THE FINALS

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Season 9 Reveal Date Announced

A NEW YEAR OF CONTENT IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!


As we approach the end of Year 2, we’re kicking off the #RoadToYear3 with a roar: Season 9 | Dragon Rising. We’re very excited to reveal new features and updates, starting with today’s theme reveal!


Tune in daily on your favorite social platform for sneak peeks of what’s coming and don’t miss the full Reveal, live during The Grand Major 2025 this Saturday, November 29 at 8:30 AM ET / 2:30 PM CET on twitch.tv/thefinals!

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Update 8.11.0

NEW CONTRACTS | BLAST OFF SOUR CORE



BLAST OFF SOUR CORE new contracts are now in! POP. POUR. PERFORM and get brand new OSPUZE to show off in the Arena.


This limited time event lasts up until the end of the Season.

STORE UPDATE | MYTHIC ITEMS AND A NEW SALE



This week's store update is bringing up an Arena’s Legend with the Ursa Set. Born from MultiCo’s Early-Talent Program, Ursa dominated the arenas for years, turning every match at every Grand Major into a spectacle.


Bring up the heat with the Flame Fusion Set, fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee with the Silent Sakura Set, and make the sponsors proud with the M.E.T.P Honors. Show off your skills with the P90 Motion Pack.


We’re also running a sale on a few favorite items: Noctovantage Set, The Aggressor, Rose Garden Set, HOLTOW Insurance Set, Jockoflorian, and Juggle Jam.


New countries are also joining the parade of nations: welcome Jamaica, Iceland, Philippines, and Croatia!



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WORLD TOUR STOP | DEAD GO TOXIC


World Tour is deadlier than ever in the new Dead Go Toxic! A new twist on the classic Dead Go Boom, you better be careful in close contact! Upon elimination, contestants drop gas bombs that will trigger after a few seconds. Don't stay in the radius or get poisoned.

EVENTS | THE GRAND MAJOR 2025


Tomorrow is the biggest event THE FINALS has seen yet, The Grand Major 2025! 16 teams, 2 days of competition, only one Champion.

Take part of History in person at Dreamhack Stockholm, or join us virtually via Twitch and YouTube.

Join us Friday 28th, 12pm CET & Saturday 29th, 10am CET.


SPOILERS | SEASON 9


While you may have seen some teasers on our channels, the best is yet to come! Connect Saturday 29th at 2:30PM on the Dreamhack Stream for Season 9 reveals. Right on stage, Creative Director Gustav will be showing us some previews for the Season to come.


SEE YOU IN THE ARENA

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Two Years of Love!

For almost two years now, THE FINALS has been a game shaped by the continuous love of the Embark team and its players. Every day we are grateful for the energy you bring to the Arena, and for the support that has kept us building, improving and evolving.


With our biggest event yet, The Grand Major 2025, our approaching third year anniversary, and the coming Season 9, our journey together continues, filled with passion, creativity, and the occasional destruction.


We'll be honored to celebrate this milestone with your support. Vote for us in the Steam Awards: Labor of Love 2025 before December 1st!

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Update 8.10.0

STORE UPDATE | THRASH HARVESTER SET


You know TRENTILA for its real fruits, grown in the Transatlantic Landfill from postconsumer sediment, but now is the time to also gear up for the Arena. This week, TRENTILA is bringing only the best in terms of fashion and firepower. Make them taste the difference!


That’s not all, you’ve already met ÖRF and his friend Chubble, well it’s only fair we bring their third companion: Pip! Listen, there’s a lot we could say about Pip, but... We’ll let you figure that one out yourself.


And a warm welcome to India, Czechia and Peru, joining the rest of the Calling bundles!

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TGM25 | THE GRAND MINGLE 2025

With only days separating us from the biggest event in the history of THE FINALS, how about we invite YOU to come meet US? We will be at the Quality Hotel Globe on November 27 from 6PM to 10PM CET, with some drinks and snacks. If you’re interested and you’re in Stockholm for the Grand Major, feel free to fill the form below, and we’ll see you there!

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Sign up for the Meet-up is available here: The Grand Mingle 2025

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Update 8.9.0

Welcome to update 8.9!


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This week, we’re bringing some fresh content your way as well as a long list of bug-fixes, quality-of-life changes and performance improvements thanks to various engine-level optimizations. This update also includes a more robust Spectator mode, an essential feature for our community and the upcoming Grand Major 2025. Season 9 is right around the corner and the team has been hard at work, and we can’t wait to share more with you all soon.

Let’s take a look at everything Update 8.9 has to offer:


NEW LIMITED-TIME MODE | BLAST OFF SOUR CORE


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Welcome to the BLAST OFF SOUR CORE! Enter a sour-apple flavored section of Bernal with your tuned-up CL-40, Jump Pad and Evasive Dash and take to the skies! With low gravity on and launch pads in every corner, you’ll do your best work in mid-air!

In this iconic 3 vs 3 Limited-Time Mode, movement is the key to victory. Keep your energy up and never let your guard down!

Out-blast the competition while enjoying a cold OSPUZE courtesy of our generous guest Sponsor! This event will run longer than usual, giving you plenty of time to complete contracts, earn up to 10 free rewards, and make sure your name shines on the top of the leaderboard!

POP. POUR. PERFORM.


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STORE UPDATE | WILD POUR WEST SET

This week’s update is all power, no sugar, thanks to OSPUZE.

POP em’ faster than they can PERFORM with the Wild Pour West Set and if necessary, the Zestinator RPG is there to make your message extra clear. And so much more!

ESPORTS | GET READY FOR THE GRAND MAJOR 2025

In case you missed it, check out this hype trailer to get you ready for the Grand Major 2025! We’re getting closer to the big date now! We’ll see you in DreamHack, in person or on Twitch!


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UPDATES | PRIVATE MATCH SPECTATOR

Private Match Spectator mode just got smoother and sharper. Hosts can now set separate squad colors for players and spectators, making it easier to follow the action. The team HUD now shows exactly who’s stealing a Cashout, so spectators never miss a clutch moment. We’ve also cleaned things up, the round counter is gone from single-round modes like Blast Off, and that pesky controller bug in the lobby navigation has been fixed.

STARTER BUNDLE | NEW CONTESTANT PACK + 1500MB

New Contestants who want to top up their Multibucks and their style now have the New Contestant Pack, a bundle that comes with OSPUZE gear and 1500 Multibucks. Pick up this one time deal today, Sofia is watching!


SOCIAL | VOICE MODERATION TEST

In an effort to improve the quality and safety of Voice Chat, we’re rolling out the testing of a voice moderation system to help keep conversations safe and enjoyable for everyone. To accommodate the new system, you’ll need to venture into settings and re-enable voice chat and voice moderation in order to participate in voice chat!

We’ll be monitoring this tool to see if it is effective in helping to combat abusive comms in game, hopefully making it safe and fun for more Contestants to enter the Arena with a mic! Your feedback will be an important part of this evaluation process.

EVENT | XP & FANS BOOST ENABLED

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Need a hand finishing your Battle Pass or gathering some extra Fans for your Sponsor track? We’ve got you covered! Starting now, you’ll get 200% XP for Daily Contracts and up to 150% XP and Fans for gameplay all the way until the end of the season!


To celebrate the season, we’re calling this one MAJOR XP!


UPDATE |
PLAYSTATION 4 SUPPORT

With each new Season of THE FINALS, our technology keeps pushing forward with recent features like Smooth Destruction and Instant Replays and major upgrades in performance and optimization. These improvements are shaping the future of the game, but they also demand more from the hardware that runs it.

As we continue to advance, it’s become increasingly difficult to maintain and optimize PlayStation 4 support, without limiting the features and gamemodes we want to create. Some of our latest systems simply aren’t compatible with the older generation’s technology, and ensuring an identical experience for our players across all platforms means making some tough trade-offs.

When Season 10 begins (18th of March, 2026), we’ll be retiring the PlayStation 4 version of THE FINALS and focusing our support on newer platforms. From that point on you’ll need to play on one of those platforms to keep enjoying the game (your progress and purchases will be stored in your Embark ID and will transfer to anywhere you choose to play). We’re finalizing the details now and we’ll share more information shortly.

Our focus now is on delivering the best possible experience across modern platforms where we can take full advantage of the tech that drives THE FINALS forward.

We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who’s been part of the PS4 community!


REWARDS | TWITCH DROPS

To celebrate the release of OSPUZE SOUR CORE in the meatspace we’ve got a brand new suite of refreshing Twitch Drops coming your way! Watch any of your favorite THE FINALS creators for a total of 4 hours to earn all three drops!

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IMPROVEMENTS | QUALITY OF LIFE

Notable fixes in this update include the addition of Instant Replays to Xbox Series S! Never miss a play!

We’ve also fixed a very annoying bug that would prevent players from using Respawn Tokens after being revived while in the Loadout Change screen.

We’ve also been digging deep into performance this patch, identifying many of the in-game stutters that were caused by high memory pressure on the client side, which was caused by high memory pressure on the client side. This update brings major optimizations to help fix that including smarter shader caching (cutting precompiled shaders by 25% and PSO memory by 20%), leaner textures, graphics, and collision meshes, plus smoother replays and improved threading on lower-core CPUs. We’ve also tuned raytraced global illumination for better performance and cleaned up the Weapon and Gadget customization screen. In short, fewer hitches, faster loads, and a smoother ride all around.

Let’s dig into the details:

Content and Bug Fixes
Animation

  • Fixed a first-person visual issue where the Heavy body could briefly clip into view when sliding when looking down.


