The map for American Truck Simulator will nearly double in size later this year, SCS Software announced this week, giving players an expansive new slice of the West Coast in which to haul all manner of valuable cargo. And the best part is, existing players don’t have to spend a dime on all those beautiful new stretches of road.
In a new update on the official SCS Software blog, the studio behind Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator outlined plans to drastically expand the existing map for its US-based trucking sim. As many longtime fans likely noticed, the combined areas of Arizona, California and Nevada modeled for ATS aren’t nearly as large as the map of Europe in ETS2 . Granted, several expansions have been released for Euro Truck , while American Truck Simulator fans have been forced to make due with the Arizona DLC. But it turns out that a drastically smaller team was actually the real reason behind the differing map sizes.
Fortunately, strong early sales for American Truck Simulator have convinced SCS that the game’s lifetime earnings should be more than enough to support a larger staff. As a result, the studio has been hiring new map designers and 3D modelers, all of whom will help the existing ATS team increase the scale of the game’s map. Currently, American Truck Simulator features a 1:35 scale recreation of Southern California, Nevada and parts of Arizona. Once the new map is complete, players will be able to drive across a 1:20 recreation of all three states (in their entirety).
There’s currently no timeline for the patch’s release. SCS Software says rescaling the entire map will take “several months”; however, that doesn’t rule out the possibility fans will see the update before the end of the year. The studio did say it would have to put DLC development on hold while the project is completed, but something tells us American Truck Simulator fans won’t mind waiting a few months for a new map that’s 75 percent larger than the old one.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more American Truck Simulator news throughout 2016 and as long as SCS Software supports ATS in the years ahead.
