re-Logic's Google account had been suspended for more than three weeks without explanation. The story spread quickly, and Google restored the accounts later that month. Terraria launched on Stadia on 18 March 2021 after all.

Stadia itself did not last. Google announced the service's shutdown in September 2022, and it closed the following January. Terraria, meanwhile, is still selling.

The spin-off that never was

Not everything worked. In February 2015, Re-Logic announced Terraria: Otherworld, a spin-off mixing tower defence and role-playing. The original developer, Engine Software, was replaced by Pipeworks in April 2017 because the project was behind schedule, and in 2018 Re-Logic cancelled it, saying it was not satisfied with the result.

In hindsight, the cancellation looks wise. Rather than split its attention, Re-Logic poured years into the original game, and the original game kept growing.

Why it matters

WGC's take: Terraria is the great indie argument for long-term care. It did not chase sequels or live-service monetisation; it kept releasing big, free updates to a game people already owned. Fifteen years later, it has sold more than 70 million copies across platforms from PC and consoles to phones, and it is still being updated.

For newer studios dreaming of their own long tail, from Stardew Valley (read our story) to Dinkum (here), Terraria is the North Star.

Terraria is available on Steam for Windows, macOS and Linux, and on consoles and mobile devices including PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android.