  • Fixed an issue where the first-person arm could sweep across the screen when repeatedly picking up and dropping Arena Carriables


  • Fixed a brief distortion in the Recurve Bow charging animation when starting a shot immediately after attaching to a Zipline


  • Fixed a first-person animation issue that could make hands look distorted when inspecting the Pyro Grenade while vaulting


  • Fixed an issue where the throwing animation could loop after firing the Recurve Bow and quickly swapping to throwable gadgets


  • Updated the sprint animations for Recurve Bow and Sledgehammer


  • Fixed a first-person animation issue where the left hand could jitter or clip when performing the Dagger Primary Attack, followed immediately by charging a Secondary Attack


  • Fixed an issue where C4 could visibly snap toward the hand when throwing while inspecting


  • Fixed missing animations in places such as self shadows, emoting, or using the Mesh Shield


  • Fixed an issue where animations could end up in a distorted state after teleporting through a Gateway


  • Fixed an issue where Gadget throwing animations could play when vaulting


  • Improved jump/landing transition animations while winding up Grenade throws


  • Improved animation blending when inspecting during manual reload on ARN-220 and M26 Matter to prevent hand and finger clipping


  • Fixed an issue where the Throwing Knives of choice did not appear when thrown


  • Fixed cases where melee attack animations could fail to play after using a Gadget for Spear, Sledgehammer, Dual Blades, or Dagger
Audio

Cashout


  • Added more commentator voice line variations when a team is wiped
Customization

  • Fixed emote holograms overriding the props on gestures


  • Fixed an issue where performing actions like reload or inspect during an emote could reset the equipped weapon animation to the default animation


  • The Web Designer Pet now moves smoother


  • Fixed the rifle hologram in the Top Billing Emote from ALFA ACTA so it now renders correctly on player cards and billboards and appears as a proper hologram instead of a solid mesh


  • Fixed a visual issue where the left hand could briefly flash on screen while crouching or inspecting during the Model 1887 cycle action when using the Dough Wrangler or Eclipse Shade skins


  • Added description to heads and headwears that modify the Contestant’s voice
Gameplay

  • Improved destruction to reduce jitter and prevent buildings from ‘jumping’ during collapses by adding velocity limits and adjusting post-break impulse behavior


  • Fixed an issue where destruction updates could desync the strain system, causing structures to break excessively


  • Fixed an issue where Vanishing Bomb invisibility could persist after firing the last bullet of some Weapons


  • Fixed an issue where changing between crouching and standing during an interaction (e.g. stealing) could cancel it when near the edge of the interaction range


  • Fixed an issue where you couldn’t respawn with a token after being revived while the loadout screen was open


  • Fixed an issue where the incorrect team would win in Powershift if Overtime was triggered while the platform was at the center of the map


  • Fixed and issue where the healing emitter would sometimes not starting healing after throws
Instant Replays

  • Added support for Instant Replays on Xbox Series S


  • Optimized the time it takes to transition in and out of Instant Replays
Map

SYS$HORIZON


  • Slightly adjusted some of the cubes around the voxel bridge connecting the two Library wings to remove some narrow unexpected sightlines between them and make climbing into the upper floors more intuitive

Fortune Stadium


  • Fixed Zipline rotation to ensure correct orientation

Kyoto


  • Fixed grass clipping through Jump Pads and improved their integration with better level dressing and guidance


  • Corrected in-world branding visuals

Las Vegas


  • Fixed some ladders and Ziplines around the ENGIMO building having the wrong color

Practice Range


  • Added the Heaven or Else leaderboard trophy


  • Fixed an issue where the Loadout selection overlay didn’t block background input
Performance

Dev Note: Various system memory optimizations are listed below. We have seen that high memory pressure can cause in-game stutters due to page faults. The goal of these optimizations are to reduce memory pressure and thus lower the risk of stutters during gameplay.


  • Optimized shader cache based on graphics quality. Reduces precompiled shaders by ~25% and PSO memory usage by ~20%.

Dev note: Note that changing Effects quality during gameplay may trigger shader compilation and cause brief stuttering.


  • Various optimizations to textures, graphics and collision meshes in order to lower memory usage


  • Fixed an issue that could cause overly blurry textures and lowpoly meshes when running close to video memory limits


  • Rebalanced raytraced global illumination graphics quality settings to improve performance


  • Improved performance on the Weapon/Gadget customization screen


  • Improved performance by optimizing audio systems


  • Improved threading efficiency on CPUs with low core count
Private Match

  • Host can now set squad colors separately for spectators and players


  • Removed the round counter from the Choose Contestant Pack screen when a mode has only one round (e.g. Blast Off)


  • Spectators can now see which player is currently stealing a Cashout in the team HUD


  • Fixed an issue where navigating the Private Match lobby could move focus out of visible options and cause lost menu control when confirming with a controller
Social

  • Improved reliability and performance of rich presence to more consistently show player status to friends


  • Friends set to invisible/hidden on their platform no longer trigger “went online” entries in the event log


  • Fixed an issue where the Social menu didn’t update immediately. Requests, Recent, and Blocked tabs now refresh without needing to leave and re-enter the Social menu


  • We’re testing a new voice moderation tool, so all voice chat settings are turned off by default in this Update. Go into your settings to re-enable your voice chat by enabling voice moderation


  • Improved Discord friend presence updates: when a friend returns from Invisible/Offline, their status now refreshes correctly instead of appearing as Online Elsewhere or In Main Menu


  • Fixed a VoIP issue where leaving a match while in a party would mute both members, requiring them to re-enable voice chat


  • Fixed a bug where the Xbox icon was shown on the Xbox platform for Discord-only friends


  • The ‘join game’ functionality is no longer shown on your Steam profile. Now random friends will not be able to enter your party uninvited
Spectator

  • Improved spectator experience by making the spectator launch into the follow player view after the initial tunnel sequence


  • Improved spectator death camera: when spectating in first-person and the player you’re watching is eliminated, the camera now briefly tracks the killer before transitioning to their perspective for a smoother handoff


  • Added a spectator option to hide player names and health bars beyond 80m, with a toggle to control visibility at long distances


  • Added an option to hide all HUD elements in Spectator mode, including world icons and scoreboards


  • Spectator HUD:Team background color now covers the full bottom bar


  • Changed the default keybind for toggling ranged health bars from L to Y while spectating on Mouse & Keyboard to avoid overlapping inputs


  • Improved spectator team view with a gradient backplate and corrected horizontal alignment in the right-side


  • Added more fine-grained camera control


  • Fixed an issue where UI glitch/burst damage effects could persist on screen after switching from Follow Player to Free Camera while spectating in Private Matches
Stability

  • Resolved a rare crash that could happen when ending a private lobby session
UI

  • Fixed an issue where game mode specific Loadouts could not be re-ordered


  • Fixed an issue where newly purchased weapon skins and other customization items were not equipped after purchase when selecting equip


  • Clarified the Social screen by adding separate labels for muting and unmuting voice and text chat


  • Fixed multiple bugs where Fans earned at End of Round could appear negative


  • Added a confirmation dialog when creating a new Contestant from Playstyles


  • Removed non-functional Create Contestant button when at the maximum number of Contestants


  • Added mouse-over sounds to voice customization and expression lists


  • Restored missing compass in certain event modes

Ranked Tournament


  • Improvements on the tournament introduction and outro screen now more accurately represent the selected archetype and, in some cases, will show more customization options


  • The Windows activity bar will now flash to notify players of a started game

Team Deathmatch


  • We have now added Match Recap to TDM!

Cashout


  • The scoreboard now considers ongoing Cashouts when sorting teams


  • Fixed an issue where the the distance to the objective was not visible on objective icons


  • Fixed an issue where the Cashbox distance marker could flicker when many world icons were on screen


  • Fixed an issue where, if an opposing team is in possession of the Cashbox when a squad respawns, the Cashbox icon could go invisible forever.

Clubs


  • Fixed an issue where the Clubs background theme showed incorrect colors or defaulted to red after viewing the end-of-round landing page
Weapons

Spear


  • Fixed an issue where the secondary attack could become unresponsive for a few seconds if it was interrupted by the Winch Claw

Security

Updates from the Anti-Cheat team!

Denuvo rollout is now complete and is working almost beyond expectations.
Anybrain rollout is also complete and has proved to be a valuable tool for us in detecting Xim and Cronus Zen like devices.

We are constantly improving our detections and investigating new capabilities to ensure we keep THE FINALS fair and secure for our players. It’s full steam ahead and we’re getting pretty warmed up!

Finally, we’d like to take the opportunity to advise against using third-party tools like Cheat Engine. Depending on how it is used, it could lead to warnings or a direct ban.

/Tom and Magnum

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Update 8.8.0

Update 8.8.0 - LIVE AT 11AM CET


WORLD TOUR
| HEAD HUNTER

This week, Head Hunter is making its return to the World Tour!

You will need to stay on your spurs and watch your back: the more eliminations you get, the bigger the bounty on your head grows. If someone gets the drop on you, they’re taking your bounty home with them.

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STORE UPDATE | EMBER BENDER

Unleash the dragon in you and make them see red with this week’s fiery Ember Bender Set. Let your opponents taste TRENTILA’s latest real fruit (but better) with the Better Nature set. Nearly 0% side effects! We also welcome Belgium and Denmark to the Arena.

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ESPORTS
| NEW TEAM BUNDLES & MAP UPDATES

Additionally, we have five brand-new team bundles dropping into the store!
That’s right, the last esports’ teams are joining the competition and are ready for you to represent them in the Arena.


FIVE FEARS x COMETA
APE SQUAD x JUNO PAICO
FN ESPORTS x OMNIALIFE
DRG x HYDRA-Q
KINGZERO X RANZIO



You may also have noticed that the crowds have gotten bigger lately! We’re getting the Arena ready for The Grand Major 2025, so you’ll see bigger stands, grander decorations, and lots of hype to get ready for the first official esports tournament!

Tune in or come see us live at DreamHack on Nov 28-29!


Content and Bug Fixes

Performance



  • Crash fixes for Server


  • Crash fixes for Client


Social


  • The in-game social menu will no longer show accounts from players who have been blocked on Discord

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Update 8.7.0

Update 8.7.0

STORE UPDATE
| CORN TO BE WILD SET

Whether your aesthetic is Corny Halloween or the festive el Día de los Muertos, this update has something to help you celebrate!

Also, Switzerland and Italy are also getting their bundles in the store, ready for you to fly their colors.


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EVENT REMINDER | GHOUL RUSH & THE HAUNTED HARVEST

Welcome to the second week of Ghoul Rush! We’re impressed with some of the wild tactics you’ve been using to avoid your ghoulish demise or to get that one last standing survivor. If you haven’t checked Ghoul Rush yet, now is the time!

Also, make sure to keep on smashing those pumpkins for some sweet, sweet free rewards. The harvest shall be plentiful, as long as you don’t let them rot! And if you do, well, you can always purchase that missed reward with Multibucks.

Content and Bug Fixes
Cosmetics


  • Adjusted the balance between Combat and Support score for Yin-Yang Bang set, it should now result in a more dynamic skin that changes with your actions throughout the match
NOW AVAILABLE | ARC RAIDERS

We’re so excited to finally be able to say this: ARC Raiders is live!
To celebrate the launch, everyone will receive a FREE gift including a Scrappy charm and an ARC Raiders sticker sent directly to your InGame mailbox. We hope to see you in the Arena… and Topside!

Happy ARC Raiders day, Contestants!


