Warframe has a seriously impressive update schedule. In the past year alone, Digital Extremes has put out an enormous open world expansion (and updated it), several remasters, a new limited-time event and, of course, new Warframes: all while simultaneously working on at least two upcoming expansions and a multitude of other projects.
It’s an extraordinary output, particularly for a six-year-old game – and this continuous maintenance has almost certainly played a role in turning the title into a Steam powerhouse. But in light of recent reports covering unpaid overtime in the games industry – and perhaps in awe of the work done by Digital Extremes – players have raised concerns about Warframe’s development, with one popular poster urging devs not to crunch earning nearly 6k upvotes on Reddit in November.
At this year’s TennoCon, I sat down with Digital Extremes chief operating officer Sheldon Carter to discuss the ongoing development of Warframe’s Empyrean expansion (and all its newly-revealed features), along with topics such as how the studio is avoiding crunch, Digital Extremes’ future plans, and whether there will ever be a Warframe 2.
