Matt: How far is TORN removed from its original form? Joe: TORN’s codebase and infrastructure are barely recognisable from their original form two decades ago. While not a single line of code remains from that era, we’ve stayed true to our core vision: a persistent, player-driven world defined by player choices and real consequences. To maintain this, development is intentionally slow and methodical. We’ve avoided adopting the divorced dad mentality — giving players everything they want just to keep them happy — because that’s a surefire way to break people’s interest in the game. Every feature needs to serve a purpose, and we always try to strike a careful balance between risk and reward across everything we release. So while the core concept has remained, over its lifetime, the game has evolved around its community, adapting to how players engage with its features and often leaning into emergent gameplay we never anticipated. TORN today is the product of twenty-one years of continuous development, shaped as much by its players as by its team, recently culminating in the major milestone of surpassing 100,000 daily active players.
Matt: What do you think it is about the game that has led to a 20+ year survival? Joe: It’s because we give different players entirely different reasons to stay, and because TORN is built around long-term progression rather than cheap dopamine hits. Some are here to chase stats and optimise every part of their character. Some are drawn into the politics and power struggles of faction warfare. Others treat it like a business sim, building companies, trading items, and manipulating the economy. Then there are the crimes, missions, and weekly newspaper stories that give TORN extra depth for those who want it. Underpinning all of this is a community that deeply cares about the game, to the point where we’re continually hiring current players to help guide its future.
Matt: Being a text-based RPG, do new (younger) players struggle with the lack of lush visuals they’ve become accustomed to? Joe: TORN’s demographics skew older, so it’s never really been an issue for us. Our visuals are minimalist, but they aren’t an afterthought. The design team puts a lot of work into making the interface satisfying to use, and when we do add more intricate graphics, our modelling team produces incredible assets at a level you wouldn’t expect from a text-based game. The lack of flashy visuals has never felt like a flaw or something we need to compensate for. We naturally attract players with enough imagination to fill in the gaps we deliberately leave behind.
Matt: Sometimes games this broad can be intimidating to start due to the myriad options; how would you recommend a new player approach the game? Joe: Read the guides and find your people. Our community has written hundreds of easy-to-understand forum posts explaining how to get started in every part of TORN. The game can be played solo, but it’s more fun when you connect with others on your wavelength. Every part of TORN has its own niche community, whether you are into warring, companies, healing, racing, trading, or crime, you will find experienced players who are more than willing to take newbies under their wing.
Matt: How often do players need to log in to keep a good game going? Joe: TORN can be as time- consuming as you want it to be. There are factions for every level of activity, from casual players to daily obsessives, so nobody has to play at one fixed pace. Some people log in for a few minutes to train and trade. Others spend hours coordinating wars, running factions, playing the market, or arguing in the forums. The important thing is finding the rhythm that suits you. TORN has enough depth to reward regular play, but it is also persistent enough that you can step away, come back years later, and still pick up where you left off. Games like this don’t have to feel like a second job, even if some people choose to take it that seriously.
Josh (4th from left) with the TORN team, including Community Manager, Joshua (3rd from left) and TORN’s Lead Writer, Ash (far right)
Matt: What are your plans for TORN going forward? Joe: Development is always non-stop behind the scenes. At any point in time there are more than 20 projects in development, with the same number in the planning and design stages. In 2023, Crimes 2.0 early access was officially opened. This was the single biggest release we’ve ever made, and while the system itself is now fully launched, the planned content is less than half complete. We plan to add at least 17 new crimes to the existing 13, with the 14th, Impersonation, already well underway. Group Chats are on the horizon, where players will be able to create their own chat rooms for friends - that’ll be huge for a game where community is everything. We also have a new Hunting system set in South Africa, Traveling 2.0, and new Mission agents in the pipeline. On top of the larger scheduled feature releases, we continue releasing dozens of minor updates and bug fixes every week, as reflected in our weekly patch lists. That pace will continue indefinitely, ensuring TORN keeps improving long into the future.
Matt: Any other plans from you beyond TORN? Joe: Torn has been my life’s work, and at this point, I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything else. I love running it, and I certainly don’t take it for granted. With many more crimes to build, a billion-row inventory system to refactor, a vision of turning the entire game into a seamless single-page application, and loads of other major updates planned, we’re not running out of things to do any time soon. Torn will never be finished, and neither will we.
May/June 2026 MCV/DEVELOP | 23
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