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Mideason Update 8.6.0

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Welcome to Season 8’s Mid-Season update, grab a snack and an OSPUZE-infused pumpkin spice latte because you’re in for tricks.. And plenty of treats!

Read what we’ve prepared for you below, if you dare.


NEW EVENT | GHOUL RUSH

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Did you hear that? That’s your cue to run!


In GHOUL RUSH, everyone starts off as a Survivor in this brand new, limited-time, Free-For-All mode. Get eliminated even once, and you’ll be doomed to spend the rest of the round as a Ghoul, hunting down the remaining unturned Contestants! Each match lasts for three intense rounds, so you'll have time to switch your tactics and seek revenge!


Earn cash as a Survivor by eliminating Ghouls and other survivors, by staying alive for as long as you can, or by making it to the end of the round as the last surviving Contestant! Once you’re a Ghoul, earn cash by eliminating Survivors.


Enter the foggy and frightening ALFA-ACTA P.E.A.C.E. Center for this event and take a fixed loadout with you, depending on your choice of Heavy or Medium Build. Once you’re a Ghoul, you’ll need to either rely on your Sledgehammer or your trusty Dagger and, of course, what’s left of your wits!


Can you survive the Ghoul Rush?


COLLECTION EVENT | THE HAUNTED HARVEST

Since Ghouls have taken over the Arena and Halloween decorations hang in every hall, it’s time for a scary new collection event! And this time, we’ve reinvented the wheel, and created The Haunted Harvest!


For the next 14 days, you’ll be given an extra daily contract. Completing this contract allows you to pick one pumpkin to smash and reveal a reward. If you complete all of these contracts, you’ll get every single reward for free, including a Legendary set! However, miss a day and one random pumpkin will rot on the stem, and you’ll only be able to unlock it by purchasing the prize.


Rewards are randomly distributed in pumpkins and pumpkins will rot in random order, so pick wisely in the pumpkin patch! You unlock the Legendary Swamp Formal set only when you have unlocked all 14 prizes (by winning them or buying them) in the Haunted Harvest! So come back every day and don’t be scared, the Haunted Harvest has more treats than tricks!



GAME MODE UPDATE | TEAM DEATHMATCH

We have disabled defibrillators and friendly totems as we believe it does not fit the current play-style for this mode. TDM is meant as a fast-paced mode, with a very short respawn timer, and to allow players to swap their Loadout anytime. Now, you don’t need to waste time, or a slot in your Loadout, on reviving your teammates or get revived before you can swap your gear.



GAME MODE UPDATE | POWER SHIFT


Bring the struggle of platform ownership into the streets of NOZOMI/CITADEL as it joins Power Shift’s maps pool! This map has always represented a fight for victory between two powerhouses, now you can continue the struggle as you ride the platform to the goal! Have fun, Contestants!



SOCIAL | EMBARK ID & DISCORD INTEGRATION

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Starting today, you will now have access to new awesome social features thanks to Discord integration. Your Discord friends can now receive a party invite directly within their Direct Messages and even join your party directly if “Open Party to Friends” is toggled-on in the social menu! To do this, you’ll need to have your Discord connected to Embark ID, which you can do in-game starting today! Just go to Settings then Social then Account. This feature is not available on PlayStation at this time.


In the account menu, you’ll also have the option to change your Embark ID directly within the game. The same 30 day cooldown in-between changes applies, and it’s good to remember that your Embark ID is the same across all Embark games!


IMPROVED FEATURES | INSTANT REPLAYS

Since the introduction of Instant Replays, there have been millions of replays watched already. But the work isn’t over and today, we’re bringing a new feature to our replay system: Projectiles and Turret’s POV!

And the cherry on top, Instant Replays will now end with a smooth slow-motion effect, how cool is that?



NEW DLC | THE APOTHECARION & CHIRURGEON SETS

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Medical license? Nonsense! All you need is a long mask filled with herbs and a can-do attitude!


We’ve got two new bundles available for you, each comes with 2400 Multibucks. So if you’re topping up, make sure to grab The Apothecarion or the Chirurgean set and take on the competition and the plague in the style that is out of this time.



STORE UPDATE | LIQUID ASSETS SET


As we get closer to All-Hallows Eve, the store just keeps getting creepier and crawlier! From flaming swords to weapons that change their look based on your playstyle, there’s something for everyone…except maybe arachnophobes (sorry)! Topping it all off is the Stakeholder set, serving undead chic!

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We also welcome new flags to the Arena: Ireland and Lithuania!



TWITCH DROPS | HALLOWEEN

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Continuing with the Halloween theme, we’ve got all new Twitch drops for you to claim! Watch anyone streaming THE FINALS with Drops Enabled to get the Witching Drop charm (2 hours) and the Patch Splitters throwing knives (4 hours)



WORLD TOUR | TRENTILA


We’re also proud to welcome TRENTILA as the new sponsor of WORLD TOUR, which returns to standard Cashout this week. Contestants who have signed with TRENTILA will tell you that they offer the Taste of Tomorrow.




On top of all this, we’ve got plenty of bug fixes and changes to introduce! Let’s check ‘em out:


Content and Bug Fixes


Cosmetics



  • Adjusted skirt movement on certain cosmetic combinations in order to reduce clipping


  • Fixed an issue where the top of the flag capes would sometimes clip into Heavy Contestant's upper back


  • Fixed an issue where some T-shirt’s clipped with Crossbody items


  • Fixed an issue where turtlenecks had clipping issues with arms on low settings


  • Fixed an issue where the CNS Crossbody on the Muscular Heavy Build would not display the CNS glitch effect


  • Updated position of the Sword, Sledgehammer, SR-84 and Model 1887 when inspecting in the menu to better fit the view


  • Improved Pet animation to smoothen out the animation, regardless of player framerate


  • Fixed the ENVY team logo not displaying correctly on the ENVY Weapon skin for the SA1216


  • Fixed compression artifact on the ENVY bundle Helmet


  • Fixed the lightning effects from the Ned skin being visible through smoke

Game Modes

TDM


  • Disabled revive statues and removed Defibrillators


  • Fixed an issue with a spawn in SYS$Horizon that caused players to fall underneath the map

Head 2 Head


  • Added the Match Summary Report to the end of the round

Powershift


  • Added Nozomi/Citadel to the map pool


  • Disabled the Alien Invasion game show event to avoid unexpected overtime losses when lifted off the platform, and to avoid destruction related performance issues

Gameplay


  • Fixed the Turret deployment animation and Turret laser not appearing correctly in replays


  • Added ability for Instant Replay to show the perspective from various Gadgets such as Grenades and Turrets


  • Added slow-motion effect at end of Instant Replays


  • Fixed an issue where players were unable to move after opening the Loadout screen on the same frame as respawning


  • Fixed issue where the Player Card or damage log could get stuck on the screen


  • Removed Instant Replays from playing on friendly eliminations


  • Tracking effects from Sonar Grenade, Proximity Sensor, and Tracking Dart will now reveal players through smoke and will reveal Cloaked players who are standing still


  • Fixed issue where spamming spacebar to respawn could prolong the spawn timer


  • Improved hit detection, resolving rare cases where hits would not register as expected

Maps

General


  • Updated the visuals of the construction crane rope and fixed an issue where it disappeared on low graphics settings

Bernal


  • Re-enabled the Suspended Sponsor Structures map variant now that the lighting issues have been resolved

Kyoto


  • Updated residential and hatch roof ridges to prevent vaulting unintentionally


  • Updated the collision of the rock meshes in the villa compound garden, allowing deployables to be placed in a more expected way


  • Fixed a noticeable seam in the lake of the Kyoto map for better visual continuity


  • Solid bushes in Kyoto have been reworked for consistent behavior with other vegetation

Las Vegas


  • Fixed sponsor color on Ziplines


  • Simplified the collision of the railing set to fix an issue where players could get stuck between railing and wall

Nozomi/Citadel


  • Added an extra cube for cover next to Cybercafe along The Rift, and slightly adjusted a jump pad on the Operations Center side so players can reach the new cube

Practice Range


  • Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in the ceiling by using the Gateway

Seoul


  • Fixed the Seoul Hospital skybridge so it consistently breaks when one side is destroyed


  • Fixed a collision issue where players could clip into background buildings


  • Updated railing modules and placement in garden area to better indicate where there is a death pit and where there is a safe area to drop

SYS$HORIZON


  • Fix for middle backdrop building blocking players and bullets


  • Fixed the floating square mesh so it breaks when relevant architecture is destroyed


  • Slightly adjusted the size of a floating cube between the Library wings to avoid an unintended angle where you could shoot the feet of other players


  • Brought back the missing destruction VFX and SFX in the Campus area

Performance & Stability


  • Improved in-game UI performance


  • Reduced some stutter caused by increased memory usage


  • Updated the recommended NVIDIA driver version to prevent potential compatibility issues


  • Improved performance in the Social section


  • Resolved a rare client memory stomp crash when updating animations


  • Fixes to our most common crashes

Private Matches & Spectator


  • Fixed a bug where it was possible to change your Loadout after reconnecting to Ranked Cashout in Private Matches


  • Improved spectator experience with interaction sounds and progress visualization

Social

Discord Social Integration


  • You can now connect/disconnect your Discord account to your Embark ID in Settings > Social > Account.


  • This feature is available on Steam, Xbox and Xbox on PC. It is not available on PlayStation


  • Connecting your Discord account will now enable THE FINALS to provide you with enhanced social experiences so you can share your Party size, game mode, and Time-in status in your Discord Rich Presence


  • You’ll be able to see your Discord friends who play an Embark Game in-game


  • Will allow you to invite your Discord friends to join your in-game party on Discord, even if they don’t have the game running


  • Will allow your friends to join your open party directly from Discord

Social Friends Screen updates


  • A unified friend list that combines both Discord and Embark friends into one list


  • New icon for the invite friend button


  • Improved performance for very large friend lists


  • You will always be shown at the top of the party list


  • You can now set your party to Open to Friends on the Social Friends screen, which allows any in-game friends to join your party by clicking on your player profile in the Social Friends screen and selecting the option ‘Join Their Party’. This setting is set to off by default.
    Dev Note: The open/closed state is reflected in the rich presence; a yellow party icon is shown with party size when it is open, and a gray lock is shown if it is closed in a closed party.


  • You can now change your display name in-game by going to Settings > Social > Account and choosing Edit Embark ID in order to update your name.
    Dev Note: Your Embark ID can only be updated once every 30 days.

