What's New in Rust's "Getting It Right" Update
December 2025 broke a streak Rust had kept for nearly 12 years. The Naval Update was pulled to February rather than risk holiday-period server instability, leaving a wipe-only patch, an early Christmas content shuffle, and naval content playable on Staging.
Getting It Right went up in December 2025, and it isn't a patch note - it's the post where Facepunch explained why there wasn't one. The Naval Update, planned for that month, was pulled. After nearly 12 years of weekly and then guaranteed monthly updates without missing a window, Rust's December content drop became a wipe and nothing else.
Why the Naval Update was pulled
Alistair's explanation was blunt: they took on too much. The naval patch is massive - lots of new systems, and plenty of contact with old ones - and the closer release got, the less confident the team was in its state. The choice was to ship it and hope it held up at scale, or pause.
The risk they weren't willing to take was a stability hit during the busiest time of the year. Dropping server populations by 100 to 200 players, or spending the holiday period firefighting performance problems and bugs, wasn't worth hitting a date - especially since Rust was in a good state without the patch. Turning up every month without fail had become part of Rust's identity, and missing that window clearly stung, but shipping something half-baked was judged worse.
The revised schedule
The plan laid out was straightforward:
- The Naval Update moves to February 5th, with continued work on performance and polish until then
- The December patch went live at the usual 19:00 GMT on Thursday 4th as a straightforward wipe only
- Some content and DLC originally planned for December 4th was folded into the Christmas update on the 18th instead
- The January update would bring light changes plus a review of 2025 and a preview of 2026 plans
Christmas 2025
The annual Christmas event returned on Thursday 18th December, enabled by a mandatory update at 19:00 GMT. Importantly for anyone mid-wipe: no wipe, and no progress lost - plus the extra bits shifted over from the cancelled December content drop.
Trying naval early on Staging
The consolation prize was access. Fresh servers went live on the Rust Staging branch carrying the naval content, with the obvious caveats attached - bugs, performance issues and all the rough edges still being worked through. Anyone wanting to help test, break things and give feedback was welcome, with instructions available at rust.facepunch.com/staging. Facepunch said they'd add more servers if demand outstripped capacity.
Twitch Rivals Team Battle VI
The year's competitive calendar closed out with Twitch Rivals Team Battle VI, running Monday 8th to Friday 12th December. 150 creators competed in the sixth iteration of the annual global Rust PvP event, with a $100,000 prize pool. Broadcasts ran daily at 2000 GMT / 1500 EST, following teams through the usual arc of gathering, building, then raiding and fighting it out. Unique Twitch Drops were available for watching the event and the official Twitch Rivals broadcast, with generic Rust-themed drops also earnable from any non-participating creator's stream. Rustoria got the credit for working with Facepunch and Twitch to run it.
The post closed on the year rather than the miss. 2025 had been one of Rust's biggest - Primitive at the start of the year, the Jungle biome, sweeping meta changes, and backend improvements most players would never notice but all of them benefit from. The ask was simply for space to get the Naval Update right, with a reminder that anyone returning after a few months away had plenty of new content waiting regardless.