Xbox

Activision has published a 25-page white paper exploring the impact of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) on its multiplayer lobbies, determining that SBMM is better for all players.

As spotted by indie game developer and consultant Rami Ismail, the report – which can be read in full on Activision's official website – outlines an "amazing A/B test" where Activision "secretly progressively turned off SBMM and monitored retention… and turns out everyone hated it, with more quitting, less playing, and more negative blowouts". Cover image for YouTube videoPlayStation live-service Concord won't sell you a battle pass - would it be better if it did? PlayStation live-service Concord won't sell you a battle pass - but would it be more successful if it did?Watch on YouTube

Activision announced plans to launch the series of white papers back in April, and has already considered the impact connections and Time to Match has on online play.

The most recent paper, however – entitled "Matchmaking Series: The Role of Skill in Matchmaking" – "shares a look at matchmaking inside Call of Duty multiplayer, including how we always work to create a balanced system for the benefit of all players. While skill is one of many factors in matchmaking; it is not the driving force behind Call of Duty’s matchmaking system".

"Playing a better opponent may push players to become more proficient over time, but being severely outperformed in their matches, our testing has shown, instead leads players to quit matches in progress or to not play multiplayer," Activision surmises.

It also confirmed that it whilst it was "considering a single core multiplayer playlist that does not use skill as a factor in matchmaking", Activision believes "historical testing reveals that low- and mid-skill players would be unlikely to participate in such a playlist. As a match can only be created from players actively searching for a playlist, the likely result would be matches composed solely of high-skill players."

The experiment, Activision opines, shows that the existing SBMM system allows a broadest range of players to participate in "all key parts of Call of Duty's game design in core multiplayer".

This "includes games where players can contribute meaningfully to their team, not only with wins, but for their own personal records and achievements".

"The system strives for team balance, where players are not consistently on the wrong side of blowout matches. Players who frequently experience blowouts are seen to quit matches in progress and the game itself, which negatively impacts the experience for players of all skill levels," Activision concluded.

"We will always strive to improve our approach to matchmaking to ensure that players of all skill levels are having the best possible experience. A healthy player population is good for everyone in the community."

Further research papers into ranked played and "experimental methods" are expected later this year.

GSC Game World has announced Stalker 2's delay from September 5 to November 20, to give its development team time to fix bugs.

Today, July 25, the Stalker 2 studio announced that its upcoming first-person shooter had been subjected to a two-month delay, pushing it out of releasing in just a matter of weeks on September 5. Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl will now launch later this year on November 20 instead.

The shooter's delay is, quite simply, down to bugs. "We know you might be tired of waiting, and we truly appreciate your patience," Yevhen Grygorovych, game director at GSC Game World, says in a statement. "These additional two months will give us the chance to fix more 'unexpected anomalies,'" Grygorovych continues, adding that said "anomalies" are simply bugs.

However, there's good news today for patient Stalker 2 fans. On August 12, a deep-dive into Heart of Chornobyl will debut in collaboration with Xbox, featuring in-depth interviews with GSC Game World developers, new gameplay including fresh locations and cutscenes, and even a full gameplay walkthrough of one of Stalker 2's main quests.

This is, of course, far from the first time Stalker 2 has been delayed. It was originally set to launch in late 2022, but development was put on hold due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, where GSC Game World is headquartered. Then, after being set to release in early 2024, Stalker 2 was again delayed to September 5, 2024.

Right now, though, we'll have to keep on waiting just a few months more for Stalker 2 to finally be here. For our take on what we made of GSC Game World's hotly-anticipated sequel when we played it for ourselves, head over to our Stalker 2 preview to see why it's shaping up to be the FPS we always knew it could be.

And it's out next month!

It's been a couple of weeks since Star Wars Outlaws went gold, and now developer Massive Entertainment has 10 minutes of fresh gameplay for us to feast over via IGN.

As usual, we've dropped the video directly above so you can watch it right here, and remember, the full game is out next month - so we've really not got long to wait to see the rest of this Star Wars adventure!

"A revolutionary step forward for competitive shooters".

A few years ago, a game called Splitgate made a huge name for itself following its free-to-play launch on Xbox (and many other platforms), but by September of 2022, it had been announced that development was ending on the project.