Specializations

Grapple Hook


  • Activating the Grapple Hook will now cancel any ongoing interactions

UI


  • Fixed teams sometimes having different positions in the HUD scoreboard versus the overlay scoreboard

VFX


  • Fixed a collision issue which could result in destroyed glass particles floating in the air


  • Optimized the Ultimate BP smoke FX so that it no longer obstructs the player view when aiming down sights


  • The effect visible on characters detected by Gadgets has now been updated to be more visible in smoke

Weapons

M60


  • Reworked the base model for a much needed facelift
    Dev Note: The new model only applies to the base M60, and new M60 skins going forward

Riot Shield


  • Updated walk animations when the shield is up to align better with the shield’s collision


  • Removed hit reaction animations in 3rd person if a Contestant is hit while shielded to minimize collision mismatches
Security

Fresh update from the Anti-Cheat team.


Denuvo AntiCheat turned out to be a perfect complement to our existing tools. Rollout will start with this release, and complete by the end of next week.


Anybrain, which we have spoken about earlier, is also becoming a part of our ever expanding toolbox to fight cheaters from all angles.


We have also been hard at work targeting gamepad spoofing, releasing updated detection capabilities with this release.


And finally, please keep sending in player reports and any other information you believe could be of value to us, it really helps us in our work to keep THE FINALS exciting, fair and secure!

// Tom and Magnum



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Continue reading...
 

Update 8.5.0

In this update, we’re goodbye to HEAVEN OR ELSE, so set down your Spears and stop chucking the Healing Emitter, it’s time for a new World Tour Event:


RUSHDOWN brought to you by HOLTOW



Bring a new meaning to hit-and-run with this week’s new World Tour Event! In Rushdown, you’ll be able to pick up a burst of speed from any eliminated contestant! Enjoy 5 seconds of super speed for every boost you grab, and outrun the competition!

Go get ‘em, speedsters!

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A NEW BOO-TIQUE



We’ve got another collection of bewitching Halloween themed items coming to the store today! Both new and returning pieces that will help you keep it grim and proper in the Arena. Check out these fang-tastic finds, so you can look bat to the bone!

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Also, we’re welcoming our fellow Nordics today, Finland and Norway joining the parade of nations!



5 NEW ESPORTS BUNDLES COMING SOON


For the Fans in the stands!

Five new bundles are dropping in the shop, so make sure to rep’ your favorite team’s colors in the Arena! Each one is backed by a Sponsor and ready to battle it out on the main stage at DreamHack in Stockholm, Nov 28-29


Vanguard Gaming x DISSUN

Team Secret x IVADA

Gen.G x ENO+RINO

FNATIC x VAIIYA

TSM x TRENTILA



Still don’t see your favorite team? Don’t worry, there are more bundles to come before The Grand Major!



IMPORTANT NOTE: You may be able to purchase the bundles already in some console stores, but you won't see them in game until they are fully released, which will happen very soon!

Continue reading...
 

Update 8.4.0

Welcome to week 2 of HEAVEN OR ELSE!


This week, HOLTOW introduces new contracts for you to complete to earn those smoldering rewards! Keep poking, spinning and Chucking your way to the Pearly Gates!


A bewitching Store

You may notice that things are looking spooky in the Arena! Monaco, Seoul, Kyoto and SYS$Horizon have been sprinkled with decorations to celebrate the season of the witch!


The store is also ready to help you celebrate October in style with a mix of old and new classics to help you frighten the competition! A squeaky new Sword that’s more dangerous than it looks and skins that will show everyone your sweet side!


Note: we have an incorrect tag on the Cashout Conjurer Set that claims it will expire in 1000s of days. In reality, it will expire in about 28 days. We’ll fix it as soon as possible!


Also, in our parade of nations, this week we welcome The Netherlands and Japan!


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We’ve got one small balance change that will help us investigate an issue:


Balance Changes

Weapons


Riot Shield


  • Reverted latest collision update on the Riot Shield

    Dev Note: We have noticed that the last update to the collision of the Riot Shield came with a few issues so we have now gone back to the previous iteration while we figure out why the update didn't work as expected. The updates to the blocking of steals is unaffected by this.

Continue reading...
 

Hotfix 8.3.1

We’ve just pushed a hotfix for some of the issues you’ve been encountering since yesterday’s update. Thank you everyone, as always, for helping to report these issues to us!


Bug Fixes:


Contracts



  • Fixed an issue with the "Complete Daily contracts" contract from Heaven Or Else not progressing properly

Game Modes


  • Fixed an issue with Heaven Or Else rounds not counting toward Quickplay Progression

Weapons


  • Fixed an issue where the BFR was not using hitscan, causing it to be ineffective at long range

Continue reading...
 

Update 8.3.0

NEW LIMITED-TIME MODE: HEAVEN OR ELSE

Get ready to shine in HEAVEN OR ELSE, a limited-time, 5v5 showdown where Contestants will fight for their lives (and their afterlives!) armed with a Spear and a few extra tools fine-tuned for the competition! Sweep, spin and poke players to knock them off the celestial surfaces of the Final Stage Arena!

Pierce the competition and secure your glory! Keep your health and your spirits up or you’ll be sent plummeting down through the clouds. You won’t turn into coins here, but the lower your health, the farther you’ll fly, so keep your feet on the ground or you’ll head for the clouds!

Complete contracts to earn up to 12 free rewards over the next two weeks. Play with fire but don’t get burned!

Sponsored by HOLTOW Pearly Gates Insurance, your key to eternity.

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STORE UPDATE

This week’s store update asks you to choose between good or evil! Pick your side with the two new companions Quill and Cinder! But we all know Nama Tama is the cutest, Double Yolk earrings oblige. Prove a point with the Mandate Javelin, or two more with the Malebolge’s notice trident.

If you are feeling patriotic, the Poland and Greece bundles are now in store. As the competition is heating up sooner than later, The Grand Major 25 Prime selection is the perfect fit for all your tournament needs!


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Speaking of tournaments…


ESPORTS BUNDLES HAVE ARRIVED

It’s never too early to show your champions some love! The Grand Major 2025 is still a few weeks away, but the first collab bundles are coming in NOW! No efforts were spared from our Sponsors and their signed up teams:

ALLIANCE x ENGIMO

ENVY x OSPUZE

PULSAR x ISEUL-T

KCP x ALFA ACTA

NTMR x VOLPE

SSG x HOLTOW



Support your favorites by wearing their colors, and by buying their bundles! When purchasing a set, its team will get a share of each sale, with another portion going to a common pot that will be split across the board for all qualified organizations (the rest goes to platform fees and Embark).

Not seeing the Qualified Team you are rooting for? More bundles will be coming in future updates!

TWITCH DROPS

Tune in to your favorite stream and earn Twitch Drops items. The Broadcast Blaze set is now available on all streams with Twitch Drops enabled until October 16th 2025. Watch for 4 hours, and go get those free cosmetics for the M26, Cerberus, and ShAK-50! Don’t miss your chance!


AND MORE

No more one size fits all! The Revive statues just received an upgrade with a Light and Heavy format! Know who’s who at a glance.

And for the patient S3 Ruby players, a S3 player card badge just dropped in your inventory.

Now let’s get into the details:


Balance Changes

Gadgets



Breach Drill


  • Decreased activation sequence duration from 3s to 2.5s, making it faster to trigger after deployment


  • Decreased cooldown from 25s to 20s

Smoke Grenade


  • Decreased the duration of smoke from 15s to 9s, meaning it stays in the world for less time after deploying


  • Decreased the amount of ammo from 3 to 2

    Dev Note: We’re aware that cashout steals using smoke have become an increasing frustration for many players, due to their frequency and limited counters. We have several long-term improvements on the way in the coming months for smoke, but in the short term we hope these nudges to Smoke Grenades will make them a little more balanced.

Game Modes

Cashout (World Tour & Ranked Tournament)


  • Updated how respawn positions are decided after team wipes, reducing the chances that teams spawn very close to each other

    Dev Note: Related to Cashout in World Tour and Ranked, but not to the direct change above, we want to acknowledge that we’re aware of community sentiment around ‘doubling’ cashouts, especially in tier three, and its ability to ‘grief’ out the second placed team and we’re working towards a solution for it. Our hope is to be testing some changes in the live game relatively soon, but we have no set timeline. We wanted to let you all know so you’re aware that it’s being worked on.

Weapons

BFR Titan


  • Decreased damage from 98 to 90

    Dev Note: This change is mostly aimed at removing the Winch Claw plus BFR headshot attack combo on Lights which, now that the data is in, has proven to be more rapid and easier to execute than we expected. The change shouldn’t negatively impact most other ‘shots to kill’ breakpoints, so for the most part the weapon should feel as it did before.
Content and Bug Fixes

Animation



  • Fixed inspect animations blending badly together with interacting animations in 3rd person


  • Fixed a small inconsistency when going from aim down sight to sprint in first person


  • Fixed deploys and inspects breaking when activated while climbing off a ladder


  • Fixed an issue where the Weapon sometimes disappeared for a short while after using Charge N’ Slam in the air

Audio


  • Fixed an issue that caused double respawn sounds when exiting a replay


  • Fixed an issue where incorrect introduction voiceovers were sometimes played in Cashout


  • Minor tweak to the P90 firing sequence to make it sound less suppressed

Contracts


  • Daily Club Contracts now display the total number of contracts that can be accepted/completed instead of showing the number of contracts available to be accepted

Controller


  • Fixed an issue that caused controller input to be processed while the game was not in focus


  • Changed the buttons used to back out of a pop-up notification to prevent the accidental canceling of matchmaking

Customization & Cosmetics


  • Fixed an issue where the Player Card displayed wouldn't match the eliminated contestant


  • Your pet will now play its audio when you Emote in game


  • Improved the colliders on punk-style outfits to reduce the erratic movements of shoelaces and chains


  • Fixed issue with Visible Line in Solar Safeguard, Blazing Guarantee, Radiant Protection and Blinding Warranty skins on certain AMD graphics cards


  • Addressed issue causing an artifact near Dale the Whale's mouth


  • Pets now play sounds in the Store and Battle Pass


  • Fixed the Sensorveil Bomber jacket clipping with Emblems and upper back items


  • Fixed the clipping of head and ears on the Impact Unit V3000 mask


  • The item descriptions now show the correct origin of items from Battle Passes


  • Fixed visual glitches on Mischief League heads when viewed in third person \[909001] Reduced clipping and added physics simulation to the necklace in the Sick Trick Rick outfit


  • Headband will now have a better fit and less clipping when combined with multiple facewear items

Game Modes


  • Updated the scoreboard in Ranked Cashout in private matches to hide certain info, such as scores, so that it matches the functionality of the scoreboard in Ranked Tournaments


  • Fixed an issue where it was possible to change your loadout mid-round in private match ranked cashout games.


