ONE APP, TWO NAMES

Version history

The news people need is usually a date. Official Steam posts announce Early Access for 31 October 2025 and confirm it went live that day, after about 3.5 years of development. The 13 February 2026 Games Press release uses the Criminal Empire name and says the game was previously The Boss Gangsters: Nightlife. Version 1.0 is 27 October 2026 on Steam, GOG, and SteamDB.

Backloggd records Early Access as 1 November 2025. I am not correcting them in their database. Both dates are on the comparison page. Hotfixes from launch week are on the patch page. I do not have a post-1.0 expansion date.

Night harbor in The Boss Gangster with a pier and neon clubs — Steam store screenshot of the harbor, no HUD. Image: BEF Games / Tripwire Presents, via Steam. Checked 2026-10-29.

Dock fight on day one with the objective Talk to Luigi — Steam store screenshot. Corner stamp reads EA 0.6.25, so this is Early Access, not a confirmed 1.0 frame. Image: BEF Games / Tripwire Presents, via Steam.

Dates worth keeping

Disagreements stay in the table.

Timeline
Event	Date	Source
Demo upload date on the demo app	9 Feb 2024	Steam demo release field. Not the game's launch.
Early Access	31 Oct 2025	Official Steam news
Early Access, other database	1 Nov 2025	Backloggd / IGDB
Name in the press release	13 Feb 2026	Games Press
1.0	27 Oct 2026	Steam, GOG, SteamDB

Questions

Is Nightlife a different game?

No. Same Steam app. The press release says it was previously titled The Boss Gangsters: Nightlife.

What shipped after 1.0?

Hotfixes on 27 and 28 October 2026. A later roadmap date was not in the posts I summarized.

Keep going

Name change

The long version of the timeline.

Patches

Hotfixes 1 through the 28 October note.

Roadmap

What was promised, and what has no date.

Videos

Official trailers and creator sessions.

Version line: 1.0 plus the 28 October 2026 hotfix, unless a paragraph says otherwise. Patch notes. Sources. Checked 2026-10-29. Store: Steam. Wiki: thebossgangster.com/wiki.