Garry Newman acknowledges Gmod successor S&box had a bumpy launch, but is baffled by the number of people complaining about NFTs, which aren’t in the game: ‘I have no idea what this s**t is about’
Garry Newman, co-founder of Facepunch and creator of Garry’s Mod, has publicly addressed the mixed reception of S&box, the studio’s new user-generated content platform that recently launched on Steam. The platform has accumulated 7,693 reviews with a “Mixed” rating, prompting Newman to acknowledge the issues directly on the studio’s blog.
In his statement, Newman recognized that “our Steam reviews obviously aren’t great” and acknowledged that the reviews are “showing us where we have made missteps in the release.” He committed to addressing the common complaints raised by players reviewing the platform.
One of the most notable issues Newman addressed is the widespread confusion surrounding NFTs. Despite numerous reviews criticizing the platform for featuring NFTs, Newman stated that there are actually no NFTs in S&box. He expressed bewilderment at the complaints, saying he has “no idea what this s**t is about” regarding the NFT controversy. According to Newman, around 35% of negative reviews mention NFTs, despite their complete absence from the game.
Newman also contextualized the challenges by noting that “It’s a UGC platform, there is always going to be dog sh*t,” suggesting that user-generated content platforms naturally attract mixed quality submissions. This candid acknowledgment suggests the developer is aware of the growing pains typical of content creation platforms launching in an increasingly competitive space.