  • Powershift platform path should now properly display in replays


  • Fixed issue where you started with 4 respawn tokens in a private match ranked Cashout.

Gameplay


  • Fixed an issue where weapon audio could get stuck while in a replay


  • Fixed issue with hand getting stuck when interacting with an object, also called the hand-gun bug. Interactions have now been improved and should appear smoother and more correct than before


  • Fixed FOV setting affecting the visibility of the Dematerializer's first-person vfx


  • Fixed an issue where objects picked up just as you launched on a jumppad would trail behind and eventually fail to be picked up. With this change the failed pickup in this situation will happen much sooner to reduce frustration


  • Revive statues will now have a unique look for Lights, Mediums and Heavies!


  • Address doors, ziplines and platforms being in the wrong locations in replays in some situations


  • Fixed a corner case that could leave players stuck in a replay


  • It's now again possible to use the back key to leave the drafting screen


  • Fixed so respawn markers doesn't block interaction line of sight validation which could for example interrupt steals


  • Fixed an issue that made it harder to place down deployables


  • Increased aiming accuracy for Grapple Hook and Winch Claw


  • Fixed so the revive effect plays in the correct position if the respawn statue was moved from its original spot


  • Fixed an issue where Grenades and projectiles would trigger effects twice when used simultaneously with another of the same type

Game Show Events


  • Flying saucers now spawn near the closest active Cashout Station during the Alien Invasion game show event


  • Alien Invasion is now enabled again on SYS$Horizon, Fortune Stadium, and Nozomi/Citadel

Maps

General


  • Fixed players being able to go outside of certain maps when spectating


  • Reduced planter beds so that they are now a set height across multiple maps


  • Fixed issue where tree stumps wouldn't destroy properly on destructible ground, leading to visual and gameplay issues

Bernal


  • Temporarily disabled the Suspended Sponsor Structures map variant due to a lighting bug that caused them to be completely dark

Fortune Stadium


  • Added out-of-bounds border to prevent players using Gadgets to access unreachable areas

Kyoto


  • Fixed step up height for temple pillar stones


  • Fixed an issue with the Kyoto pagoda roof causing unexpected destruction behaviour

Monaco


  • \[Fixed issue with cannon collision not matching visuals[/p][/*]
Nozomi/Citadel


  • Replaced the zipline between the corner of Apartments and Cybercafe with Jump Pads

    Dev Note: Taking out this zipline and forcing enemy teams to approach Cybercafe head-on made it hard to cross The Rift unscathed. This change now provides a reliable option to flank from the side.


  • Slightly moved a player spawn in the corner of the Research Facility that was next to the underpass

SYS$Horizon


  • Increased the health of the large cubes from 1000 to 2000 so they're more consistent with other large/sturdy geometry


  • Campus cube garden corner:

    • Split some of the extra large cubes into multiple


    • Added a few cubes for extra cover


    • Raised a part of the ring surrounding the ball for extra cover


    • Reduced the size of the ‘Big Cube’ next to the rooftop to make it less of a dominating vantage point

  • Campus voxel bridge corner:

    • Added a secondary voxel bridge underneath that connects with a vent to the classroom


    • Added extra cover on and around the street

      Dev Note: The cashouts at the two outer corners of Campus have been tricky to contest. With these changes we aim to give players more ways to approach and play around these areas, and reduce the speed at which these areas become too empty.

Seoul


  • We have reduced the length of the exposed hospital roof by 8 meters, and added a 16 meter overhang at the end. Effectively shortening the exposed area from 60 meters down to 36 meters

    • These changes also enable a host of new gadget and movement opportunities both for approaching teams and teams that defend/spawn in the back wing

  • An additional doorway and vent were added to the side of the back wing, to allow for quicker exits and new flanking opportunities.
    Dev Note: We’ve wanted to address this particular pain-point for a while. Our challenge was to address it in a way that maintained the original design intent, since a lot of the surrounding area was built to support that. We have some smaller changes planned for the future to help with jump pad placement, but didn't want to delay these larger adjustments. As always, we will be monitoring the effectiveness of these updates and will make further adjustments where needed. Thank you so much for all your feedback :)

Skyway Stadium


  • Added soil ground meshes to planter beds above Medical Center to help player flow

Private Matches & Spectator


  • Fix for back input closing the team customization modal instead of dropdown menu

Settings


  • Added descriptions to explain why certain Video settings are grayed out


  • Unify size and opacity of all option buttons

Social


  • Fixed so that the chat is scrollable using the scroll-wheel anywhere in the chat window


  • Added support for official clubs

Specializations

Winch Claw


  • Increased how much visibility is needed for Winch Claw to successfully hook an enemy player

Stability & Performance


  • Optimize memory usage by showing simplified characters on the tournament overview screen on systems with 16GB RAM or less


  • Improve reliability of Embark systems during platform outages (e.g. if steam is down, game is still playable)


  • Improve performance when browsing the customization screens


  • Potential fix for one of our most common animation related client crashes

UI


  • Improved the pacing of the Player Card sequence to better fit the Instant Replay flow


  • Fixed various input hints not updating correctly when keybindings are changed


  • Updated the emote list to be name-based rather than icons for easier overview


  • Fixed an issue where badges was incorrectly rendering over the transition screen in the winners’ sequence


  • Fixed an issue where hitmarkers could appear after respawning


  • Fixed an issue causing the incorrect name to be displayed on weapon animations in the customization menu


  • Updated overview stats on a some Weapons (Famas, CB-01, KS-23, Model, XP-54) to fix inconsistencies and incorrect reload durations on single-bullet reload weapons


  • You can now set your preferred color to reticules!


  • Added playername to the Match report


  • Fixed an issue that caused the current ammo count to not be displayed in the inventory for certain weapons

VFX


  • Fixed an issue that would cause all in-flight visual effects to restart when changing Effects quality in the Video Settings

Weapons

Melee Weapons


  • Fixed an issue where the damage from melee weapons could be incorrectly blocked by the world even though the enemy player was hit


  • Fixed an issue where Dome Shields and Mesh Shields would incorrectly block melee attacks

Riot Shield


  • Improved collision alignment


  • Fixed an issue where moving in front of a Cashout Station could cancel steals

Spear


  • Fixed the secondary attack not showing properly in 3rd person when being winched


  • Fixed an issue where the primary attack animation could go missing in 3rd person



.50 Akimbo


  • Fixed an issue that caused bullet dispersion to grow slightly faster than intended



[/LIST]

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Update 8.2.0

World Tour Stop | Vertigo

Reach new heights with TRENTILA, the proud sponsors of this week’s World Tour stop! In Vertigo, you’ll experience an all new game-show event, aptly named Double-Jump!

When it’s active, you’ll be able to jump twice in a row and expect lots of power in the second hop!

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New Items in Store!

Get yourself the Coverage Cutters Set for all your insurance needs! The Wireline Set doesn’t come with collision coverage, but is guaranteed no strings attached! And for that extra protection, nothing’s better than taking it into your own hands with the Eclipse Shade Set.


Keep your account in order with the Silent Ledger Set, and enjoy a cold one with your team in the Brew Brawler Hat.


Let’s also welcome the Australia and Germany bundles in the store!


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Continue reading...
 

Update 8.1.0

One week into Season 8 and we’re ready for the first update!

The store update brings you the Hexscribe Set, which is bound to break your heart and your toys! Speaking of toys, a new ÖRF! collectable has entered the Arena and this time it’s Chubble Trouble the Goo Grenade! On top of that, it doesn’t matter if you like your weapons wrapped in barbed wire or dipped in Acrylic paint, there’s something for every Contestant!

This week we also welcome two new flag bundles: Mexico and France!

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We’re also getting ready for the Closed Qualifiers this weekend that will lead the winning teams to The Grand Major 2025! Tune in and watch our talented hosts and casters as they take us on this last step of the journey. The winners of this event will meet on the stage of The Grand Major at DreamHack Stockholm in November!

Speaking of DreamHack, do you plan to be there for The Grand Major in Stockholm? If so, fill out this survey so we can make plans to see you there! If you already filled it out, please don’t do so again unless your plans have changed.

This update comes with a few additions and fixes, which you can read about below:

Content and Bug Fixes


Cosmetics & Customization



  • Updates to some facewear to increase compatibility with some headwear, for example, all gas masks will behave more like the newer versions


  • Wings will now work consistently and should not clip with upper body items as much

Game Modes

Practice Range


  • Added S7 trophies

Performance & Stability


  • Fixed one of our most common client crashes

Social


  • Fixed team chat not functioning properly after elimination, regardless of Instant Replay being enabled or disabled

Continue reading...
 

Creating a Dynamism Shooter

When we started making THE FINALS, we wanted to bring together all the things we always loved in games: player choice and systemic design, deep interactivity, sandbox physics and destruction, and both playstyle and visual customization, and make them the foundation of the entire game. It was all about giving players agency, creativity, and the ability to shape their own experience. We gave this philosophy a name: Dynamism!

In this episode of MAKING THE FINALS, our Creative Director, Gustav Tilleby Silow, explains Dynamism and walks us through the journey of making the world’s first Dynamism Shooter.


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Packed with footage that dates back to the earliest days of Development, you'll learn what steps we took at Embark Studios to ensure that THE FINALS could live up to our dream of being a Dynamism-based shoorter from the very beginning, to now.

Tune in!

Continue reading...
 

Hotfix 8.0.1

Hotfix 8.0.1

We’ve just deployed a hotfix to solve some of the unexpected issues introduced in Update 8.0.0. This includes the removal of the super jump that was created for the Light class!


Content and Bug Fixes

Cosmetics & Customization



  • Fixed an issue with the ‘Fuel to the Fire’ visual effect that caused it to be too long and sometimes clip into the player’s first-person camera view


  • FIxed a bug with the Black Nile Project Mask that could make your Character appear bare-chested in the main menu

Gadgets

H+ Infuser


  • Fixed an issue where the H+ Infuser’s projectiles could be blocked by some objects, such as friendly Dome Shields

Gameplay


  • Reverted a change that has prevented players from quickly cancelling an animation after use, such as throwing a Frag Grenade, causing the item or projectile not to spawn

    Dev Note: In the 8.0 patch we made a change to better match the animation that plays when raising the Dematerializer control panel to the preview effect, to fix a common issue where players tried to quickly Dematerialize a surface but their first input didn’t count. Unfortunately, this fix had some unintended impacts so we have reverted that change, which means the old Dematerializer issue will be back until we find another approach.

