Roblox comes back online after three-day outage

 

Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Roblox is finally returning to normal after a nearly three-day outage. The gaming platform's developer said it was "incrementally" bringing regions back to service after having pinpointed the cause roughly three hours earlier. The company had a possible candidate on October 30th, but didn't narrow it down until a day later.

The company didn't detail the cause, but had previously ruled out particular "experiences or partnerships." Some had blamed the outage on a Chipotle promo that launched half an hour before the failure took place on the evening of October 28th.

Whatever the reason for the outage, it may have had a lasting effect. Roblox has over 40 million daily users, and has been home to major concerts in recent months. That could leave more than a few frustrated kids, not to mention parents and creators wondering about the long-term reliability of the platform.

Update 01/11/21 12:15PM ET: The developer of Roblox has shared more information on what caused this weekend's three-day outage. In a blog post published over the weekend, the studio attributed the incident to a combination of factors that involved a hard-to-identify bug. 

This was an especially difficult outage in that it involved a combination of several factors. A core system in our infrastructure became overwhelmed, prompted by a subtle bug in our backend service communications while under heavy load. This was not due to any peak in external traffic or any particular experience. Rather the failure was caused by the growth in the number of servers in our datacenters. The result was that most services at Roblox were unable to effectively communicate and deploy.

The difficulty the company had in identifying the glitch was what took so long for a fix to come through. Once it's done a full analysis of what happened, it plans to publish a post-mortem that will include measures it plans to take to avoid similar outages in the future. "We are sorry for the length of time it took us to restore service, and are deeply grateful for the patience and support of Roblox’s player, developer, and partner community," a spokesperson for the company told Engadget. 

Take-Two buys 'OlliOlli World' developer Roll7

Private Division

Take-Two Interactive, the owner of Rockstar Games and 2K, has added another studio to its roster. Roll7, the small team behind the OlliOlli skateboarding series, is joining the company's Private Division publishing label.

Private Division will release Roll7's next game, OlliOlli World, in the first quarter of 2022. It seems both sides found they worked well enough together to make their partnership a permanent one, with Roll7 becoming one of Private Division's in-house studios. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Roll7 is known for its flow state approach to games, the idea bring that players will become completely immersed in a game and focus entirely on it. The original OlliOlli was released in 2014 on PlayStation Vita, and Roll7 earned a BAFTA best sports game award for it the following year.

In OlliOlli World, you'll rack up points for nailing tricks while navigating each level. Roll7 opted for a hand-drawn art style this time around, following the pixel art design of the first two games in the series. The result is a gorgeous-looking title that I'm looking forward to checking out. OlliOlli World is coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Everybody gets hats in the first free 'Bugsnax' DLC, The Isle of BIGsnax

 

Young Horses

PlayStation exclusive Bugsnax is getting a lot bigger in a few different ways next year with the Isle of BIGsnax update. Heading to PlayStation 4 and PS5 in early 2022, The Isle of BIGsnax unlocks a new landscape filled with oversized Bugsnax, plus it adds challenges to complete and hut-decorating options back on Snaktooth Island. And of course, the cutest part of the update is the ability to dress up your Bugsnax in various hats. 

The Isle of BIGsnax update will be free for all Bugsnax owners (try saying that ten times fast).

Bugsnax was a PS5 launch title, dropping alongside a tight roster of big names like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the Demon's Souls remake. It comes from independent studio Young Horses, which was previously known for making Octodad, a surprisingly heartwarming physics game about an octopus pretending to be a normal father.

Recently, Young Horses has made headlines for establishing a permanent four-day work week, in the interest of cultivating a healthy work-life balance for employees. This is a big deal in the video game industry, where crunch — implementing 100-hour weeks and otherwise overwhelming employees' lives — is a common business practice.

“While I enjoy making weirdo games, it's also just very important that I'm making responsible decisions to take care of the people I work with, stuff like that,” Young Horses co-founder Philip Tibitoski told Engadget in January. “That's become much more of a thing than it used to be, or at least I've moved further into a business-y, boss role, I guess. Weird, but feels right.”

The Chinese version of 'Fortnite' will shut down on November 15th

 

Epic Games/Tencent

Epic Games and Tencent are shutting down the Chinese version of Fortnite. Would-be players are no longer able to register or download the game, and the servers will be closed on November 15th, according to an announcement on the battle royale's Chinese website.

"The test of Fortress Night has come to an end," the message reads (via Google Translate). "We will shut down the server in the near future." No reason was given for the game's closure.

Players who dropped into that version of Fortnite had a different experience to those elsewhere, as PC Gamer notes. There was a separate health bar for damage sustained in the storm, and several players could earn a Victory Royale if they survived for long enough.

Though it's not clear how many Fortnite players there were in China, it never officially launched in the country, according to analyst Daniel Ahmad. Fortnite's Chinese incarnation was in beta testing for over two years and the government didn't grant Tencent, which published the game there, a license. As such, Tencent was unable to monetize Fortnite with in-app transactions. Engadget has contacted Epic and Tencent for comment.

Ahmad also pointed out that battle royale titles are "strictly regulated" in China. The original version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds had no monetization functions in the country. Tencent launched a more patriotic, gore-free replacement in 2019 called Game for Peace, to which regulators gave the green light.

Meta is acquiring the maker of VR workout app 'Supernatural'

 

Within/Meta

Facebook made it pretty clear that it's focusing on the metaverse when it rebranded itself as Meta, and its latest acquisition is part of that effort. Jason Rubin, the company's VP of Metaverse Content has revealed that Meta is acquiring Within, the creator of immersive virtual reality workout app Supernatural for Oculus Quest headsets. A rep for Within previously described Supernatural to Engadget as "part Beat Saber, part Dance Dance Revolution, part Guitar Hero with your whole body.

In a separate announcement (via TechCrunch), Within CEO Chris Milk and Head of fitness Leanne Pedante said that its coaches, choreographers and managers will continue being part of the team. They'll work on VR fitness experiences for Supernatural independently under Meta's Reality Labs. While Within will have to answer to its new parent company going forward, Milk's and Pedante's statement says the the acquisition will give them access to more resources, including more music, more features and more social experiences.

In Supernatural, you'll have to hit colored orbs flying at you from its various VR environments using your controllers. The balls will shatter if you hit them with enough force, but they'll only float away if you don't — you'll get scored at the end based on how you do. Supernatural has a 30-day free trial period, after which it'll cost you $19 a month for continued access.