We are ending support for the Android build of SeaWar Sandbox V1 on September 26, 2026. This is a planned wind down, not a server outage and not a takedown, and because SeaWar is a single player game the practical effect on anyone already playing is smaller than the headline suggests.
This post explains what stops, what keeps working, why we are doing it, and what you should do before the date if you want to keep playing.
What actually ends on September 26
From that date we stop shipping new Android builds. No more APK updates, no more bug fixes for the mobile version, no more compatibility work against new Android releases. The download link on our download page comes down on the same day.
What does not end is the game itself. SeaWar Sandbox V1 is a fully offline naval combat sandbox. It does not phone home, it does not need an account, and it does not check a license server before letting you sail. If the APK is installed on your device on September 27, it will still open on September 27, and on any day after that, for as long as your version of Android keeps running it.
A short list, so nothing is ambiguous
- Stops: new APK builds, mobile bug fixes, Android compatibility updates, the public download link.
- Keeps working: the installed game, your local saves, every ship and boss and mission already in the build, offline play with no connection at all.
- Unaffected for now: the Windows build, which has its own timeline that we will cover in a separate post.
Your saves are yours, and they stay on your phone
SeaWar stores progress locally on the device. There is no cloud save, because there was never an account system to attach one to. That was a deliberate choice when we built the game and it is the reason this wind down is a mild event rather than a disaster: nothing of yours lives on a machine we control, so nothing of yours disappears when we stop maintaining the build.
If you are the cautious type, back up the game folder before the date. If you reinstall Android from scratch later, or move to a new phone, keep a copy of the APK somewhere safe too, because we will not be hosting it after September 26.
Why we are doing this
Honest answer: a single developer cannot maintain two platforms and build the next thing at the same time, and the next thing is where the interesting work is.
The Android port was the right call when we made it. Plenty of people asked for it, touch controls turned out better than we expected, and it brought in players who were never going to install a Windows launcher just to try a small indie naval game. We do not regret a minute of it.
But mobile is a moving target. Every Android release changes something about storage permissions, background behaviour, or install flows. Keeping a side-loaded APK healthy across that churn is a permanent tax, and it is a tax paid in the exact hours that would otherwise go into new systems, new ships, and new combat. At some point you have to decide whether you are maintaining the old thing or building the new one. We picked building.
There is also the distribution problem, which we wrote about when the Android version launched. SeaWar is not on Google Play. New developer accounts face a long closed testing requirement with a fixed group of testers, which is a reasonable rule for the store and an unreasonable one for a studio at the very beginning. So the Android build lived as a direct APK download, with all the friction that carries. That was workable as an experiment. It is not a foundation.
What this is not
This is not the studio closing. This is not SeaWar being deleted, remotely disabled, or patched into uselessness. We are not the kind of studio that takes a working offline game away from the people who installed it, and the design of SeaWar means we could not do that even if we wanted to.
It is also not a sign that we are done with naval games. Quite the opposite. Everything we learned making a ship move convincingly, making a cannon volley feel heavy, and making a boss fight readable on a small screen goes into what comes next.
What to do before September 26
- Download the APK now if you want it, even if you are not going to play today. Grab it from the download page while it is up.
- Back up your saves if you have a run you care about.
- Read the guide if you never finished the game. The SeaWar guide covers ships, gear, enemies, and the full mission chain, and it stays online after the build comes down.
- Join the Discord if you want to know what we are building next before anyone else does.
Questions we have already been asked
Will the game stop launching after September 26?
No. There is no expiry check, no license server, and no online validation anywhere in the build. The game does not know what date it is and does not care.
Can I reinstall it later from a backup APK?
Yes. Keep the file somewhere safe and you can install it on a new phone years from now, assuming that phone still runs apps of this generation.
Will my saves transfer to a new device?
Only if you copy them yourself. There is no cloud save because there is no account system. Copy the game data folder before you wipe the old device.
Is there a last update coming?
No new features. If a serious crash bug surfaces before the date we will look at it, but the build is otherwise final.
Does this affect the Windows version?
The Windows build has its own timeline, which we will publish separately rather than bury in a footnote here.
Is the studio shutting down?
No. This is a wind down of one platform of one finished game, and the reason is that our hours are going into something larger.
A note on how we handle endings
Plenty of studios let a product decay silently: the download link quietly breaks, the support page quietly disappears, and nobody ever says the word. We think that is worse than a date.
A date lets you decide. You can download it now, back up what matters, or ignore the whole thing because you finished the campaign months ago. What you cannot do is be surprised, and being surprised is the part that actually annoys people.
So the date is September 26, 2026, it is on the record, and everything in this post stays true after it passes.
The short version
Android support for SeaWar Sandbox V1 ends September 26, 2026. The game you have installed keeps working forever, your saves are on your own device, and the guide stays up. What changes is where our hours go, and they are going somewhere we think is worth the trade.
More on that soon.