    It should be noted here that separate to this change, we made a fix in 8.0 that causes deployables’ preview meshes to only appear when the player is allowed to deploy them. This should make it more reliable to deploy, and avoid that old feeling that the input was being ignored because the mesh showed up too early. The ‘time to deploy’ for these items is still the same as prior to 8.0, this is just a visual change and it is not related to the revert mentioned above.


Specializations

Evasive Dash


  • Fixed an issue where hitting jump immediately after dashing would cause a ‘super-dash’ to occur, sending the player much further than intended

Weapons

Dagger


  • Fixed an issue where releasing the secondary attack early, before fully charged, could cause distorted and stuck sound effects

Pike-556


  • Fixed an issue where the Pike had the wrong headshot bonus. It now gives the correct x1.5 damage bonus

Sword


  • Fixed an issue where releasing the secondary attack early, before fully charged, could cause distorted and stuck sound effects

Continue reading...
 

Season 8 is LIVE!

SEASON 8 | GAME TIME
THE WORLD IS WATCHING


It’s time to unite! This is the main event, Contestants. With all eyes on the grandest of stages, if there ever was a moment to play your best, this is it. The game is on. The greatest gameshow on Earth is back for another season! This is THE FINALS.

Flags will fly, cultures will shine, and Contestants from all over the globe will step into the spotlight for a showdown of epic proportions! The Arena is set, revamped, and ready to host the World's biggest competition! It's GAME TIME!


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For a more complete version of the Notes, visit the News Page!

INSTANT REPLAY

Instant Replay Beta has landed and it's nothing short of magical! Want to know what just turned you into a pile of coins? Now you can! This is mind-bending tech that fuses destruction physics, dynamic environments, and fast-paced action into a full clip, live, and just for you.

This feature is rolling out in beta as we learn from it. It’s technically wild, and we’re beyond proud. It plays back your elimination moments so you can actually see what happened in that fast-moving, destructible chaos we call THE FINALS. The clarity it delivers is game-changing.

To be honest, at first and second glance, this was an impossible task. But at Embark we take a challenge seriously. Prototypes for this feature date back to the early days of the project, before THE FINALS even had a name, trying to prove it possible. What you will see in Season 8 is the result of all that hard work. We had to calculate everything that matters: player movement, environmental destruction, object interactions in a level of data fidelity that’s hard to pull off in a Dynamism Shooter. Then take all that info and quickly reconstruct the moment.

It’s not enabled for everyone by default (especially on systems under 16 GB RAM), but you can toggle it on manually. If you’ve got the horsepower, turn it on, try it, and tell us what you think. We’ll be gathering feedback, polishing performance, and expanding integration throughout the season.

In THE FINALS, the Arena is a living, crumbling, ever-changing beast. Instant Replay offers a path to smarter plays and sharper instincts. Give it a try!

MATCH RECAP

We’re rolling out a brand-new match summary screen for World Tour, Ranked and QuickCash, with more Modes to come. It features a timeline graph of important scoring events. You’ll also see a personal breakdown of your own performance, with ratings across Combat, Support, Objective score, and more. You’ll see how it all played out and your own contribution to the team effort!

Rise to the challenge and aim to be spectacular! And should you successfully end a round with nothing but S-ranks across the board, tag us and let us know!

WEAPONS OLD AND NEW

Season 8 comes with two new Weapons that are bound to change the game in new and exciting ways:

BFR TITAN | Heavy


The BFR Titan is a high caliber, manual action revolver that deals immense damage. With its low ammo count and individually reloaded rounds, it's ideal for those who want to hold the edge of the encounter and pick off their targets, one bullet at a time.

P90 | Medium
The P90 is a submachine gun with a compact design and high capacity magazine. Unload a barrage at shorter ranges, or pester targets from further away by raining bullets! Get ready to spray and pray, contestants!


Weapons System We’re also migrating more weapons over to our new Weapons System, which is way more robust and reliable than the old one! This is a long-term initiative and we’re taking it step-by-step to make sure this first phase is done right. Several Weapons are migrating over to the new system and more will make the move during Season 8. It is our ambition to finally put an end to some of the longest standing weapon related bugs in THE FINALS, once and for all.

Dematerializer Improvements

We’ve reworked the Dematerializer to be more reliable when opening and closing segments and to provide a more accurate aim when it comes to aiming your wall removal. We’ve also added an off-screen indicator that will help other Contestants know when a wall has been opened nearby to them.

Grenade Indicator

Watch out! We’ve added a Frag Grenade indicator for better readability on your imminent detonation, players should now have a bit more time to react to live Grenades. This has been a requested feature for some time, watch your six and stay safe out there, Contestants!

SMOOTH DESTRUCTION

Welcome to the first release of a feature we’re calling Smooth Destruction. Until recently, impact damage from collapsing structures wasn’t really there. With this new update, we’re dialing up the cascading damage that can occur when buildings or objects fall into others. Starting with suspended structures and cranes, making these crash down can cause real damage and totally reshape the environment, creating new emergent play spaces in the process!

Smooth destruction introduces knock-on effects and chain reactions that open up new tactical and strategic options. It’s a fundamental leap forward, and further proof that evolving our core systems can transform the Arena just as much as brand-new features.

This is only the beginning! We plan to keep pushing the boundaries and spreading Smooth Destruction across every Arena in new and exciting ways!

This is something we have wanted and planned for since day one, so seeing it live in the game is humbling and exciting all at the same time! Have fun tearing it all down, Contestants!

KYOTO UPGRADES
Destruction keeps evolving across the Arenas, and Kyoto is the latest to get an upgrade. Buildings now collapse into connected chunks of debris that are easier to climb and traverse. Collapses happen closer to where structures were weakened, so it’s easier to anticipate what’s going to fall. The new setup is also more optimized, so performance gets a boost too.

But that’s not all, Kyoto has also received design improvements. Extra jump pads have been added to provide faster access to key areas, and reduce the need for movement gadgets. Interior layouts have been simplified, and basements have been split up with walls to provide more cover and tactical opportunities. Expect more changes to come as we work on tackling even more of the pain points!

MONACO AND MOREWe’ve applied what we’ve learned from our more recent maps to Monaco’s suspended structures. They’re now built as larger gameplay spaces with improved accessibility, creating more room for action and better flow.

Across all maps, you’ll now see new branding that amps up the excitement of the Competition. Just like when the Olympics or World Cup takes over a city, every Arena is being transformed with fresh banners and energy!

Even the stadium itself is evolving; stands and structures will change throughout the season, building up towards the Major, where the full transformation will be revealed…

SIGN YOUR SPONSOR

It’s time for a new Sponsor deal and this Season, you’ll be choosing between two giants!

HOLTOW | Digitally insured, virtually secured.

HOLTOW is back for another Season, vying for your Loyalty and dedicated to your protection! They even have an all new insurance type to offer the wayward souls of the meatspace and virtual world alike. CEO, Quemby Rutile, is ready to back any Contestant willing to wear the HOLTOW name with pride. If you’re a returning HOLTOW signer, get ready for a whole new track of rewards that will deepen your dedication and your protection!

SIGN WITH HOLTOW AND INSURE YOUR VICTORY!


TRENTILA | Slightly unstable. Shockingly good.

CEO Ana Del Mar has been tilling the soil of the Arena for a long time now, but this is the first time TRENTILA steps up into the spotlight and offers support to Contestants as an official Sponsor of THE FINALS! They are here to prove that they can nurture more than just agriculture, and promise that signees will bloom in the spotlight that they cast! If they can grow their trademarked Tiger Fruit in the middle of the Transatlantic Landfill, they can certainly grow your fame and fortune!

SIGN WITH TRENTILA AND CULTIVATE YOUR TRIUMPH!

BATTLE PASS

The Season 8 Battle Pass is full of earnable rewards designed to celebrate the spirit of global competition in a spirited and fantastical way! You can choose between the Ultimate, Premium, or Free Battle Pass which means there is something for everyone!

PLAYSTYLES

We’re introducing Playstyles: pre-made Contestant templates that bundle a Specialization, Weapon, and Gadgets into a recognizable style of play. They give new players a clear starting point and show off the variety THE FINALS has to offer, while still letting everyone branch out and experiment with their own personal Loadout and Playstyles. This will make THE FINALS friendlier for new players and will also provide a much faster path for unlocking Weapons, Specializations, and Gadgets!

Want the full breakdown? Check out the Playstyles blog for all the details.

MORE IMPROVEMENTS FOR NEWBIES

Tutorial Updates
The tutorial has been expanded to cover so much more of what makes THE FINALS, THE FINALS! It now teaches players how to use Specializations, what happens during a team wipe, and how to revive teammates. After completing a revive, you’ll even get a Dummy teammate to help finish things out. This should help new players gain a stronger foundation before their first real match.

New Dummy ChallengesWe’ve added more Dummy Challenges in the Practice Range, focused around playing the objective. In one, you’ll defend a Cashout from waves of Dummies trying to steal it, perfect practice for the chaos of the Arena.

Rookie ContractsRookie Contracts return as a fuller onboarding experience. Now they include tasks like completing the tutorial, finishing Challenges, creating your first Contestant, and trying out different Game Modes. They give new players a longer runway to explore the game and plenty of incentives along the way.

FASTER BOOT TIMES

We’ve added background shader pre-compilation, which means the game client boots up much faster. You’ll be able to navigate menus, edit Contestants, and party up with friends while shaders finish compiling in the background. For machines that normally spend a lot of time stuck on precompiling shaders, this change should make a big difference.

Ranked Reconnect ImprovementsWe’re adjusting the rules for Ranked Tournament abandonment. Combined with faster boot times, this means players who need to reconnect during a ranked match won’t be unfairly penalized just because the client took too long to restart.

CUSTOMIZATION IMPROVEMENTS

Earrings
That’s right, get ready for Earrings! It’s time to find new ways to sparkle! Nothing complements a beautiful set of hair, stylish glasses, a well trimmed beard, and a fresh coat of makeup like a pair of diamond studs covering your sides!

Effects We’ve separated item effects from items, so cosmetics that come with signature character effects that modify the space around them, no longer rely on that piece in order to apply the effect!

GAME MODES

Head2Head is here to stay!
Head2Head is no longer a limited event. It’s joining our Quick Play modes. We saw a lot of love for this Mode and we think it’s a great warm up round or pick when you don’t have time to make it to the final round of a Tournament!

