A new developer blog went up a short time ago today from Respawn Entertainment. The studio, known best for their work on the Titanfall games and the recently released Apex Legends battle royale title, revealed a bit about what they're going to focus on for the time being.
Titanfall fans, you're going to want to sit down for this one. One of the big points mentioned in this update is the fact that Respawn has now pushed back their current Titanfall development plans in order to focus on Apex Legends. Yeah, I know. I'm sad about that too.
Lastly, regarding other games in development at Respawn, it is important to understand that there are entirely separate development teams working on Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Additionally, in order to fully support Apex Legends, we are pushing out plans for future Titanfall games. No resources from the Apex Legends team are being shifted to other titles in development here at the studio, nor are we pulling resources from the team working on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Respawn also notes that they are going to keep actively going after cheaters. However, they will have more information on their efforts next week in another update.
Slow Server Performance at the Beginning of a Match
So far, we know that it affects some datacenters more than others, it happens on many different server configurations, and it doesn't seem to hit multiple server instances running on the same machine. In other words, it's not that a machine is overloaded and everything on it is running too slow – it's that one instance on the same machine seems to be doing more work than the others, and we're trying to nail down what work it's doing and work backwards to understand the root cause. This is extremely high priority for us, and we'll keep you updated on our progress.
Audio Issues
Currently testing some potential fixes that will hopefully address many of the performance issues we’ve seen reported.
Cheaters
We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. This is something we will always be more secretive about to avoid telegraphing our moves to cheaters, but we’ll be sharing more on the progress made next week.
Hit Registration Issues
We are adding engine features to help track down and report instances of incorrect hit registration in playtests so we can force the bug and reproduce the issue consistently. While we have made some progress with some fixes locally, more work needs to be done to address the root of the problem.
So far, we know that it affects some datacenters more than others, it happens on many different server configurations, and it doesn't seem to hit multiple server instances running on the same machine. In other words, it's not that a machine is overloaded and everything on it is running too slow – it's that one instance on the same machine seems to be doing more work than the others, and we're trying to nail down what work it's doing and work backwards to understand the root cause. This is extremely high priority for us, and we'll keep you updated on our progress.
Audio Issues
Currently testing some potential fixes that will hopefully address many of the performance issues we’ve seen reported.
Cheaters
We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. This is something we will always be more secretive about to avoid telegraphing our moves to cheaters, but we’ll be sharing more on the progress made next week.
Hit Registration Issues
We are adding engine features to help track down and report instances of incorrect hit registration in playtests so we can force the bug and reproduce the issue consistently. While we have made some progress with some fixes locally, more work needs to be done to address the root of the problem.
First off, the start of each season will include a new Battle Pass, a new Legends, "something new for the meta," and more. There will continue to be "thoughtful updates throughout the season" that will address exploits and balancing issues. Yes, bug fixes and other smaller features will also be included but nothing too major. Respawn says that they have never had a goal to patch or update the game on a weekly basis. They would much rather focus on larger updates that have lasting impact.
Finally, Respawn notes that they want to provide more visibility into the future of their new developments. They're saying they want to be more transparent in future updates, with fewer surprise updates.
Apex Legends Season 2 will debut at EA Play this June. Season 2 will include a new Legend and a new weapon. It also sounds as though Respawn is going to change the map up in Season 2. The next Apex Legends Battle Pass will also have "more meaningful content."
