Planet Zoo News

Hello Zookeepers!

We can't wait to share Planet Zoo with you in just a few days! On 5 November we are launching globally and you will finally be able to play through the entire story in Career Mode, develop your global zoo network in Franchise Mode, test your zoo management skills with Challenge Mode, and unleash your limitless creativity in Sandbox Mode!

You're probably as excited as we are, and we know many of you have been asking what time the game will go live. Today we're happy to share the global Planet Zoo release times with you, so you know exactly when you can start playing:

• Los Angeles 4:00 AM PST
  
• Calgary 5:00 AM MST
  
• Chicago 6:00 AM CST
  
• Mexico City 6:00 AM CST
  
• New York 7:00 AM EST
  
• Toronto 7:00 AM EST
  
• Rio de Janeiro 9:00 AM BRT
  
• London 12:00 PM GMT
• Paris 1:00 PM CET
  
• Athens 2:00 PM EET
  
• Cape Town 2:00 PM SAST
  
• Moscow 3:00 PM MSK
  
• Istanbul 3:00 PM TRT
  
• Dubai 4:00 PM GST
  
• New Dehli 5:30 PM IST
  
• Bangkok 7:00 PM ICT
  
• Beijing 8:00 PM CST
  
• Seoul 9:00 PM KST
  
• Tokyo 9:00 PM JST
  
• Brisbane 10:00 PM AEST
  
• Sydney 11:00 PM AEDT
  
• Auckland 1:00 AM NZDT (Wednesday 6 November)
  

*Please note release is global and pre-loading is not possible.


We've also got an update on Beta saved games progress as well as your Steam Workshop items. As mentioned in the Beta Information post, we previously weren't sure that your saved games would function on launch day. We're now happy to report that your Career Mode - Scenario 1 save file will still be valid, however for the best play experience we do recommend starting over again – whilst we have tested many different saves we cannot 100% guarantee all save files will work. Franchise Mode save files will no longer function, so you are free to start over your new Franchise!

In terms of the Planet Zoo Steam Workshop blueprints that were uploaded during the Beta, they will stay on the Steam Workshop and should all work in-game. Beta blueprints are marked with a "Beta" tag on the Workshop. If your blueprint doesn’t function in game, it may be because some of the assets have been updated and might need re-positioning.

Lastly, for those who have played the Beta, you will automatically be credited 500 Conservation Credits to your account as a thank you for pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition and providing us with such amazing feedback.

As per our recently posted November Streaming Schedule, we will be counting down to launch from 10:30 AM GMT in our official Launch Livestream - be sure to tune in for some chats with the developers and awesome prizes!

See you soon!

Hello Zookeepers!

The Planet Zoo Beta has now come to a close and what an experience it has been! The creativity you have shown in your animal habitats and zoo layouts has been an absolute joy to witness!

You've have all been incredible with the feedback and reports you have shared with us and thanks to your efforts we were able to introduce three updates (and one update of an update) to help resolve some of the most important issues raised during the Beta. We will continue using your feedback in the next few weeks ahead of launch to make sure that Planet Zoo on 5 November is the best it can possibly be! Of course, we'll continue the hard work even after launch as well.

Over the next few weeks we'll do our best to keep you posted about all things Planet Zoo; there's still stuff to talk about and we want to keep hearing from you! You are still welcome to share any feedback you have remaining here and include any suggestions or wishlist items you might have here.

Also, do make sure to tune in every Friday on our Facebook channel for our Facebook Friday sessions and say hello in the chat.

Thank you again for an amazingly informative and fun two weeks! We can't wait to see the amazing zoos you create this November!

Hello Zookeepers!

Thank you for the reports you've sent in since our latest update. We've now released Update 1.3.1 which should resolve some crashes and other issues you have highlighted to us.

• Fix for juveniles not growing into adults;
  
• Further crash fixes.
  

Please be sure to report any other issues to us via our Issue Tracker so we can investigate them right away!

Hello Zookeepers!

Thank you for all the reports and feedback you have shared during the Beta. We have a new update for you today that we hope will improve your Beta experience further.

• A number of enrichment items are locked in the Beta, and will therefore always show as locked in the research UI!
  
• If Zookeepers are tired and they can't go to a Staff Centre to rest, then they won't perform their tasks (including inspecting and feeding).
  

• Further improvements to Zookeeper feeding behaviour;
  
• Mitigation against an issue causing finances to suddenly drop by large amounts - if you still see this issue, please raise it on the issue tracker and submit your save game;
  
• Vets and Mechanics will now remain assigned to research when they go to perform another job or go to the staff centre. Once done they will return to performing research where they left off;
  
• Further balancing to breeding;
  
• Improvements to Zookeeper cleaning behaviour and cleanliness ratings;
  
• Entrance prices are now saved correctly;
  
• Fixed an issue where guests were walking on staff paths;
  
• Fixed an issue whereby path and terrain UI will not open if you have opened them twice in a row beforehand;
  
• Fixed an issue when autocompleting transport rides;
  
• Fixed an issue where deceased animals become stuck in the Vet's surgery;
  
• Fixed an issue leading to marketing campaigns not being able to be cancelled;
  
• Various crash fixes.
  

Please be sure to keep sharing your feedback, it's been hugely helpful for our teams as we aim to keep improving your experience with the Planet Zoo Beta!

Hi all,

We often talk about how incredible our community are. Whether it’s designing the most amazing creations for the workshop or sharing your passion in one of the many hubs and communities around Planet Zoo, community breathes life into our games.

That’s why this Beta is so important. Being able to have thousands of people playing, testing and giving feedback ahead of launch is an incredibly powerful process and one that we as a team always listen to and consider.

We’ve seen some feedback and discussion regarding Franchise Mode and the fact that it is always online. As we mentioned in our previous post, Franchise Mode working online is an important requirement in order to utilise all of the community and online features. HOWEVER, we are also aware that many of you would like to have the option to play a Sandbox-style gameplay mode which includes many of the Franchise features that offer a greater managerial challenge, in an offline experience.

That’s why we are pleased to say that thanks to your feedback, we will be increasing the number of game modes at launch from 3 to 4 modes. We will still keep the Career, Sandbox (which will include a number of options such as no breeding, no ageing and no animal death etc) and Franchise Mode but we will be adding a fourth.

This all-new, currently unnamed, mode will allow you to enjoy much of the Franchise experience, without the online requirements.

This new mode will still include a full economy with both dollars and Conservation Credits, guest needs, Research, Education, animals and more all with the ability to create your zoo, with your vision from the ground up. Naturally, with this being an offline game mode, there are certain features that will only be available in Franchise Mode. These include: Trading between players, Leaderboards zoos and Community Challenges.

This addition to the game is directly thanks to your feedback. The Planet Zoo development team are always focused on making sure the experience for our community is as great as it can be and we’re excited to be able to bring this additional game mode to all players as part of the Planet Zoo launch on 5 November.

We hope you continue to enjoy the second week of our Beta. It’s been a fantastic experience from everyone on the Planet Zoo team to see so many incredible videos, creations and comments. Please do remember to continue submitting bugs and issues on our issue tracker to help us in the run-up to launch.

Many thanks!