• With this build, we have deployed new code based on the existing matchmaking functionality on Live.
  
• Matchmaking has been moved from the World server to operate on its own dedicated Matchmaking server.
  
• Matchmaking will only function in the same district - at least for now.
  
• Backup is once again offered in cases in which the Matchmaker has to create an uneven Match and will add one player to each team trying to increase the overall Match quality to make it more even.
  
• In evenly matched missions both Team Leaders are now offered the option to “Escalate” the mission. If both Team leaders put in a request to escalate players will be added to both teams up to a maximum of 20 players per side. Team leaders will need to agree to Escalate the mission further each time new players are added to the mission.
  
• Fixed an issue related to Backup/Escalation calls that caused the matchmaker to be bottlenecked during the playtest on Sun. May 19.
  

• With this build, we have deployed new code based on the existing matchmaking functionality on Live.
  
• Matchmaking has been moved from the World server to operate on its own dedicated Matchmaking server.
  
• Matchmaking will only function in the same district - at least for now.
  
• Backup is once again offered in cases in which the Matchmaker has to create an uneven Match and will add one player to each team trying to increase the overall Match quality to make it more even.
  
• In evenly matched missions both Team Leaders are now offered the option to “Escalate” the mission. If both Team leaders put in a request to escalate players will be added to both teams up to a maximum of 20 players per side. Team leaders will need to agree to Escalate the mission further each time new players are added to the mission.
  

Where has Matt been?

• Matt has been engaged with a special Fallen Earth project funded by a 3rd party investor. Unfortunately, the project was way behind in its deliverables due to technical implementation issues, and has spent the last 4 months course correcting the project.
  
• Soon, Matt aims to lower his development involvement on this project so he can get back to working on other games such as APB and Unsung Story.
  

Fallen Earth Update:

• The back-end rewrite is close to being done.
  
• The servers are running on an Operating system that is no longer supported and has problems that make the servers slow down over time.
  
• There is a core issue which is requiring the servers to be manually restarted which needs to be addressed.
  

Decline in the Gaming Industry:

• The gaming industry is experiencing a decline. As such, many companies are being forced to reduce staff and Little Orbit is in the same situation.
  
• Little Orbit has shifted resources to move a previous APB Engineer back on APB. Currently, there are 3 dedicated resources with 3 other support staff.
  

APB

• The game has had various Anti-cheats solutions in the past, Epic’s Easy Anti-Cheat has previously worked the best.
  
• LIttleOrbit worked with Epic as a beta partner to help them improve Easy Anti-Cheat which unfortunately led to multiple issues including false-positive bans.
  
• The Easy Anti-Cheat ban-appeal user experience was bad due to the lack of communication between Easy Anti-Cheat and the Players, leading players to think the system was broken.
  
• There will be an unban-wave to address the false-positive bans. (More details on what the unban-wave is going to look like sooner to when it happens)
  
• We’re looking into other solutions to move away from Easy Anti-Cheat but are still investigating our options.
  

• Matt did a majority of the work on Mirage. He is aware of the issues, which are not difficult to fix, and will return to the project once he is able.
  

• Matt considers Matchmaking as one of the biggest issues APB faces and therefore puts it at the highest possible priority.
  
• Matt is proud of the system when it works but there are issues in its current state. When the system works, the overall match quality is better than the previous system, however, it needs improvements.
  
• Running matches on the World Server rather than on each individual District server was needed for future improvements such as Cross-district matchmaking. However, this has introduced instability to the World server which isn’t ideal.
  
• Since the release of Matchmaking the development efforts were shifted to move the code from running on the World server to its own, exclusive Matchmaking server. This effort is close to being done and the goal is to test it on OTW in the coming weeks.
  
• There are edge cases in the algorithm when players fail to match.
  
• After the initial stability issues of Phase 1 of the new Matchmaking system were worked out, we collected a lot of good feedback regarding backup and we are addressing these issues. We know the Backup UI is confusing and has some bugs.
  
• Matt does not want to get rid of the Faction system for Mission districts, there are better solutions to fixing Matchmaking issues related to lower population.
  
• Matchmaking has always struggled to match high MMR players, especially now that asymmetrical missions are no longer a thing, we are looking into ways of solving this.
  

• The merge was tested internally and it had a lot of issues.
  
• There is not going to be a server merge, instead, we pivoted to the Cross-district matchmaking solution which will enable players from different worlds to play in any district regardless of region.
  
• Conflicting names between servers are an issue and we plan on having a Discord-like solution that will let players with duplicate names from different servers be easily identified.
  
• We still plan on releasing inactive names, however, doing so now would cause issues in the future so we are waiting on the right time to release all of the inactive names.
  

• The new contacts are still being itemized, Matt was not happy with the previous plans for them.
  