Why? Well... Splitgate 2 of course! It's been revealed today that Splitgate 2 will be heading to Xbox (and again, many other platforms) at some point in 2025, and this time it's going to be a much more ambitious project...

"Launch supported games on GeForce Now via Xbox.com".

Microsoft's relationship with Nvidia continues to blossom, with Xbox today announcing it's now "enabled" GeForce Now integration on its official store pages.

Read the full article on purexbox.com

On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission pointed to Microsoft’s recent pricing overhaul of Xbox Game Pass as evidence of the harm its merger with Activision Blizzard has had on consumers. The agency filed a new letter in its ongoing appeal of last year’s deal, calling the changes “exactly the sort of consumer harm…

Paramount+ announced today that it has canceled Xbox’s Halo TV show after its second season. The team behind the show is reportedly looking to shop the sci-fi adaption around to other places in an effort to continue the series.

Robot Entertainment's Orcs Must Die series of third-person shooter/tower defense games has been around since the Xbox 360 days. It has been three years since the third mainline game arrived, and now it's time for a new entry. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap promises a more classic feel, plus plenty of epic combat, and 4-player online co-op (that's twice as many players as past games). It will be coming to Xbox and PC in early 2025.

Gamers will play as fresh War Mages who are tasked with defending against an assault of dastardly orcs. To do so, they will lay a variety of traps and then battle foes on foot once the hordes arrive.

Developer Pathea Games and publisher PM Studios this week released their chaotic and colourful school management simulation title ‘Let’s School’ on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox consoles (Series/One). First available on PC via Steam, the ‘My Time at Sandrock’ developer’s school sim is now able to be played by console players. Let’s School …

Microsoft has delivered its final update on the status of the Xbox 360 Store prior to its closure on July 29th, and the update comes with a little surprise for Xbox Series X|S owners.

The big news here is that the team has released a brand-new dynamic background for Xbox Series X and S users, and it features that classic Xbox 360 Blades theme we all know and love.

With the likes of Xbox Game Pass and Microsoft's expertise in ongoing live service titles, plenty of the team's biggest franchises continue to grow. Just this week, we brought news of a major new player milestone for 2021's Forza Horizon 5, and now Xbox influencer Klobrille has created a neat little graphic showcasing the overall player numbers for some of Microsoft's biggest franchises.

You can check out that graphic up above - these are the latest official figures for each listed franchise, and there are some very impressive statistics here. We can't quite believe that the Overwatch series has been played by more than 100 million players over the years!

Here's are the games that have had >new player number updates:

• Fallout 76 - 20 Million Players

• Forza Horizon 5 - 40 Million Players

• Grounded - 20 Million Players

• Microsoft Flight Simulator - 15 Million Players

• Overwatch (Franchise) - 100 Million Players

• Sea Of Thieves - 40 Million Players

• Starfield - 14 Million Players

Of course, not every big Xbox franchise is listed here - the likes of Gears 5 is missing, and we'd assume that one has very high numbers given its age and the fact that it's on Xbox Game Pass Core. Still, these are the official figures that Xbox's studios have put out there, and it's nice to see them all laid out in a handy graphic!

With Microsoft continuing to bring some of its biggest ongoing titles to other platforms, we'd expect these numbers to keep on increasing in the coming years. Let's see what this list looks in the next year or two - we anticipate that these franchises will have grown quite a bit.

It's finally coming to Xbox!

Last year, spooky ghost-hunting game Phasmophobia was supposed to be coming to Xbox, before a couple of last-minute delays pushed the release beyond 2023. At the time, we had no real idea when the console version would eventually come out - but the dev team now has a fresh release date.

However, it's not disclosing the exact date for now. Kinetic Games plans to release Phasmophobia on Xbox "during our in-game Halloween Event" this October, but there's no specific date beyond that.

Less than two months to go!

After what feels like an eternity, GSC Game World's Stalker 2 is almost here. Xbox Game Pass aficionados, we have less than two months to wait, and in the meantime we've got a fresh set of screenshots to gawk over.

Showcasing some immaculately detailed weapons and gadgets, alongside the game's ever-impressive open world, these screengrabs are doing their best at making the wait for Stalker 2 just that bit more agonizing!

