Deep Rock Galactic Season 07 Contingency Protocol Confirmed

Ghost Ship Games used Coffee Stain Publishing's Big Break Showcase on September 29 to confirm the next year of Deep Rock Galactic content in one go: Season 07, subtitled "Contingency Protocol," is targeting a December 2026 release, with Season 08 and the game's first-ever paid expansion DLC following in summer 2027.

01When Is Deep Rock Galactic Season 07 Releasing?

Ghost Ship's own roadmap graphic lists Season 07 for December 2026, sitting behind two other releases already locked for this year: console ports of the spinoff Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor in October, and Update 3 for the roguelite spinoff Rogue Core in November. No exact Season 07 date has been set yet, and the studio's post calls everything shown "a work in progress" subject to change before launch.

02What's in Contingency Protocol

The season's framing story has Management responding to "a recent surge of gravitational anomalies" around Hoxxes IV that are linked to a string of fatal Drop Pod crashes. The new season event sends mining crews to those crash sites to recover Memory Cores for analysis while gravity in the area behaves unpredictably. On the gear side, Ghost Ship confirmed about 20 new Overclocks focused entirely on secondary weapons, including named examples like Neurotoxin Minelets and Dragonfire Shells, plus a new Performance Pass built around a weapon framework called Ironclad Tactical.

03New Perks, Tattoos and Traversal Tool Paint Jobs

Season 07 also reworks the Perk system, which Ghost Ship says has two goals: expanding the perk pool and giving long-time players something to do with the huge stockpile of unspent perk points many have banked. The patch adds 11 new perks, reworks some existing ones, and introduces a "Perk Maintenance" system that mirrors the game's existing Weapon Maintenance loop. Once every perk is unlocked, players can dump leftover points into new "Perk Proficiency" slots for small passive stat bonuses instead of letting them sit idle.

Two cosmetic systems fans have asked about for years are also arriving. A new enemy called the Kadoc Inker — described as passive and camouflaged, living near the Ossuary Depths — drops ink sacs that unlock a tattoo system for player characters. Separately, traversal tools (grappling hooks, jump boots and the like) are getting their own paint jobs, tying into the Performance Pass and the new perk maintenance loop.

04Season 08 and Deep Rock Galactic's First Paid Expansion

The bigger structural change is what comes after Season 07. In summer 2027, Ghost Ship plans to release Season 08 alongside a separate, paid expansion DLC — the first time the studio has charged for a major Deep Rock Galactic content drop since the base game launched in 2020. Season 08 itself stays free like every prior season, and the studio says it will keep shipping free updates alongside the expansion. The decision to charge for the expansion, per the announcement, is meant to fund more ambitious content than a free season can support on its own. Ghost Ship hasn't detailed what the expansion adds yet, saying only that Season 07 comes first and more details on Season 08 and the expansion will follow later.

05The Rest of the DRG Universe Roadmap

Season 07 is only one piece of what Ghost Ship is now calling the wider Deep Rock Galactic universe. The same roadmap graphic places Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor console ports in October 2026, Rogue Core Update 3 in November 2026, a fourth Rogue Core update at an unannounced date, and new Survivor DLC also without a confirmed date. All of it leads into the Season 08 and expansion window in summer 2027. The announcement arrived in the same post as the wrap-up of 2026's Rocktoberfest event, which runs through mid-October with returning cosmetic rewards and a double-XP mug hunt for current players.

06What This Means for Miners Right Now

None of Season 07's changes are live yet — this is a roadmap confirmation, not a patch. The practical impact today is mostly about expectations: Ghost Ship has now committed publicly to a December window, named its first paid DLC, and given a rough shape to the Perk Maintenance system that's meant to fix the stockpiled-points problem. Full patch notes, a firm release date, and a proper Season 07 trailer are still to come as Ghost Ship gets closer to launch.