As it wraps up another pre-alpha playtest from this past weekend (and recovers from recent layoffs), Stars Reach shared how it’s currently handling its “planet rotation” — which covers how its sandboxy planets handle resource plundering, landscape reshaping, and persistent structures.
Playable Worlds said that it’s throttling back from full planet resets for the time being: “Up until now, planets were rotating on a fixed four-week schedule. That helped with things like cleaning up worlds and refreshing exploration and resources. But over time, it became clear this wasn’t matching the original intent of the system. More importantly, it made planets feel temporary and made it harder to really settle in, build long-term, and feel ownership over a place.”
The studio emphasized that it wanted players to have planets that they can “invest in, build on, and care about,” but when planets are used up and deserted, they should “naturally fade out” and be rejuvenated. Thus, there’s no more fixed rotation for planets but rather trigger planetary resets after a review, during official game updates, and with a heads-up grace period beforehand.