GIANTS Software‘s Community Manager Lars “Lisertan” Malcharek has confirmed that there will only be one John Deere combine harvester featured in the base game of Farming Simulator 19. Following the release of a new gameplay trailer and series of fact sheets, fans in the developer’s Discord server began to question whether any additional John Deere combines would be announced. Malcharek indicated that when it comes to John Deere combines in Farming Simulator 19, “there will be only one.” When asked if he was simply teasing, Malcharek responded:

Only the T560…it’s the only combine [as far as I know]. I wasn’t kidding.

Later Malcharek reconfirmed this for other users, stating that “At least I don’t know of any other JD [John Deere] combine. As far as I know there is only the T560.”

Some fans suspected that this may be the case, as the equipment list on GIANTS’ website did not show a “coming soon” panel under the John Deere harvesters tab, which typically means (though isn’t a direct confirmation) that no additional machinery will be added to that section. Even so, many players will likely be disappointed by this revelation, as the introduction of John Deere to the series brought great excitement, and with it great hopes for the different types of equipment that could represent the brand in the game, given the wide variety of machinery and implements that it produces.

Details on the T560 can be found in our article on the equipment list released in the first two weeks of postings – it’s a good mid-sized combine, featuring a 10,000 litre (approximately 285 bushel) grain tank. It probably won’t be the combine that players start out with, but it will probably serve as a good early-game upgrade when the initial combine gets too small.

I’m somewhat surprised not to see John Deere’s S-Series combines represented, instead leaving combines from rival brands Case IH, AGCO, and New Holland to dominate the larger end of the spectrum. The S-Series is widely used on larger operations, with a grain tank capacity of up to 400 bushels (14,000 Litres). However, as an article from gamesindustry.biz indicated earlier this year:

Generally, Farming Simulator tries not to have too many similar pieces of equipment and machines from different companies, to avoid comparisons. They also like to encourage players to upgrade between different brands, so that they try a bit of everything.

When one considers the competing interests of the various manufacturers, and the need for GIANTS to avoid having one company dominate the garage listings over another, it becomes more understandable that John Deere’s entire fleet lineup would not be included in Farming Simulator 19. While many companies manufacture a vast array of equipment, including seeders, sprayers, tractors, combines, and more – it’s important for GIANTS to manage how much of one brand’s equipment gets put in the game compared to another’s.

Malcharek did give players some hope for more John Deere equipment though, as he was quick to correct those who misread the presence of just a single John Deere combine in the game as a sign that there would be no additional equipment from the brand. “Wait, when did I say there will be no more JD [John Deere] vehicles?” Malcharek wrote. “All I said was: there is only one combine harvester.”

In fact, the Harvesting Crops Gameplay Trailer – which released that same day – showed the John Deere 6R series for the first time. However, only time will tell which other equipment we’ll see from the iconic brand. As we move closer to Farming Simulator 19‘s November 20 release date, Scholarly Gamers will provide extensive coverage of all the game’s news, so stay tuned!