Godot 4.0 Development Enters Feature Freeze Ahead of First Beta Release

We are committed to releasing a stable version of Godot 4.0 as soon as possible. To achieve this, we need to focus on implementing exciting new features towards stabilizing existing features and fixing bugs.

The Road to Beta 1

With this in mind, as of August 3, we are entering a feature freeze phase, and no changes to the Roadmap for Godot 4.0 will be expected. If you have any pending jobs that you absolutely want to see in Godot 4.0, submit them before August 3rd. You can either open a pull request or contact the production team directly to have your work considered.

Please don't overexert yourself and avoid cracking up. There are always future versions, especially if your improvement doesn't break compatibility. Once 4.0 is released, we aim to have much shorter development cycles for 4.x releases so the wait for new features won't be long.

In the meantime, we have started reassessing each submitted PR marked for Milestone 4.0. We want to assess whether the proposed fix or feature is absolutely necessary for the project entering the next major stable release. Features that show no urgency will be pushed to future releases. This helps us narrow the scope and ensure we can complete this development cycle.

By August 17, we want to have a good idea of ​​what features will be coming to Beta. This is why it is important that you submit your pending work well in advance of this. If all goes as planned, we should have the first beta of Godot 4.0 in the next 5-6 weeks.

To reiterate the plan:

August 3 — Roadmap for 4.0 enters feature freeze; submit your work before that. August 17 — Beta 1 scope determined; reviews and evaluation of PRs continue. Beginning of September — beta 1 is out. Beta Phase Considerations

Please note that the beta phase does not mean that the engine is stable and ready for production use. We cannot guarantee that betas of Godot 4 will not have compatibility changes or critical bugs. If you want to do a commercial project with the engine, please wait for at least the first release candidate. Until then, we will continue to fix bugs and improve existing features, breaking compatibility if absolutely necessary so that friction is low and efficiency high.

Some work may still be allowed during the beta phase. Larger features can still be merged, if they were approved before Beta 1 was released. Smaller enhancements can also be approved, given that they have reasonably high support. Breaking compatibility at this stage should be minimal or better yet avoided at all. The beta phase would be very similar to our policies for the current development of the 3.x branch, so you can refer to your experience with that.

If you would like to contribute to the engine, now is the perfect time to do so! The sooner we can fix the resistance issues, the sooner everyone can enjoy a brand new iteration of Godot. You can start by reading our guidelines for contributors. Then search GitHub for issues you might be interested in, try to reproduce them, and find a solution.

Thank you for your support!