Almost 14 Years of Euro Truck Simulator 2 – but where is ETS3?

Anyone who starts Euro Truck Simulator 2 today and then places footage from its early years alongside it will quickly see why this question arises in the first place. The name has stayed the same, but large parts of the game have not. This is particularly clear on the map. With Update 1.59, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were not simply spruced up a little, but completely rebuilt by the map and asset teams. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Brussels, Liège and Luxembourg are therefore now located in a game world that has hardly anything technically or artistically in common with the original areas from the early days.

And exactly the same thing is happening next in Great Britain. The British map is one of the oldest parts of Euro Truck Simulator 2 and accordingly stands out clearly beside modern DLC regions. SCS is not responding to this with a new game, however, but is rebuilding Great Britain within the existing ETS2. Three dedicated teams are even working on different regions for the project. Bristol is being added as a completely new city, as is Inverness; road layouts, landscapes, companies and landmarks are all being created anew. The UK rework is later intended to be released as a free update for owners of the game.

This has become a pattern: instead of leaving the old foundation behind, SCS is gradually replacing the areas that show their age most clearly. That is precisely why the statement “ETS2 is a game from 2012” is formally correct, but only partially describes its current state. A player who drives through the newly built Benelux, uses modern trucks and then switches to a current map DLC is not simply experiencing unchanged content from 2012 there.

Work is also continuing under the surface. With Update 1.58, for example, SCS made fundamental changes to the physics and collision systems. The specific reason was new vehicle types such as the upcoming coaches and the cars from Road Trip: the previous physics were primarily designed for heavy trucks and had to be expanded for shorter, lighter or more powerful vehicles. At the same time, large parts of the user interface were revised and prepared for future features, content and additional platforms.

The graphics are another example. Since 1.60, SCS has been gradually introducing an improved material system for vehicle interiors. As a result, leather, fabric, plastic and metal react differently to ambient light and reflections. What is particularly interesting is where this technology came from: it was developed in parallel with Road Trip and then adopted for the existing trucks. With 1.61, the system had already moved into additional Volvo FH generations. New projects therefore not only provide new content, but in some cases also lead to technology that subsequently flows back into the existing ETS2.

Update 1.61 demonstrates this strategy quite well. The old livestock trailer was completely rebuilt, the Schwarzmüller Trailer Pack is being modernized step by step, more trucks are receiving the new material system and the existing map is already being rebuilt for coaches at the same time. A new bus station is located in Nuremberg, while additional stations and border crossings have been adjusted. This is remarkable because coaches are not simply a new truck or an additional type of cargo. SCS is expanding a game that was originally built almost entirely around freight transport with its own form of passenger transport.

Coaches even add a new career layer. Truck and coach operations are to receive separate modes with their own vehicles, jobs and progress, while money and map exploration remain linked within the ETS2 profile. You therefore do not leave Euro Truck Simulator 2 to start a separate bus simulator from SCS. The existing game gets another way to play.

And then there is the console as well. SCS is working on versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. This step alone requires things that were hardly relevant for a classic 2012 PC game: controller support, clearer menus, different platform requirements and an interface that also works on a television viewed from several meters away. The fact that SCS is rebuilding precisely these areas of the game at the same time fits quite clearly with the long-term development of the existing title.

That does, however not, mean that an Euro Truck Simulator 3 is ruled out. SCS has not currently announced an ETS3. But that neither means that one will never be released nor that the studio has no thoughts about it internally. The public status simply does not provide a reliable statement about a future ETS3.

It is therefore much more revealing to look at what SCS is actually working on. A completely new Great Britain is being created for ETS2. New physics are being integrated into ETS2. The user interface is being prepared for future content and platforms. A new material technology is gradually being transferred to existing vehicles. Coaches are receiving their own gameplay within ETS2. At the same time, a console version of the existing game is being created. In any case, these are not works that look as though ETS2 is merely being kept alive with a few small updates.

The unusual path of ETS2 is instead that SCS replaces many things directly in the ongoing game that other series would eventually put a new number behind the title for. An old region can disappear and be completely recreated. A vehicle model can be replaced. Menus, physics, graphics systems and gameplay can be rebuilt through updates while profiles, DLCs, mods and the huge existing game world are fundamentally preserved.

Of course, this model has limits. A constantly modernized game does not automatically become technically limitless. At some point, an idea may arise that can only be implemented with difficulty or no longer meaningfully within the existing foundation. That is precisely where a possible successor would become interesting: not simply because ETS2 is old, but because a new game could open up possibilities that can no longer be properly realized within the existing system.

In 2026, however, the opposite is happening for now. Euro Truck Simulator 2 is not being replaced, but continuously rebuilt. As a result, the truck simulator from 2012 has become a game in which new vehicle types, platforms, completely rebuilt sections of countries and technical systems are still being added even after almost 14 years.

Perhaps that is why the more exciting question is no longer when Euro Truck Simulator 3 will be released. But rather: How much more can SCS transform Euro Truck Simulator 2 into before putting a “3” after the name would offer any real advantage?

Would you rather see a completely new Euro Truck Simulator 3 – or should SCS continue expanding your existing ETS2 world, DLCs and profiles for many more years?