The complete timeline

  1. March 25, 2026 — announcedNIS America announces Village in the Shade for the west with an official announcement trailer.
  2. July 29-30, 2026 — Japan launchesThe Nippon Ichi-developed game launches in Japan: Steam lists July 29 (UTC), Japanese retail is July 30. Early Steam languages: Japanese, Korean, Traditional Chinese.
  3. September 2026 — momentumSeptember 14: Simplified Chinese support and the Deluxe Edition arrive. September 28: free Patch 1.20 (camping furniture, livestock, farmland expansion). By month’s end, Japanese sales pass 250,000 copies.
  4. October 27, 2026 — global launchWorldwide release on Steam, PS5, Switch, and Switch 2 with English, French, and Spanish (Patch 1.30), plus birthday events and the Seeder tool.
  5. Spring 2027 — next stopPaid DLC is on the official roadmap for Spring 2027.

Frequently confused dates, cleared up

Why two 2026 dates exist

  • July = Japan and Asia launch (Japanese-first).
  • October 27 = the global English-language launch most western players mean.
  • Steam stores the July date on the page; the “released October 27, 2026” milestone refers to the worldwide NIS America launch.

Patch dates

  • 1.05/1.06 — August fixes · 1.08 — August 26 · 1.09 — September 3
  • 1.20 — September 28 · 1.30 — October 27 (launch-day content drop)
  • Full changelogs: updates and patch notes

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