• Some content may be added to previous contacts retroactively.
  
• The Joker Store is an ongoing project and we are committed to adding more things to the Joker Store when we can.
  
• Internally, we’ve had great discussions regarding balance, focusing on buffs to very underutilized weapons that nobody plays.
  
• Players get frustrated when the game is facing issues such as Matchmaking not working and our focus is on Balance passes so we are looking for the right time to do them.
  
• New guns are a cool idea but we would like to make many of the existing guns more compelling first.
  

• The tutorial tells you how the basic mechanics work, but does not tell you how APB works which is a massive issue. It is a high priority to look at and fix but not as high on the list as Matchmaking.
  
• Getting PvE into APB is a mess but it would be amazing to have as a way to teach new players.
  
• We are considering a mode for newer players that lets them shoot any weapon in the game in a shooting range while also providing them with more information such as damage numbers while they are within that district.
  

• Microsoft and Sony do not allow games to be transferred from one publisher to another which has led Little Orbit and Plaion to mutually agree to shut down the console versions.
  
• Once the console versions are fully shut down in September, we have full control over the console versions.
  
• Console ports of the PC versions are likely what is going to be submitted to Microsoft and Sony when we are ready to publish the game on consoles again.
  
• Resubmitting the current console versions is not going to work.
  
• Controller support is being looked at.
  
• Previously Little Orbit had to submit builds to Koch Media which ended up never submitting those builds to Microsoft/Sony due to QA reasons.
  

• Reloaded had a contract with Vivox that expired some time ago which prompted Vivox to shut down the servers.
  
• VOIP is important for a game like APB and made Console APB special.
  
• We want to bring back VOIP, however, doing so requires a new version of Vivox to be implemented which is time-consuming.
  

• Marketing is still on our Radar, however, there are key points that need to be addressed first such as Matchmaking, Anti-Cheat, and new Content such as the new Contacts.
  

• APB can’t be upgraded to Unreal 4/5 though PBR (Physically based rendering) may be possible in the future as well as improvements to APB’s post-processing effects such as some of the original shaders.
  
• Adding more developers to a project doesn’t mean it’ll speed up development, especially when working on complex things such as Matchmaking.
  
• Griefing is still on our list of things to look at and fix.
  
• Translations are heavily outdated - We are considering running our English translations through systems to generate European and Russian translations for players to use - The Russian translation is still supported but outdated.
  
• The Trade-lock system should be better at telling players what they were Trade-locked for.
  
• Most players that are permanently Trade-locked did something and are Trade-locked for a reason such as credit card fraud.
  
• Improvements to the Inventory need to happen.
  
• There’s a lot of documentation on how to make Waterfront a better district.
  
• The Clan system needs an overhaul.
  
• There should be a colorblind mode, however, messing with APB’s colors could introduce new issues.
  
• A way to officially support arranged matches between players is something we would like to support in the future.
  
• The bug that causes characters to slide at high FPS is still on our radar to fix.
  

Unsung Story

• Matt hasn’t given up on the game.
  
• Unsung has a huge upgrade to what is offered internally, about 80% of what was shared publicly is implemented.
  
• Unsung remains a priority on our roadmap.
  

Customer Support:

• LittleOrbit moved away from Zendesk on April 25, 2024 to Zoho which provides more features & flexibility for our current needs.
  
• APB Reloaded customer support has to work with 14-year-old tools which can lead to easier tasks taking more time than usual to resolve.
  
• Recently response times have gone up, we are sorry about this. However, we are committed to solving player issues.
  

• The Valentines day event has come to an end.
  
• Fixed a bug with backup permutation creation creating far less amounts of combinations than it should.
  
• Slightly optimized standard permutation creation by removing the shuffle of available players, since this may be causing erratic wait times for players during same-district matching.
  
• Added an experimental "Low population mode" that activates once the world server of a region is below a certain amount of players and should allow players to get opposition after waiting for a certain period of time regardless of match quality.
  
• Fixed a potential district server crash.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the OBIR JT3 to disappear from the JT store and reward mails.
  

• For Xbox players, we previously experienced issues preventing players from making any purchases, but we were able to keep the servers online. Unfortunately, you will have noticed that APB Xbox is currently experiencing technical issues, and the game is currently offline. Unfortunately, we are now unable to bring the game back online.
  
• For PlayStation 4 players, we will begin the sunset phase starting February 1st through August 2nd. As of February 1st, we will be disabling all monetization for these players. This wasn't an easy decision, and we understand the impact it has on our gaming community, but it was unavoidable.
  