Team Deathmatch on BernalAs part of our efforts to enhance existing features, we’re adding Team Deathmatch to Bernal, giving players a fresh way to experience the map. Get ready to fight across three signature areas in this magical town: Hotels, Apartments, Backyards!

Saying Goodbye to Terminal Attack For now, it’s time to say goodbye to Terminal Attack. It’s by far our least played Mode and its fraught history makes the Mode difficult to love. Maybe it’ll return one day as an event, once we’re all good and ready!

NEW SOUNDTRACK


It wouldn’t be a new Season without a new set of Bangers from our unbelievably talented Audio team!

Audio Director, Carl Strandberg, says, “This season we really wanted to hit home on the Olympic grandness of the Major coming up. So it's very much inspired by everything majestic. We've really tried incorporating a lot of orchestral elements, tying it together with the classic FINALS-synth and drum sounds, but also trying to get elements from every previous season in there, to build on everything we've created the last 7 seasons.”

MOUSE AND KEYBOARD FOR CONSOLE

You can now play with Mouse and Keyboard on Console!

TWITCH DROPS

Abby the APS is excited to join her friends Terry and Chuck! Available now for FREE as a Twitch drop, along with a sticker and a pair of Earrings that will help keep Abby close to your heart and mind at all times! Watch any Twitch streamer playing THE FINALS with drops enabled to earn your new best friend! While the new handy Frag Grenade indicator will alert you of an incoming Grenade, Abby will kindly, but firmly, decline its explosive power.

THE GRAND MAJOR 2025

With The Arenas set for the grandest competitions, we’re also setting the grand stage for our first ever esports Major! The 16 strongest teams across the world will travel to DreamHack Stockholm to settle the score and see who’s truly the best of the best, and will be crowned Champion of The Arena!

Our Closed Qualifiers featuring full studio production, top talent from the community and the strongest 16 teams from EMEA and NA takes place on September 20th & 21st, where we will find out which teams qualify through to The Grand Major!

See you in Stockholm, Contestants!

Now, let’s get into all the nitty gritty details:

Balance Changes

Gadgets


Frag Grenade


  • Added in-world grenade indicator

H+ Infuser


  • Decreased healing per shot from 15 to 145

    Dev Note: The Infuser was still slightly outperforming other healing items, this change is made to address that.

Thermal Vision


  • Temporarily disabled Thermal Vision

    Dev Note: Thermal Vision has struggled with a considerable number of bugs and issues for some time now, issues that are not a simple or quick thing to fix. Some issues can offer players an unintended advantage, so we’ve made the decision to bench the Gadget for now. We’ll re-work it over the next few seasons, at which point it will return to the roster.

General


  • Increased the damage done by the crane’s wrecking ball from 10 to 75

Specializations

Dematerializer


  • Decreased the number of charges from 3 to 2


  • Added new functionality which now remembers exactly which wall segments were dematerialized when a charge was used. These segments are now grouped together and if any of them is rematerialized, all of those in the group will also always be rematerialized


  • Added a vignette to the screen that will be displayed when a wall segment is dematerialized near the player, just outside of their field of view, so that players are better aware of what is happening around them


  • Updated the dematerialize effect on walls when activated, adding a slight delay before the wall segment becomes fully transparent


  • Added a new ‘vibration’ effect to dematerialized wall segments, which will start to play just before the wall segments would automatically rematerialize

    Dev Note: These changes have been a long time coming. The Dematerializer Specialization has been by far the most picked Specialization and the most winning, across the majority of modes and skill tiers. We never intended any item to see so much usage and it has sped up the pace of the game and how quickly Cashout fights resolve. Our intent has been to reduce the number of charges available, to throttle the usage rate, but we felt we couldn’t make that change until we fixed how unreliable opening and closing wall segments could be. With this new system and the improved visual feedback, we’re now in a place where we can reduce the ammo count. Between this change and the Turret and Healing Beam buffs, we’re hoping to return to a more varied Medium meta.

Guardian Turret


  • Decreased the cooldown from 40s to 35s


  • Decreased the cooldown when retrieving the turret from 20s to 17.5s

    Dev Note: As Specializations go, the Turret has been fairly underused. We want to increase its desirability without making it too frustrating. This change will buff its availability in-match.

Healing Beam


  • Increased healing rate from 40 per second to 46 per second

    Dev Note: Since the Healing Beam is a Specialization, it should be one of the more desirable healing tools in the game, Since the introduction of the H+ Infuser and the Healing Emitter (a.k.a Chuck), it’s not been desirable enough. This change allows the Healing Beam to go from 220 to 253 healing before overheating, which should buff it to where it should be.

Winch Claw


  • Increased cooldown when missing a target from 7s to 10s


  • Increased cooldown when successfully hitting a Cashout Station or Contestant from 14s to 18s


  • Increased the cooldown when hitting all other object types from 7s to 14s

    Dev Note: The power and impact of the Winch Claw is out of line with some of the other Heavy Specializations and that is reflected in the data.

Weapons

.50 Akimbo


  • Decreased damage falloff minimum range from 35m to 32m, giving the weapon a slightly shorter effective range


  • Decreased damage falloff max range from 42.5m to 39m, giving the weapon a slightly shorter effective range

    Dev Note: We feel the akimbo pistols are performing slightly too well at longer ranges, so this is a small nudge to bring them more into their intended niche.

CB-01


  • Increased damage from 84 to 88

    Dev Note: The CB-01 has struggled to perform well across most modes and sees a very low pick rate. This change is intended to improve viability.

Dual Blades


  • Increased how quickly sprinting is re-enabled after the second attack animation begins by 25%


  • Increased how quickly sprinting is re-enabled after the third attack animation begins by 15%

    Dev Notes: This change is mostly to correct some inconsistencies between attacks, which made the second animation in the attack sequence more aggressively slow the player than it should have.

LH1


  • Increased damage from 42 to 44

    Dev Note: We’re still trying to get the LH1 to a place where it’s viable but not dominant. Previous changes have seen it really bottom out in both usage and performance, so we’re nudging it in an effort to improve viability and desirability.

Pike-556


  • Decreased damage from 50 to 48


  • Decreased damage falloff minimum range from 45m to 40m, giving the weapon a slightly shorter effective range


  • Increased damage falloff multiplier from 0.75 to 0.8, meaning the weapon now does slightly more damage at range. This is somewhat offset by the reduction in base damage


  • Increased the size of bullet dispersion when firing from the hip, especially while crouching, making the weapon less accurate when not aiming down sights

    Dev Note: We feel the Pike currently has too much utility, being both good at long range but also very viable at close range. These changes aim to get it to where it should be, a medium-to-long range rifle that is less effective when fighting at close quarters.

Riot Shield


  • Decreased maximum speed of an attack’s lunge to the target from 10m/s to 7m/s


  • Decreased minimum speed of an attack’s lunge to the target from 7m/s to 5.5m/s


  • Decreased the trigger range of the attack’s lunge from 4m to 2.5m

    Dev Note: The recent buffs to melee, including the Riot Shield, exposed some pre-existing issues, including its ability to too reliably keep attackers on top of enemies once they reached them. These changes should address that.
Content and Bug Fixes

Animation



  • Fixed an issue where the Sword's secondary charge-up animation was sometimes not shown correctly in spectator view


  • Reworked the first-person view of the Riot Shield. You will now have a better sense of where your shield is blocking when aiming up and down


  • Fixed a small but noticeable inconsistency when aiming down sights after sprinting in first-person. This transition should now feel more consistent


  • Polished first-person animations for the Defibrillators, including an improved visual cues on the charging cables to make it easier to tell when they’re ready to use

Career Rank


  • Added career levels up to level 500, and re-balanced the tiers from Bronze to Amethyst

Controller


  • Additional rumble has been added for more things in the game


  • Fixed an issue where pressing buttons while loading could cause focus to be lost when returning to the menu

Contracts


  • Added Rookie Contracts for new players where all cosmetics that used to be in the career path will now be available under the Rookie Contracts instead

Cosmetics & Customization


  • Added Earring category


  • Added 4 more Outfit slots


  • Character effects have now been split from their headwears into its own customization slot


  • Fixed sleeve clipping for the Toga Damnata coat during certain animations


  • Fixed folding issues when crouching in the Combat Chore Dress on certain Builds


  • Updated the Spray preview to now show the Spray applied to a concrete slab (Slabby?!), instead of a card


  • Ballistic masks can now be worn with hoods, enhancing your character customization options


  • Reduced the intense bright spots of the Shock Value Effect in the Arena

Consoles


  • Added Mouse and Keyboard support, at long last

Gadgets

Smoke Grenade


  • Updated the placement and duration of the smoke’s blocking volume, which hides enemy players. This should now better match the visual effects of the smoke

Sonar Grenade


  • Increased hitbox size to make it easier to destroy by shooting

Proximity Sensor


  • Increased hitbox size to make it easier to destroy by shooting

Game Modes

General


  • Removed Terminal Attack from Quickplay and Private Matches


  • Added Head2Head to Quickplay and Private Matches


  • Removed Bank It! from Private Matches

    Dev note: While we still see lots of love for Bank It! in the community, it hasn’t been played often enough in Private Matches to warrant the overhead it brings when it comes to regular maintenance, QA testing, etc.. It will likely return in another format some day in the future!


  • Fixed an issue where the abandoned check did not work as intended. Players are now only marked as abandoned if they’ve actually left and are no longer tracked by the connection system. We’ll be keeping an eye out to ensure this behaves correctly

Practice Range


  • Added two new challenges: Cashout Defense and Cashbox Time-Trial


  • Added a 4th version of the Meet the Dummies challenge where you’ll meet all three Dummies at the same time


  • Updated Dummy behavior to enable them to fight back against some Gadgets and Deployables


  • Tweaked Dummy aim behavior to improve their ability to land hits at long range

Ranked


  • Increased the tournament reconnect window from 210 to 240 seconds to give players more time to rejoin mid-match

TDM


  • Added Bernal to the map pool

Tutorial


  • Fixed an issue where the Nama Tama hint could become stuck

Gameplay


  • Enabled Smooth Destruction for the Crane, Wrecking Ball, and Suspended Structures


  • Gadget previews are now better aligned with actual usability timing, preventing missed inputs in the Arena


  • Fixed an issue where sounds and visual effects would occur in the Arena without any player nearby


  • Fixed an issue where elimination hitmarkers would sometimes fail to display

GameShow Events


  • The Dead Go Boom Gameshow Event is now enabled on all Maps and Modes where Events are available


  • Alien Invasion has been adjusted to target objectives when applicable and lift up players

    Dev note: we're looking into a bug where UFOs don’t avoid collision with none-playable buildings, which once squashed, will allow us to enable the updated Alien Invasion on more maps in the near future.

