X4: Foundations — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| 9.00 Public Beta 8 now available | 2026-04-29 | 9.00 Public Beta 8 is now available! Please find the full changelog below. Thank you for your continued support and feedback during this testing phase. How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta? Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 9.00 Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, where they will find the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum - no registration required - to find the relevant information. X4 9.00 Public |
| 9.00 Public Beta 7 now available | 2026-04-23 | 9.00 Public Beta 7 is now available! Please find the full changelog below. Additionally, alongside these improvements, we are introducing a new "FPS Style" input Profile, which you can also test. If you would like to participate in this testing, please follow this link to the Egosoft forum. Thank you for your continued support and feedback during this testing phase. How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta? Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 9.00 Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, whe |
| 9.00 Public Beta 6 now available | 2026-04-15 | 9.00 Public Beta 6 is now available! Please find the full changelog below. Thank you for your continued support and feedback during this testing phase. How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta? Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 9.00 Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, where they will find the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum - no registration required - to find the relevant information. X4 9.00 Public |
| 9.00 Public Beta 5 Hotfix 1 now available | 2026-04-10 | We're just popping in briefly with a small hotfix for Beta 5. How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta? Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 9.00 Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, where they will find the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum - no registration required - to find the relevant information. X4 9.00 Public Beta 5 Hotfix 1 Changelog: (see the full 9.00 Public Beta Changelog in our forum) Fixed s |
| 9.00 Public Beta 5 now available | 2026-04-09 | 9.00 Public Beta 5 is now available! Please find the full changelog below. Thank you for your continued support and feedback during this testing phase. How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta? Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 9.00 Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, where they will find the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum - no registration required - to find the relevant information. X4 9.00 Public |
| 9.00 Public Beta 4 now available | 2026-03-31 | 9.00 Public Beta 4 is now available! Please find the full changelog below. Thank you for your continued support and feedback during this testing phase. How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta? Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 9.00 Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, where they will find the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum - no registration required - to find the relevant information. X4 9.00 Public |
| 9.00 Public Beta 3 now available | 2026-03-26 | 9.00 Public Beta 3 is now available! Please find the full changelog below. Thank you for your continued support and feedback during this testing phase. How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta? Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 9.00 Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, where they will find the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum - no registration required - to find the relevant information. X4 9.00 Public |
| 9.00 Public Beta 2 now available | 2026-03-18 | 9.00 Public Beta 2 is now available! Please find the full changelog below. Thank you for your continued support and feedback during this testing phase. How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta? Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new 9.00 Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, where they will find the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum - no registration required - to find the relevant information. X4 9.00 Public |
| X4 Foundations 9.00 "Empire Update" Public Beta is Now Live! | 2026-03-11 | We're thrilled to kick off the Public Beta for the X4: Foundations "Empire Update" (9.00)! This free major update includes numerous features and reworks that influence how you engage with combat, strategy, and the economy. The Empire Update includes a balance pass across hundreds of weapons, ships, and shields, alongside sweeping improvements to combat that will put your piloting skills to the test. Combined with other AI improvements, combat will be more dynamic, challenging, and rewarding. In addition to the comprehensive under-the-hood combat improvements, we've also implemented a highly-requested Priority Orders feature to rapidly issue o |
| Egosoft is Heading to PAX East 2026 - Meet Us in Boston! | 2026-02-27 | We're thrilled to announce that we'll be making our first appearance at PAX East in Boston! From March 26 to March 29, you can find us at Booth #14085 in Hall B. Come hang out with the Egosoft team, play X4: Foundations on our HOTAS demo station, and explore the many other amazing games and events throughout the convention. Visit east.paxsite.com to grab your PAX East badges. |
