The devs behind Windrose are starting to gain some control over the choppy waters the game's encountered since launching this week. A new hotfix deals with some of the connectivity issues, as the pirate sandbox breaks its own record for concurrent players.
Although Windrose isn't short of any attention right now, blowing right by 100,000 concurrents on Steam since going into early access, developer Kraken Express has been up against it trying to resolve some annoying networking problems. A quick hotfix is now live, with the intent of remedying these hurdles for at least some players.
"Disabled the access token generation cooldown for dedicated servers, this should alleviate some of the connectivity issues for dedicated hosts," the patch notes read. Another, more minor problem is also addressed: "Fixed an issue where the client did not check the server version before connecting, it now displays a UI error message if the server is outdated."
Kraken Express is clearly under a little bit of pressure at the minute, because the team previously admitted it couldn't quite work out where the problems are coming from, and turned to the community for help. Problems with connectivity can be difficult to tease out, but at least there are some solutions to be rolled out. It's noted that "more connectivity fixes are underway," they're just in testing at the minute.
The game's early access landing hasn't been stifled too badly, though, because on April 16, mere days after it became playable, it reached 113,930 concurrent players on Steam. It teetered on the six-figure mark the previous day, before finally jumping over with aplomb.
It seems plenty are enjoying sailing the seven seas for every bit of treasure they can find. A predominantly co-op experience, Windrose is all about getting a crew together to take on whatever stands between you and your gold. 'X' may not yet mark the spot for the connectivity issues, but Kraken Express is finding plenty of riches regardless.
Be sure to check out our list of new games for 2026 and beyond to see what else is on the horizon.
