Where's Euro Truck Simulator 3?

[Prince]

We got Euro Truck Simulator in 2008. Four years later, Euro Truck Simulator 2 was released in 2012. 10 years down the line, SCS are still patching, rebuilding or polishing original content from back then.

That got me wondering: why did they change from ETS1 to ETS2, and why didn't SCS start on ETS3?

Is it because
* SCS is locked to the ETS2 game engine for several years to come, considering they have literally years of development left in ATS before the USA map is done?
* it's easier to rebuild the current game engine over and over instead of starting from scratch (the technical improvements to the game)?
* it's cheaper to fix all the flaws in the original ETS2 map (e.g. the free gameplay updates where countries are rebuilt) than creating a new game?
* ETS2 is basically an update to ETS1, and back in the days we didn't update games OTA but bought new iterations (i.e. as the FIFA franchise from EA where the yearly updates are just the same game with minor changes). Considering we're now living in a OTA world, there's no need for ETS3?

Have SCS ever announced anything regarding this topic?

[parasaurolophus67]

There will never be an ETS3. Thats it. They should rather move on to an another continent once they believe Ets2 is done.

[Eugene]

ETS2 was a big leap from ETS1, but euro truck simulator 2 didn’t turn out into exactly a full game. It didn’t have all European countries. So SCS chose to further develop ETS2, instead of working on a new tittle.
Starting from scratch is always difficult, back then SCS was too small to pull this off, which is why ETS2 had reused assets and map from GTS and UKTS

[kast]

why 3, we already on Euro Truck Simulator 45

[Aziz]

We got Minecraft in 2011 (technically 2009), why there isn't Minecraft 2? Games these days, especially games with open ending, or rather, no ending at all, live much longer than a decade ago. In an age of digital distribution, no publisher have to worry about new games in boxes, so instead of dropping a sequel every few years, they can keep an older game active as long as they want. ETS2 was designed to be expanded and improved over the years from the start, otherwise we would have full map of Europe in 2012 (in 2012 quality) and that would be the end of it.
ETS1 was very barebones, compared to older 18WoS, tiny map, barely any cities, no economy. It made a lot of sense to start working on a new game that would be much better than its predecessor. And now, as long as they still can make enough profit to continue development, they can do it. Finish maps in both games, add more features along the way, and then perhaps they could think about what's next.
ETS2 is in no way "just an update" to ETS, the only things they have in common is name. Have you seen both games side to side?
Also don't bring EA to the table because they're the most greedy publisher of all time, and it's them who are pushing updates to FIFA every year and demanding $60/70 for each, AND offer microtransactions with, who would've guessed, more content that should've been in the base from the start, which is actual footballers. I can't even call the people behind Train Sim that greedy, as while they offer hundreds of time dlcs for TONS of money combined, they add a year to their game and just move on to working on next locomotive for $40, so even if the base content is somewhat lacking, it's still available for free once you own the game.
All in all, if, or when, ETS2 starts to lack new content, or becomes too heavy for the engine so much that performance would start to drop, then perhaps it's time for another sequel. But what then? They'd start working on literally the same thing they've been working on for over a decade? Same trucks but prettier, same roads but denser? Passion is one thing, but even it can fade when you're working on something over and over again for too long.

[Some newbie driver]

We have ETS2 because ETS1 code was a mess difficult to evolve and not modular enough. So, they had to rebuild completely from scratch. That will NOT happen again anymore, ETS2 is what will remain as like ATS and SCS will keep evolving them. Actually the internal code of the game is way way different from what it was 10 years ago. SCS could had called it ETS3, 4 or 20 is they would had wanted. They decided not to do so for several reasons. Other companies release every few years the same base code with a couple of changes (as like the ones we have in fre updates here), call it "new game" and charge us as if it will be so. Do you rather this approach, Prince? I don't think so. The name of the game isn't relevan, what matters is that it keeps being improved.

Regards

[dsf.fernando]

why 3, we already on Euro Truck Simulator 45

How's 45? I've lived the last three years of my life in ETS3

[pigbrother]

Latest minor version is 45.

[Wacky Geek]

So, we have now 1.45, after 1.99, we will have 2.0.0, and after 2.99 we will have 3.0.0

[xXCARL1992Xx]

after 1.99 we will have 1.100 and not 2.0