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2026 Roadmap
February 19, 2026 at 03:16 PM
Initial version
On December 26, 2025, Director Hyungjun "Kjun" Kim published the Fundamentals First & 2026 Roadmap letter, followed by a second part on January 2, 2026, titled Beyond the Fundamentals. Together these documents lay out KRAFTON's plans for inZOI across 2026. The core philosophy is to strengthen existing gameplay systems during the first half of the year while introducing ambitious new features — multiplayer, a new city, and expanded modding — in parallel. KRAFTON is targeting approximately seven to eight free updates throughout the year, with all content included at no extra cost for Early Access owners.
The roadmap is organized into quarterly milestones, though KRAFTON has repeatedly stressed that timelines and scope may shift depending on development progress. A dedicated internal team is working on the "Beyond" features (modding, multiplayer, AI NPCs, Canvastown) alongside the core development team handling the quarterly content drops.
The first quarter focuses heavily on expanding the career system and deepening social interactions:
Enhanced job system: Zois can now hold multiple jobs simultaneously, attend job interviews, and work remotely from home. New career tracks include beauty-related roles and a police patrol system.
Competitive interactions: A new rivals mechanic lets Zois develop adversarial relationships with other characters, adding tension and drama to social dynamics.
Reputation system: Zois earn and lose reputation based on their actions in the community, affecting how other Zois treat them.
High school properties: Functional school lots appear in the city for the first time, giving teenage Zois a proper educational environment.
Flower farming and arranging: A new hobby that lets Zois grow flowers, harvest them, and create arrangements — tying into the existing business system for potential florist shops.
Memory system: Zois now form lasting memories tied to significant life events, including trauma and milestone moments. These memories influence mood and behavior over time.
Fate Engine and calendar: A revamped calendar system with birthday tracking, seasonal events, and a scheduling framework for life milestones.
Age adjustment options: More control over how quickly Zois age through their life stages.
Contact exchange and blocking: Zois can exchange contact information when they meet and block other Zois they want to avoid.
Architecture expansions: New European and Hanok (traditional Korean) architectural styles become available in Build Mode.
Engine optimization: Under-the-hood graphics improvements to boost frame rates and reduce system load.
The second quarter introduces creative and freelance career paths alongside performance content:
Freelance careers: Writing, game development, photography, and blogging are added as self-directed career options that Zois can pursue from home.
Taxi driver and elderly careers: New career tracks designed for broader age ranges, including jobs specifically suited to elder Zois.
Prison properties: Functional prison lots with visiting facilities appear in the world, expanding the consequences of the criminal system introduced in v0.5.0.
Voice customization: Zois gain adjustable voice parameters, giving players more control over how their characters sound.
K-pop performance content: New stages, idol styling options, and choreographed dance motions for Zois pursuing the Idol career. This builds on the existing Adam Entertainment career path in Dowon.
Expanded reward systems: Ranks and tiers are added to existing systems, giving players longer-term progression goals.
The third quarter broadens the career options available to younger Zois and adds journaling:
Part-time jobs and teenage careers: Teenagers can now take on part-time work, earning Meow and building skills before entering the full workforce.
Event Memory and Diary system: An expanded version of the memory system that includes a diary where Zois record their experiences. Events are logged with emotional context, creating a readable history of a Zoi's life.
Curved wall support: Build Mode gains the ability to create curved walls, opening up architectural possibilities that were previously impossible.
The final quarter addresses long-requested building features:
Basement construction: Zois can build underground levels beneath their homes, adding a new dimension to house design in Build Mode.
Terrain editing: Still in the development phase as of the roadmap announcement, terrain editing would let players modify the landscape around their lots — raising hills, flattening ground, and reshaping the environment.
Wall decoration modules: Interior and exterior wall decoration options are expanded with modular components for more creative freedom.
The multiplayer system is one of the most ambitious components of the 2026 roadmap. It runs on a separate development track with its own phased milestones. See the Multiplayer and Canvas article for full details. Key milestones include:
January 2026: Account-linked personal Zois with save-and-resume for hosted sessions.
February 2026: Web-based lobby system, online chat channels, and social features.
March 2026: Co-op house visits where players can decorate their home and invite others inside.
June 2026: Host tools for managing sessions, shared mod support in multiplayer, and Canvastown #1 — a small village with approximately 40 lots.
October 2026: Large-scale multiplayer with dedicated servers supporting hundreds to thousands of concurrent players, plus Canvastown #2 — expanded to roughly 50 lots with a rural countryside theme.
Canvastown is a brand-new, compact world designed from the ground up to run smoothly on lower-specification hardware. It is being built on the Fate Engine, a new engine layer that aims to reduce system requirements and optimize PC resource usage. If the Fate Engine proves successful in Canvastown, KRAFTON plans to bring it to the existing cities — Dowon, Bliss Bay, and Kucingku — to improve performance across the board.
The design philosophy behind Canvastown is "shared narratives" — players can create specific life scenarios and let others enter that life to play it themselves. The world has a smaller footprint than existing cities, with the surrounding neighborhood becoming part of the player's interactive space.
Modding support evolves throughout 2026 in a series of progressive releases:
JSON-based asset handling: Early 2026 — a more accessible format for modders to define custom assets.
Integrated mod management: A built-in mod manager to simplify installation and conflict resolution.
Expanded CAZ Wizard: The existing wizard-style modding tool gains support for accessories, motions, and face modding with MetaHuman guides, plus improved project management features like search and asset merging.
Vehicle modding: Custom vehicle creation and modification tools.
Unreal Engine 5.6 migration: The game engine is upgraded, bringing improved rendering and performance.
CLO platform integration: Currently in R&D — partnership with the CLO virtual fashion design platform for clothing creation.
PS5 and Mac mod support: Being prepared with a target of mid-2026, though availability may be restricted by platform policies.
Lua script support: Targeted for December 2026, enabling scripted behavior modifications and deeper gameplay mods.
KRAFTON officially announced in August 2025 that inZOI is coming to PlayStation 5 in H1 2026 (the first half of the year). The PS5 version will be fully optimized for the console hardware. An Xbox release is under consideration but has not been confirmed. Cross-play between PC and console has also not been confirmed as of February 2026.
Pets are among the most requested features in the inZOI community. While the official 2026 roadmap does not include a specific date for pets, the official @PlayinZOI social media account teased the feature with an image showing a cat tree and paw prints alongside the words "coming soon." The original March 2025 roadmap mentioned an August update for Kucingku Cat Island — using the Malay and Indonesian word for "My Cat" — which strongly suggests cat-related content is in active development. All updates during Early Access will be free, in contrast to competitor life simulation games that charge for pet expansion packs.
Beyond the officially confirmed features, the inZOI community has been vocal about additional wants that have not yet appeared on the roadmap:
Dogs and other animal species beyond cats
Full 1.0 release timeline and what defines "leaving Early Access"
Expanded Smart Zoi with AMD GPU support (currently NVIDIA only)
More city environments beyond Dowon, Bliss Bay, Kucingku, and Canvastown
Weather system improvements (storms, snow buildup, seasonal effects)
Larger household sizes beyond the current cap
More detailed baby and toddler gameplay mechanics
Director Kjun has been responsive to community feedback through the official inZOI forums and developer video diaries, with February 2026 updates already addressing animation smoothing and expanded baby features based on player requests.