Heya together. I was fancing the official Xbox Starfield controller but I'm so used to paddles, that I can't play with a regular controller anymore. I then stumbled upon a shell for the Elite V2 Controller. I walked the extra mile and replaced the thumbstick base for a red one and I also ordered two sets of paddles and circle pads. I'm still on the hunt for opaque trigger.

How do you like the result and what version do you prefer, the burnt metal one or the brass/ gold one?

Any advice for further improvements? I know, the backside should be red but I can't find a matching one.

Game developers are speaking up in defense of Xbox Game Pass in the wake of the subscription service's most recent price hikes, specifically on its importance for indie discoverability.

"I can attest personally that people on Game Pass actually do try out small indie games, to the tune of staggering numbers," Bulwark solodev Tomas Sala writes on Twitter, responding to an argument that price increases could reflect Microsoft's commitment to making Game Pass work [via GamesIndustry.biz]. "On top of that, more platforms, with more diverse business models, with more diverse deal types, actually makes for more opportunities for indie devs. Not less."

It makes sense that many Xbox fans have not taken the news lightly. It feels like just yesterday that the Game Pass prices went up again right before Starfield launched – to absolutely no one's surprise. But Sala offers a different perspective to assertions that "Game Pass has irreversibly damaged the industry", as Twitter user Ryan T. Brown says.

Sala isn't the only indie developer clapping back at those declaring the death of Game Pass and Xbox as we knew it. Citizen Sleeper designer Gareth Damian Martin was quick to challenge Ryan's viewpoint in a reply Tweet: "Game Pass has been an important part of Citizen Sleeper’s success and has led to more players buying the game, not less. Without Game Pass there would have been no opportunity to do the sequel. I know many indies whose projects have massively benefited."

Martin goes on to explain the rare breadth of mass circulation afforded to indie devs from being a part of Xbox Game Pass, and it's not all about the bottom line. "Thinking of the value of games as purely financially driven is wrong," Martin says. "People give incredible value to games they love, and they find those games on Game Pass when they never would have encountered them [before]. This raises the devs' profile, gains fans, and GP financially rewards indies."

While Martin is right that games shouldn't be all about the money, and that Game Pass offers near priceless outreach potential for indie studios and their games, this does feel like a best case scenario. After all, success on the subscription service hasn't always meant such great things for smaller Microsoft-owned studios. RIP Tango Gameworks, creators of Game Pass breakout hit Hi-Fi Rush, as just one example.

I kinda called it two months ago

https://lemm.ee/comment/12027830

Hi-Rez Studios has pulled all Dr Disrespect content from Rogue Company after the streamer was alleged to have sent sexually explicit messages to a minor.

Guy Beahm, better known as Dr Disrespect, was banned from Twitch in 2020 without explanation. Last month, following a number of reports, Beahm admitted he exchanged messages in 2017 with a minor via Twitch's now-defunct Whispers feature that "sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate." Subsequent reports alleged the minor had informed Beahm they were underage, and Beahm continued to send "sexually graphic" messages to them regardless.

Twitch and Beahm have not responded to IGN's request for comment.

Partners and sponsors like Turtle Beach, 2K, and the San Francisco 49ers subsequently cut ties with the streamer. Midnight Society, the game studio Beahm co-founded, also terminated its relationship with him, and monetization on his YouTube channel was suspended. Now, another video game Beahm was affiliated with has taken steps to distance itself from the streamer.

Beahm had partnered with Rogue Company publisher Hi-Rez Studios, which is also behind Smite and Paladins, to design his own level and even a $20 character skin sold in the free-to-play third-person tactical action shooter. That premium content is no longer in the game.

A statement published to the official Rogue Company X/Twitter account has signaled the change: “Hey Rogue Company, we have disabled Dr Disrespect content previously available on game. We will provide full Rogue Buck refunds to any impacted account this week.”

In recent years interest in Rogue Company has dropped off significantly. After a Steam peak concurrent player count of 12,189 set three years ago, Rogue Company now averages just a few hundred players on Steam’s platform, with 236 concurrent players at the time of this article’s publication. Indeed, Rogue Company hasn’t seen a major update since 2023, indicating a deprioritization from Hi-Rez Studios amid the upcoming launch of Smite 2.