| Support for Cross-platform Cloud Saves | 2026-02-13 | UPDATE: These changes have now been applied. Please take a moment to review the instructions in the original news post and follow them carefully. We're preparing some changes in order to support cross-platform cloud saves between Windows, Linux, and Steam Deck for X4: Foundations. For the vast majority of players, this transition will be completely seamless and will require no action. The changes can, however, affect players who regularly play on Linux computers. Steam Deck players are not affected, unless a native Linux runtime was explicitly selected in the Steam Deck settings for X4. The changes are planned to happen on Thursday, February |
| 8.00 Hotfix 4 released | 2026-01-07 | We’re starting the year with a hotfix aimed at resolving a reported memory leak. The update is now available on Steam. If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out our Xmas Xlog video, where Bernd talks about some of our plans for 2026: |
| 2025 Christmas XLOG: Looking Back, Looking Ahead | 2025-12-21 | As 2025 comes to a close, we're celebrating a very special milestone: seven years of X4: Foundations! In a brand-new XLOG video, Egosoft founder and Managing Director Bernd Lehahn sits down to look back at another full year of updates and new content - including our recent Ship Packs - while also sharing a first glimpse of what's coming next. To mark this anniversary, the X4 base game is now 90% off during the Steam Winter Sale. If you've been waiting to bring friends into the X universe, now is the perfect moment. There are, of course, also discounts on expansions as well as previous titles in the series. Check out our developer page on Stea |
| What is X4? 🪐 Steam Winter Sale Pilots - Welcome Aboard! | 2025-12-18 | Welcome to the ultimate space sandbox experience with X4: Foundations! In this updated overview video from earlier this year, we dive into what makes X4 truly unique among space games - especially interesting to our new visitors discovering X4 thanks to the current Steam Winter Sale. 🚀 Is X4 a space simulation, an action game, or an empire-building adventure? The answer is yes - it's all of that and more! X4 offers a vast, persistent universe where you start with just one ship and limitless possibilities. Whether you want to explore, trade, build massive space stations, or command entire fleets, X4 gives you the freedom to shape your own pat |
| Nominate X4: Foundations for "Labor of Love" in the 2025 Steam Awards! | 2025-11-24 | Captains, the 2025 Steam Awards nominations have begun - and we'd be truly honoured if you'd consider nominating X4: Foundations for the "Labor of Love" category! Valve themselves describe the category as follows: "This game has been out for a while. The team is well past the debut of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation. This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years." Since its launch in 2018, X4: Foundations has grown tremendously thanks to your feedback, passion, and support. From major free updates to years of new content and improv |
| Behind the Scenes: Designing the Envoy | 2025-11-11 | The X4: Envoy Pack introduced a new stealth-ready frigate, jointly developed by the Argon Federation and the Teladi Ministry of Finance. Beyond its advanced features - the Cloak stance, faction camouflage protocols and a fully explorable interior - the Envoy stands out for how its design blends high-tech efficiency with a sense of real, functional space. Today we're taking a look behind the scenes at the concept art process for the Envoy, created by Jerzy and Yari, Concept Artists at Egosoft. We sat down with them to hear about the design process and the challenges involved. Cloak and Dagger During early exploration, the team developed the id |
| New X4: Foundations + EVERSPACE 2 Bundle | 2025-11-06 | At Egosoft, we’ve spent decades building the X universe, a living sandbox where ships, stations, and entire economies evolve dynamically. Our friends at ROCKFISH Games, meanwhile, have carved out a stellar reputation for fast-paced, story-driven space action with EVERSPACE 2. Now, we’re joining forces in a brand-new Steam bundle that celebrates multiple sides of the genre. Whether you prefer charting your own empire in X4: Foundations or chasing loot and glory in EVERSPACE 2, this bundle brings together two wonderfully complementary ways to experience life among the stars. For players who already own one of the two titles, there’s good news: |
| 8.00 Hotfix 3 released | 2025-10-16 | Hello everyone, we’ve released the third hotfix addressing an issue with beam turrets. In case you missed it: >> Now Available: Diplomacy Update (8.00) & X4: Envoy Pack https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/49933/X4_Ship_Pack_Bundle/ X4 8.00 Hotfix 3 Changelog:Fixed beam turrets not firing at incoming missiles. |
| 8.00 Hotfix 2 released | 2025-10-14 | Hello everyone, we’ve released the second hotfix addressing several issues found since the Diplomacy Update. In case you missed it: >> Now Available: Diplomacy Update (8.00) & X4: Envoy Pack https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/49933/X4_Ship_Pack_Bundle/ X4 8.00 Hotfix 2 Changelog:Added Closed Loop production for Envoy and Cypher. Improved behaviour of lasertowers when shooting at surface elements. Improved combat behaviour of Asgard to improve damage to target when using main weapon. Fixed rare case of ships not firing at station modules. Fixed weapons firing at targets that are hidden behind something else. Fixed Sapporo missile launcher s |
| 8.00 HF2 Public Beta | 2025-10-08 | Hello everyone, we’re releasing a public beta for another hotfix to address several issues that have been discovered since the release of the Diplomacy Update. How Do I Take Part in the Public Beta? Every player who owns X4: Foundations has the opportunity to download the new Public Beta version. In order to ensure that beta participants are aware of the risks and rules involved, we ask all interested players to visit our forum, where they will find the rules and disclaimers, as well as practical instructions for participating in the beta. Follow this link to our forum - no registration required - to find the relevant information. In case you |