After more than five years in Early Access, Valheim 1.0 launches on September 9, 2026. Developer Iron Gate confirmed the date alongside the reveal of the game’s final biome, the Deep North, and a major platform expansion that brings the Viking survival hit to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 for the first time. Here’s everything that’s been confirmed.
Valheim 1.0 release date
Valheim leaves Early Access on September 9, 2026 — almost exactly five years after its February 2021 debut. The 1.0 build marks the “full release” milestone Iron Gate has been building toward since the game sold over a million copies in its first week and went on to pass 12 million.
The Deep North: Valheim’s final biome
The headline addition is the Deep North, confirmed as the game’s final biome. It’s an icy, frigid land of glacial peaks, frozen tundras, snowy mesas and frozen fields, swept by snowstorms and dotted with vast abandoned villages waiting to be explored. Two new enemies have been named so far:
- Gammeltrolls — a frozen-north variant of Valheim’s iconic trolls.
- Elakingar — a new hostile creature native to the biome.
The Deep North completes the biome progression that already runs through the Meadows, Black Forest, Swamp, Mountains, Plains, Mistlands and the fiery Ashlands.
Valheim comes to PS5 and Switch 2 with full crossplay
The 1.0 launch is also a platform launch. Valheim will be available on:
| Platform | Status at 1.0 |
|---|---|
| PC (Steam) | Available now |
| Xbox One / Xbox Series X|S / Game Pass | Available now |
| Linux / Mac | Available now |
| PlayStation 5 | New at launch (Sept 9) |
| Nintendo Switch 2 | New at launch (Sept 9) |
Crucially, Iron Gate confirmed full crossplay across every platform at launch — PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch 2 players can all share the same world.
What crossplay means for multiplayer
Console players can’t run their own dedicated servers the way PC players can. If you want a persistent world that stays online 24/7 — so your PS5, Switch 2, Xbox and PC friends can all drop in whenever they like, even when you’re offline — a hosted dedicated server is the simplest way to do it. One world, everyone joins from any platform. We walk through enabling it in our Valheim crossplay setup guide.
One trade-off worth knowing before launch: crossplay and BepInEx mods are mutually exclusive. A crossplay-enabled server can’t load BepInEx mods because console clients can’t install them. If you want a heavily modded Deep North run, keep the server Steam-only; if you want console friends in, run vanilla or server-side tweaks.
Getting ready for Deep North
If you’re planning a fresh 1.0 world with friends, it’s worth lining up your server before launch day. Our Valheim server hosting runs on AMD Ryzen 9 7950X hardware with DDR5 and NVMe, with one-click Thunderstore mods, world-modifier presets and full crossplay support. You can tune your world before launch with the free Valheim server config generator, and the setup guides cover everything from joining a server to importing an existing save.
Watch the Valheim 1.0 reveal trailer
Frequently asked questions
When does Valheim 1.0 release?
September 9, 2026, on PC, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, Linux and Mac.
What is the Deep North?
The Deep North is Valheim’s final biome, a frozen land of glacial peaks and tundras with new enemies including Gammeltrolls and Elakingar, arriving with the 1.0 update.
Does Valheim 1.0 have crossplay?
Yes — full crossplay across PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch 2 at launch.
Can console players host a Valheim server?
Consoles can’t run dedicated servers themselves. A hosted Valheim server lets PS5, Switch 2, Xbox and PC players share one always-on world.
Sources: Iron Gate / Coffee Stain announcement, as reported by gHacks, GamingBolt, GosuGamers, VGChartz and The Escapist (June 2026).
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