Aliens: Fireteam Elite Year 1 promises changes that will 'add more enjoyment' to the struggling shooter

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Fewer than 500 people on Steam are currently playing the game, which only came out in August.

Marines equipped with flamethrowers
(Image credit: Cold Iron Studios)

Cold Iron Studios has unveiled the year 1 roadmap for its multiplayer bug-hunting game Aliens: Fireteam Elite. New game modes, weapons, perks, and more are all on the way, but the primary focus will be on "quality of life improvements that will add enjoyment to the game's existing content."

Season 2 will get underway sometime before the end of 2021, with a new game mode and "feature" (both still unrevealed), plus four new weapons, more than 10 new attachments, the same number of cosmetics, and a handful of new challenge cards. Season 3, expected to arrive in the second quarter of 2022, will deliver a similar blend of content with a new kit instead of a new mode, while season 4 will come with another new mode in the third quarter of the year.

(Image credit: Cold Iron Studios)

The priority, though, is understandably on those quality of life changes. Aliens: Fireteam Elite on Steam has tailed off dramatically since its launch in August, from an average concurrent player count of over 10,000 to, at this moment, fewer than 500. 

That doesn't necessarily tell the whole tale—Fireteam is also on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and could be doing quite well on them—but it's definitely not a good sign either, especially since the game is so dependent on co-op combat: "Whether you have a good time or not will be dictated by whether you play alongside real people or the grey, voiceless bots that stand in for them. It makes all the difference," we said in our 73% review—which in PC Gamer terms, for the record, denotes it as "a good game that’s definitely worth playing."

Cold Iron also promised that other quality of life updates and "necessary changes" will be made between the major seasonal updates. 

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.