Derek Qiu is Head of Operations on Once Human at NetEase Games and Starry Studio. In August and September 2026 he detailed the October update Isles of Abyss, the game's largest since launch.
Derek Qiu is Head of Operations on Once Human, the survival game from NetEase Games and Starry Studio. He first appeared on the record in August 2026 at gamescom, where he detailed the October major update Isles of Abyss and its subtitle Ocean Expansion. That update reworks the ocean as a hostile living creature, adds a ship-building system that runs from a simple raft to a sea fortress, and introduces five sea regions, blueprint sharing, and land-sea progression loops.
Speaking to Game Spark in September 2026, Qiu described the sea as a single gigantic life form rather than a setting for sea creatures. The update adds ghost ships and strange lighthouses, and its ship building forces trade-offs between cannons, speed, and cargo. Qiu said the sea was planned from the start of development, which places the update inside the game's original design rather than as a later addition.
Both stories frame the ocean itself as the threat. The August account stresses the rework of the environment and the trade-offs in ship construction. The September account repeats the ocean, ghost ships, lighthouses, and ship building, and adds Qiu's comment that the sea was planned from the start. Between the two, the update's content is consistent: hostile ocean, ship building, five sea regions, blueprint sharing, and loops between land and sea.
The update follows the game's August 2026 expansion from PC to mobile and to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The October update is the largest since launch. No release date inside October is given in either story.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the cited Yomimono stories below, each itself sourced, then editorially reviewed. Every fact links the story it came from.
NetEase Games and Starry Studio's survival game Once Human is getting its largest update since launch in October, the ocean update Isles of Abyss. Head of Operations Derek Qiu told Game Spark the sea is designed as a single gigantic life form, with ghost ships, strange lighthouses, and ship building that forces trade-offs, and said the sea was planned from the start of development.
At gamescom 2026, Once Human Head of Operations Derek Qiu detailed the October major update Isles of Abyss, subtitled Ocean Expansion. The update reworks the ocean itself as a hostile living creature, adds a ship-building system from simple raft to sea fortress, and introduces five sea regions, blueprint sharing, and land-sea progression loops.