It’s fair to say that the decision to offer Rogue Buck refunds as opposed to real-money refunds for the Dr Disrespect content has sparked a backlash from paying customers who would rather their money back than a virtual currency they deem to be practically useless. Some have taken to Rogue Company’s Steam user reviews, which are down to ‘mixed’ for recent reviews, to complain about the situation.

“Where’s my $40? I have no need for Rogue Bucks when you guys haven’t updated the game in over a year,” said one person. “How about since we paid with real money you provide real money refunds?” said another.

Meanwhile, Beahm hasn't issued a comment since his last stream, in which he played Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree, almost two weeks ago.

Piranha Bytes, the Embracer-owned German studio behind the Gothic, Risen and ELEX series, has reportedly shut down.

The embattled publisher Embracer had been seeking a buyer for Piranha Bytes as part of its vast and brutal swathe of cost-cutting that saw multiple studios shut and more than 4500 people lose their jobs - though ultimately was unsuccessful.

Job losses at Piranha Bytes were first reported at the end of last year and the company acknowledged earlier this year "a difficult situation" as it faced potential closure. Now a fresh report today by German website GameStar has confirmed the studio formally shut at the end of June, with its leaders now founding a new indie studio.

Respawn Entertainment has announced Apex Legends' upcoming Season 22 will make significant changes to the free-to-play shooter's Battle Pass "experience", by releasing two Battle Passes per season instead of one, and then charging full price for each.

As of Season 22, Apex Legends will ditch its current season-long Battle Pass in favour of two half-season Battle Passes - one launching at a season's start and another at its mid-point "split" - each featuring 60 levels of rewards, compared to the previous version's 110.

Despite the truncated number of progression levels, each new half-season premium Battle Pass costs approximately the same as the older season-long version. Previously, a premium Battle Pass cost 950 Apex Coins (a 1000-coin bundle is priced at $9.99 USD), and Respawn's new half-season Battle Passes cost $9.99 each. A new Premium+ tier (replacing the existing Premium Bundle) is $19.99 every half-season, and a free tier remains available.

We still have a bit of a wait before we can begin tackling the Dragon Age: The Veilguard achievements, but new details about the difficulty choices suggest we'll have a range of options to help style how we'll play, with Dragon Age: The Veilguard also letting you turn off death if you prefer.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is set to launch later this year, although we don't yet have a release date. As fall 2024 approaches, however, more details are surfacing, including info about some of the game's difficulty options. According to Game Informer, not only is the character creator wonderfully extensive, but the playstyle options offer a lot too. Those options include the usual range, such as Storyteller for those who want to prioritise the story, Adventurer for more of a balance, and Nightmare, which sounds fittingly ominous. You'll be able to change between the first two, but if you pick Nightmare, you'll have to stick with it all the way through.

However, more extensive customizing is apparently available with the Unbound option where you can choose things such as auto-aim, adjust damage (both dealt and received), and manage the timing for parrying. You'll also have a no-death option, and game director Corinne Busche explains to Game Informer that these options are not "a cheat" but are there to "make sure players of all abilities can show up."

Death might do as you please but romance will not, as one of the things we've learned about Dragon Age: The Veilguard recently is the fact that its companions will get together if you fail to romance them.

The First Descendant has been proving extremely popular since its free-to-play release on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S earlier this week, and it's just received its very first update - albeit just a small hotfix.

Probably the most notable thing here from an Xbox perspective is an issue that caused AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution technology to be "malfunctioning". Also, the logo screen volume when starting the game has been reduced.

A nice touch.

It's always nice to see Xbox giving recognition to third-party teams when their games perform well, and the latest example is in the form of the "Xbox Excellence Award" - which we've spotted being given out to two dev teams so far.

There are probably many examples out there, but for now, it's the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and My Time At Sandrock studios

Including a "Rewards Notes" service.

It's been a while since we last talked about Microsoft Rewards here at Pure Xbox, and that's because it hasn't really changed all that much since plans were announced to supposedly overhaul the service earlier this year.

However, we've got a couple of new features on the way! The first of these is called "Rewards Notes", and it'll serve as a destination on console, PC and mobile where Xbox can share details about what's changing with Microsoft Rewards.