• For Xbox players, you can start migrating your characters to APB Reloaded on PC immediately at https://gamersfirst.com/apb/news/2024/1/2/xbox-console-2024
  
• For PlayStation 4 players, the migration page is not ready yet, but on February 1 you will also be able to start migrating your characters to APB Reloaded on PC. Instructions will be at https://gamersfirst.com/apb/news/2024/1/2/ps4-console-2024
  

Holiday Event & The Beacon Returns

Holiday Event Titles:

• Thundersnow
  
• Winter Storm
  
• Stargazer
  

Vehicle Changes:

Charge Cisco Buffs:

Weapon Changes:

Norseman Balance Changes:

Base Norseman Buffs:

Norseman Modification Changes:

Massive Sale on Armas

Items Discounted for 15% Include:

• Joker Tickets
  
• Key to the City
  
• Character service: Character name change, Additional character slot
  
• Exciting packs: Army of Fr0G’s Bundle, Water & Air Bundle, Valhalla’s Chosen, Pack of Revelations Pass, Juggernaut Strike Pack, Enforcer and Criminal Firehawk Kit + Vehicle, Schoolgirl Pack
  
• Weapons: FR0G ‘Kokoe’, FR0G ‘Rocket’, FR0G ‘Thumbnail’, SWARM ‘Killer Bee’, Joker CR-5, N-HVR 762 ‘DVAH’, OCA-626 ‘Whisper’ PR2
  
• Skins: Kabuki Skin Collection, Rainbow Skin Pack, Red Casino Skins Pack, Black Casino Skins Pack, Casino Skin Collection, Surprise and Venom Set, Gold Weapon Skin
  

Happy Holidays from Little Orbit

• With this build, we have deployed new code based on the existing matchmaking functionality on Live. We have changed the way data is interpreted, used, and calculated with multiple players, but the underlying individual skill rating formulas are the same.
  
• Matchmaking has been moved from District to World.
  
• Matchmaking will only function in the same district - at least for now. We plan on expanding matchmaking to function cross-district within the next coming weeks.
  
• Attempting to ready up cross-district will fail without any errors. This is a known issue and we are tracking it.
  
• Threat is visible for testing purposes, but may disappear in the future once we are certain the build works as intended and we have proper analytics to ensure our players are always getting the highest quality matches.
  
• Backup is disabled for this build and will not function. This will be added in a future deployment.
  
• Unopposed missions are no longer present in this build, and all missions are instantly opposed.
  
• Team alliance is non-functional and will be re-implemented.
  
• The matchmaker will no longer attempt to make matches that are unequal in size. You will be matched exactly according to initial mission sizes - 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4.
  
• Fight Club, Social and Minigame Districts will be unaffected by these changes and are outside the scope of our testing. However, they may be present.
  

• With this build, we have deployed new code based on the existing matchmaking functionality on Live. We have changed the way data is interpreted, used, and calculated with multiple players, but the underlying individual skill rating formulas are the same.
  
• Matchmaking has been moved from District to World.
  
• Matchmaking will only function in the same district - at least for now. We plan on expanding matchmaking to function cross-district within the next coming weeks.
  
• Attempting to ready up cross-district will fail without any errors. This is a known issue and we are tracking it.
  
• Threat is visible for testing purposes, but may disappear in the future once we are certain the build works as intended and we have proper analytics to ensure our players are always getting the highest quality matches.
  
• Backup is disabled for this build and will not function. This will be added in a future deployment.
  
• Unopposed missions are no longer present in this build, and all missions are instantly opposed.
  
• Team alliance is non-functional and will be re-implemented.
  
• The matchmaker will no longer attempt to make matches that are unequal in size. You will be matched exactly according to initial mission sizes - 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4.
  
• Fight Club, Social and Minigame Districts will be unaffected by these changes and are outside the scope of our testing. However, they may be present.
  

• With this build, we have deployed new code based on the existing matchmaking functionality on Live. We have changed the way data is interpreted, used, and calculated with multiple players, but the underlying individual skill rating formulas are the same.
  
• Matchmaking has been moved from District to World.
  
• Matchmaking will only function in the same district - at least for now. We plan on expanding matchmaking to function cross-district within the next coming weeks.
  
• Attempting to ready up cross-district will fail for the time being.
  
• Threat is visible for testing purposes, but may disappear in the future once we are certain the build works as intended and we have proper analytics to ensure our players are always getting the highest quality matches.
  
• Backup is disabled for this build and will not function. This will be added in a future deployment.
  
• Unopposed missions are no longer present in this build, and all missions are instantly opposed.
  
• Team alliance is non-functional and will be re-implemented.
  
• The matchmaker will no longer attempt to make matches that are unequal in size. You will be matched exactly according to initial mission sizes - 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4.
  
• Fight Club, Social and Minigame Districts will be unaffected by these changes and are outside the scope of our testing. However, they may be present.