Valheim Early Access was 'only reasonable solution', says Iron Gate CEO
Richard Svensson said he could not afford to keep developing Valheim without Early Access, and credited the community for its success.
Iron Gate CEO Richard Svensson said Valheim launched in Steam Early Access because he could not afford to keep working on the game, describing Early Access as the only reasonable solution at the time. Svensson made the comments in an interview with GamesIndustry.
He said that even with a large budget and five years of secret development, Valheim could never have reached as many people as it did without Steam Early Access. Working with the live community, he added, was the only way the game could have reached its level of success.
Svensson also said the scope of the project grew with every new update, which made development longer than first expected. He described the current production scale as gigantic compared with the Early Access release, when a new biome was basically the same thing with a new coat of paint.
Iron Gate has always tried to keep the team relatively small, Svensson said.
Five years in Early Access
Valheim remained in Early Access for more than five years before reaching its 1.0 launch in September 2026 with 17 million copies sold. According to GameDiscoverCo data cited by GamesIndustry, most games spend an average of 21 months in Early Access before their 1.0 updates.
Quick answers
Why did Valheim launch in Early Access?
Iron Gate CEO Richard Svensson said he could not afford to keep working on the game, and called Early Access the only reasonable solution at the time.
When did Valheim leave Early Access?
Valheim reached its 1.0 launch in September 2026, after more than five years in Early Access.