The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, Obsidian Entertainment’s upgraded RPG, is getting a wave of major fixes and a free upgrade for existing owners. This player-facing news, reported across community channels, addresses a long-standing pattern of performance issues that have plagued the title since its release.
This comprehensive update focuses on crucial areas: addressing pervasive bug fixes, implementing gameplay improvements, and enhancing overall performance across all platforms. For those who already own the base game and all its DLC, the Spacer’s Choice Edition upgrade will now be entirely free, a significant value proposition given its prior $9.99 upgrade cost even for full owners. While specific patch notes for a future update beyond June 2023’s 1.3 are not yet detailed, the commitment signals a renewed effort to stabilize the game.
The original launch of The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition in March 2023 was met with immediate backlash from players, who reported severe performance regressions, frequent crashes, and visual glitches like texture pop-in and unnatural lighting. This was a particular disappointment given the base game’s strong critical reception, with the upgrade, developed by Virtuos, widely seen as a step backward.According to initial community reactions, user reviews on Steam plummeted to just 20% positive post-launch.
This pattern of a troubled launch followed by dedicated post-release rehabilitation isn’t uncommon in the industry, echoing how games like Crimson Desert have received significant patches to improve player experience. Past updates for Spacer’s Choice Edition, including Patch 1.2 in April 2023, already brought improvements like AMD FSR 2.0 upscaling, optimized DirectX 12 allocations, and better LODs, while Patch 1.3 in June 2023 aimed to fix stuttering by optimizing shader caching.PCGamingWiki details subsequent community efforts to address remaining issues, such as custom ultrawide support.
While developer response has been praised for its speed in the wake of the initial outrage, and the free upgrade is a welcome move for existing owners, community sentiment remains mixed well into 2025, with some players still noting lingering mechanical bugs and inconsistent performance. Addressing these deeper issues, beyond just the technical regressions of the upgrade, will be key to winning back player trust. This move is a clear attempt to course-correct, and players will be watching closely to see if the promised major fixes truly deliver an ideal Halcyon experience.
Did you play the original Spacer’s Choice Edition, and does this free upgrade make you want to jump back in? Sound off in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more The Outer Worlds coverage.