This month, GIANTS SOFTWARE announced a new DLC under development called “Highlands Fishing”. As they usually do, the preview was aired through social media channels like Discord and YouTube, showcasing a brand-new map, as well as some new vehicles and tools.
The first look shows a new map for FS25 with some “fresh new machinery”. Now it’s not a surprise that new vehicles comes with a new DLC that is estimated to be released in November 2025. Other than that I suppose that some of us will ask some questions about this new approach to fish farming, because the technical details is so far unclear.
The new usual vehicles and tools are the main focus in this preview, but we don’t yet know what features these fishing boats will have (or not have). If this is the new objective in GIANTS Software marketing strategy for Farming Simulator, one may ask: Are GIANTS moving into ship simulators?
Fish farming doesn’t seem to be quite a new thing by the way. In May 2025 this mod was released by a modder called GWENDAL.
The screenshot above is from the official ModHub managed by GIANTS.
Although there are modders out there who know how to manipulate production chains for factories and the like, we are already aware of this. But the biggest question remains unanswered: Will there be any dynamic ocean in Farming Simulator 25 that affects these fishing boats?
Perhaps this new DLC is a hint about the game’s future, or perhaps not. The user’s request for improved simulation has been many since Farming Simulator 17 was released in 2016. And yeah, if this DLC’s new features get expanded on, who knows…maybe Farming Simulator 2026…2027 is when Farming Simulator all suddenly became a ship simulator…for virtual fish farming of course. And before we know it…RMS Titanic suddenly shows up, sailing on a Farming Simulator modded map, across the Atlantic Ocean.
On the business side, one can speculate that GIANTS is attempting to further influence the simulation genre with this new DLC and perhaps position themselves to other established game developers. However, most of these are small teams or independent game developers.
VSTEP was the one that came out with a game called Ship Simulator Extremes, which was popular for a while before it suddenly became a “dead game”, as VSTEP primarily focuses on professional training simulators. Before Ship Simulator Extremes was released in 2010, its predecessor, Ship Simulator 2006, was released in 2006, featuring basic navigation at sea with small and large vessels.
However, one may yet again ask, is fishing simulation/farming that new?
A search at Steam Store shows about 776 results of games that has some “fishy content”…for “fishy gamers” that perhaps love these types of games, which surely could be an adventure, even when the visuals look somewhat outdated. Again, these are typical indie developers, announcing their games at Steam.
Many of these games are early access titles, such as Ships At Sea, which was released as an EA in May 2024, featuring improved visuals in a Norwegian scenery with Unreal Engine 5.
So yeah, maybe this is the future of Farming Simulator, or perhaps not?
The question remains until the DLC becomes LIVE.
