Rust's hotly anticipated naval update is delayed into 2026: 'We took on too much'

Players wearing hazmat suits armed with SMGs stand on the deck of a ship in a storm in Rust

(Image credit: Facepunch Studios)

Facepunch's survival sim Rust has had a busy 2025, adding its medieval-themed primitive mode at the start of the year, introducing a massive jungle biome in March, and experimenting with radical changes to its progression systems and meta through the summer and autumn. But the biggest planned patch of 2025 was the naval update, which aims to expand Rust's survivalist battles to the oceans, letting players build their own ships and exchange cannon blasts in seaborne conflicts.

But players hoping to get their pirate on in Rust will have to keep their powder dry a while longer, because the naval update has been delayed.

In a blog post on Facepunch's website titled "Shipwrecked", COO Alistair McFarlane explained the situation: "For almost 12 years we have managed to deliver weekly updates or, in more recent years, guaranteed monthly updates with meaningful changes. It has become part of Rust’s identity. Turning up, every month, without fail. Not today," he wrote.

Facepunch apparently considered pushing out the update and hoping for the best, but decided not to risk "crippling servers" this close to the holiday season: "We do not want to drop server populations by 100 to 200 players or spend the holiday period firefighting performance and bugs," McFarlane explained. "Rust is in a good state without the naval patch, we cannot justify risking stability for the sake of hitting a date."

A makeshift cannon surrounded by sandbags in Rust — (Image credit: Facepunch Studios)

Consequently, Facepunch has pushed the naval update's release back to February 5, 2026. McFarlane laments letting players down by "missing the update window we have never missed before," but he says the studio would "feel worse shipping something half baked." It's just like Shigeru Miyamoto once said: "Who knows how Mario will look like in the future? Maybe he'll wear metallic clothes."

Wait, sorry, that's the wrong quote. I meant the one about delayed games being good eventually. Look, it's December, alright? We're all tired. Let's consider this a learning experience and move on.

The naval update's delay doesn't mean players will go through the holidays without so much as a stocking filler, however. McFarlane says that "some of" the changes and additions Facepunch planned to release this week will be folded into a Christmas update on December 18. This will be followed by a smaller update in January that will introduce "light changes" and an overview of Facepunch's plans for Rust across 2026.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.

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