Languages


  • Added Russian localization to the game

Maps

General


  • All Suspended Structures will now use the new Smooth Destruction feature which allows them to destroy the environment underneath them when they fall


  • Updated crane visuals to allow players to vault to top part of crane more easily when the cabin ladder is broken


  • Fixed an issue where shooting at text or decals on windows would need more bullets to be fired in order to break the glass.


  • Slightly reduced scale of goo and smoke ATK Canisters to minimise players getting stuck on them

Bernal


  • Fix for player movement issues on curved metallic slanted roof


  • Added a short ladder to the area in front of the Chapel courtyard


  • Adjusted the zipline in the courtyard next to the Chapel for smoother exiting in multiple directions


  • Fixed collision complexity on a low tree to fix issues with player revives

Fortune Stadium


  • Fix for player getting accidentally stuck beneath ground of ISEUL-T buildings when falling through

Kyoto


  • Added several Jump Pads between Temples and Villa Compound to make the Villa Compound easier to attack, improve the Macro Flow, and reduce the need for movement gadgets.


  • Added cover and reworked the layouts of all basements in Kyoto to make them more varied and interesting to fight in. We also removed as many “floating” pillars as we were structurally able to, to make navigation easier - particularly during combat.


  • Adjusted the amount of basement entrances, to reduce the number of engagement angles you have to cover at once.


  • Removed all Cashout Stations inside the Bamboo Forest as prolonged combat proved too problematic in such a dense, natural environment.


  • Nearly all buildings in Kyoto have seen small interior layout tweaks to reduce their overall complexity. The aim is to make them easier to navigate and quicker understand at a glance.

    Dev Note: Kyoto’s architecture and building sizes naturally lean towards denser and tighter layouts, especially when compared to our other maps. With this pass we want to simplify and open the spaces up a bit more without compromising its theming or gameplay intent.


  • Residential - Added a Zipline to allow for rooftop access without the need for movement gadgets


  • Pavilion - Objectives have been moved to the sides of the building, to ensure fights happen in the flanks, not the center of the structure.


  • Pavilion - Ground floor layout has been adjusted to reduce the amount of 360 fights


  • Added Zipline between Guest House and Residential to improve macro flow and reduce the need for movement gadgets


  • Added ladder from Entrance to Guest House as an alternative shortcut


  • Small Guest House - Added ladder to the rooftop to allow for easier access without needing movement gadgets. Also added a small veranda to subdivide the space and add some cover for combat.


  • Training Quarters - Added more dividing doors to better define chokepoints


  • Training Quarters back building - broke up the corridor and moved the Cashout Station into the other room to make fights more directional. Removed the Cashout Station that was on the exterior veranda as those fights proved too chaotic.


  • Added several planks around the map to highlight and open up new traversal opportunities


  • Villa Compound Garden - Added a Jump Pad on the south side of the Tea House to help players escape precarious situations more easily


  • Villa Compound Tea House - Moved and rotated slightly to frame the new Jump Pad better. Its layout has been subdivided to improve combat longevity


  • Hillside House - Interior has been simplified to reduce its navigation complexity and better support defending the most common approach angles


  • Main Temple - Interior layout has been reworked to make taking control over its spaces easier and fights less 360/chaotic


  • Vault updates and additions all over the map to facilitate more “stand-off” encounters between competing teams


  • Many small QoL tweaks to the flow and readability of Kyoto


  • Fix for indestructible stone fence modules on exterior staircase area


  • Kyoto destruction re-work that make structure collapses result in debris that is more traversable and less chaotic

Las Vegas 2032 & Stadium


  • Added more player spawn points and adjusted a few


  • Fixed a duplicate Zipline in the staircase of Alfa Acta building


  • Fixed a ladder floating above the roof of Glamora casino

Monaco


  • Suspended Structures map variant has been reworked

    Dev note:The previous version could severely restrict players who didn't have the right items to contest the suspended structures, and it lacked meaningful variation between the different setups across the map. With this rework we aim to enable a larger variety of strategies and playstyles, whilst also offering a more balanced experience between attackers and defenders.


  • Fix for collision of cathedral pillar piece on duck and cover variant to be more predictable with player movement and gadgets


  • Added more player spawn points and adjusted a few


  • Added new Vault locations


  • Added new Cashout Station on the crane


  • Added ladders on the sides of a few buildings to make it easier to traverse between rooftops


  • Adjusted the cliffs at the edge of the Forest to make it easier to climb up the walls in a couple places

Nozomi/Citadel


  • Added some more cover along The Rift between Cybercafe and Apartments

Skyway Stadium


  • Fixed floating zebra crossing in the residential district


  • Added more player spawn points and adjusted a few


  • Adjusted backdrop building to prevent crane clipping issues on Skyway Stadium

Seoul


  • Added more player spawn points and adjusted a few


  • Moved a hospital bed away from a window where you could easily get stuck between the two

SYS$HORIZON


  • Added more player spawn points and adjusted a few

Tutorial


  • Improved Tutorial flow to include more scenarios and better teach the basics of gameplay

Matchmaking


  • Updated the matchmaker to put more emphasis on separating premade parties and solo players in matches for World Tour, Powershift and QuickCash

    Dev note: This change is possible due to new functionality we’ve added to the matchmaker, that gives us more flexible ways to make matches. As it’s relatively new and requires quite a bit of testing, it’s only being rolled out for these modes to start with, but it’s our aim to move all modes to this system in the near future

Performance & Stability


  • Moved shader compilation to in-game rather than startup

    Dev note: Moved shader preloading to frontend, allowing players to customize their loadout, visit the shop and adjust settings while waiting for it to complete. If a player attempts to start a game before preloading has finished, a warning is shown. The warning can be ignored if the player prefers to start immediately and risk performance issues.

Private Matches & Spectator


  • Added the ability to change color and assign preset team names to teams in private matches

Rendering


  • Fixed an issue that could cause pixelated artifacts around the edges of your contestant in the Main Menu


  • Fixed an issue that caused light flickering when changing Effects quality setting in-game


  • Made changing NVIDIA RTX Global Illumination setting more responsive in-game


  • Fixed a rare issue that caused the 3D scene to flicker and show up cropped incorrectly in the top left corner


  • Fixed an issue causing jittering red dot and holographic sights when AMD FSR3 Frame Generation was enabled.

Social


  • Moved block management to in-game instead of web based

Specializations

Dematerializer


  • Fixed an issue when trying to rematerialize a section that has just been dematerialized would incorrectly consume ammo

Winch Claw


  • Improving winch claw hit detection by making sure the hooking player has some visibility over the enemy it's trying to hook.

UI


  • Fixed an issue where the incorrect weapon skin was highlighted as you entered the skin screen for weapons


  • Fix player card customization menu resetting to the selected Contestant when opened from gamepad


  • You can now inspect rewards in the contract screen


  • Wishlist prices will now update correctly when adding items to your cart and updating your already existing wishlist


  • Allow toggling HUD in PracticeRange/Tutorial via F10 key


  • Now you can easily equip gadgets, specializations, and weapons directly from the equipment screen!


  • Added specialization icon to contestant pack icons in frontend


  • "Playstyles" tab has been added to the equipment screen


  • "Playstyle Token" currency has been added to the top bar, which only displays if the player has unlockable playstyles remaining. Clicking on this currency will open the playstyles tab.

VFX


  • Fixed an issue with the elimination coin effect that could make it disappear too early


  • Updated visuals for the Gas Canister explosion

Weapons

Sights


  • Setup for Magnifex Sight on all weapons that support Reflector Sight


  • Added 3 new sights to various guns:

    • Iron Vantage - An alternate, high magnification scope added to:

      • Pike-556

    • Quickspark - A red dot sight for handguns added to:

      • - R .357


      • - BFR Titan


      • - V9S

    • Magnifex - A box holographic with moderate magnification added to:

      • - XP-54


      • - FCAR


      • - FAMAS


      • - LH1


      • - CB-01 Repeater

  • Fixed the visual misalignment of the 'Looking Glass' scope with the Shak-50 weapon model

Dual Blades


  • Fixed an issue where dual blades would sometime not play deflect animation when deflecting a turret projectile

Riot Shield


  • Fixed several instances of animation desync of the Riot Shield in third person, zig zag sprints, ziplines and aiming should now all be more accurate to where the collision is situated


  • Reworked the setup in first person to better represent the collision state both in guarded and non guarded state

    Dev note: We have made another animation pass on the Riot Shield to improve the visuals so they better match the collision state. While this improvement does obstruct some of your vision in the left field of view, it does give both the wielder and the attacker a better understanding of which bullets will hit the shield, and which will hit the character. There are still some issues left to solve and we have another update cooking that will improve this even further, but we felt that instead of holding off changes we’d opt for a middle step that will improve things overall.

Spear


  • Fixed an issue where being Winch Clawed while using the secondary attack of the Spear would prevent using that attack again for a few seconds

Security

Updates from the Anti-Cheat team!

Our technical test of Denuvo for XBox on Windows was successful.

As a result we will start an incremental rollout on Steam for Season 8.

We know there have been concerns about us choosing Denuvo from Irdeto, and we'd like to re-iterate that we're not using their Digital Rights Management service. We are working closely with the game team to ensure minimal impact on performance, and trust us, they drive a hard bargain!

In order to keep up with cheaters, we are always on the lookout for new solutions, so aside from Denuvo we have a couple more exciting updates.

We have asked VAIIYA to build a solution for us, which is a complicated and time consuming effort. It’s still very much a work in progress, so stay tuned for updates.

We have also partnered up with Anybrain, and have rolled out their solution to a small percentage of our playerbase as a test with plans to continue throughout Season 8. Evaluations are ongoing and this may become a permanent part of our toolbox to protect fair play and the integrity of our players.

/// Tom and Magnum

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Update 7.12 - DANCE LIKE THE SPONSORS ARE WATCHING

Update 7.12.0
DANCE LIKE THE SPONSORS ARE WATCHING


CNS are bringing disco back to the Arena in the final week of World Tour! Strike a pose near the Cashout when the dance floor appears to earn extra cash! This time, you’ll earn more cash the longer you emote while the dance floor is active!

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HOW DO YOU DO, FELLOW CONTESTANTS?

Check out this week’s Store Update! Get your end-of-season grind-on with the Slick Trick Rick set, and roll in style with the Vaporwave Board!

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It’s the last week of Season 7, Contestants. Make it a great one!

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