After the success with Euro Truck Simulator 2, SCS Software turned their eyes to the west and in 2016 they released American Truck Simulator. The premise is exactly the same – driving commercial trucks and delivering cargo. The difference is that now we’re talking big American rigs and cruising through the landscape of the American southwest.
As the starting point, SCS chose California for the base game. Quickly to be expanded with Nevada and Arizona, the latter released as a free DLC.
After that, the model follows the same concept as for Euro Truck Simulator 2. New DLCs each add a new US state to the map. Beginning with New Mexico the possible driveable map over time then has been expanded from the core southwest area, first northward along the coast and then further and further eastward. Since the project started, SCS Software has seemingly determined it to be a success and the stated goal now is to release map DLCs to cover the whole of the continental USA. And who knows, maybe they one day will finish it off with Alaska and Hawaii too.
In 2021 SCS also went back and started to do a bit of a renovation on the starting state California to bring the quality up a notch to be more in line with the “newer” states. This is something that I personally think they should have much more gratitude and kudos for than they get. It’s work that they easily could have skipped to do but still choose to do. In my eyes it’s a good example of the fact that they really care for their products and their player base.
Release Dates
American Truck Simulator (base game including California and Nevada): February 2, 2016
Arizona (as free DLC): June 6, 2016
New Mexico: November 9, 2017
Oregon: October 4, 2018
Washington June 11, 2019
Utah: November 7, 2019
Idaho: July 16, 2020
Colorado: November 12, 2020
Wyoming: September 7, 2021
Montana: August 4, 2022
Texas: November 15, 2022
Oklahoma: August 1, 2023
Kansas: November 30, 2023
Nebraska: May 16, 2024
Arkansas: September 16, 2024
Missouri: coming in 2025
Iowa: coming in 2025
Louisiana: upcoming
