Expect it to be updated 5 weeks in advance, that's what jwe2 got. For now, it's a long wait until a most likely may release.
Could be shorter, could even be longer. Hah. I'm expecting an early- to mid-May release at this point so... That all adds up. End of May wouldn't make sense if they're trying to bolster finances for FY24. Gotta give it a week or two ahead of close to let those sales simmer!
At this point we kinda know about when the DLC will land. So seeing the SteamDB get updated with our own eyes will mostly just alleviate the chatter about "no more DLC coming" that keeps popping up. Haha.
By the way, the JWE2 players didn't get free features with their recent DLC. In my opinion that's clearly because lack of staff. I'm unfortunately quite sure that's where we will be effected too, soon. It's just a matter of time.
I would imagine that staffing is an issue across the board... But I'm not sure we should expect the same for Planet Zoo just yet. They've definitely demonstrated more loyalty toward their own IP (e.g., Elite: Dangerous still receiving support all these years later and in general the PZ updates have toppled the JWE2 ones when you put them side-by-side). Which makes sense...
And with Planet Zoo there is a
lot of low-hanging fruit they could add to give us
something in a free update that people would enjoy (e.g., flexicolor versions of base game and early DLC building pieces, new font pieces, new multimedia sign sizes/shapes, something that utilizes the same functionality as the viewing domes and restaurants).
I'm not expecting anything game-changing this time around but there's certainly some "low rent" ways to provide us with a solid update alongside the DLC.
