Embark Studios released Update 9.4.0 for THE FINALS this week with a broad sweep of fixes, a handful of balance nudges, performance optimizations, and a store update that drops the new P1XEL REIGN crew. The patch also notes that Snowball Blitz is in its last week, so players still chasing contracts have one more run at the winter LTM.
- Last week of Snowball Blitz and the P1XEL REIGN crew arriving in the store.
- Weapon tweaks to the CB-01 Repeater, FAMAS, V9S, and Recurve Bow.
- Wide-ranging bug fixes across animation, audio, cosmetics, UI, maps, and performance improvements for PC and Xbox.
The update continues work from recent patches that kept the holiday LTM active and rolled out Season 9 changes in Update 9.3.0 and the Season 9 Dragon Rising launch for background on the season’s new modes and maps.
Players should expect immediate fallout in medium and light weapon roles: the patch eases some of the CB-01 and V9S dominance and shifts the FAMAS toward more burst-friendly handling. Map and mode adjustments aim to smooth flow on Monaco, Bernal, Kyoto, and others, and a raft of UI and cosmetic fixes reduce visual bugs and clipping. Performance work targets animation hitches in large matches, replay loading, ray tracing, and Xbox-specific stuttering.
Patch Notes
It’s the first week back in 2026 and we’ve packed this week’s update with a long list of bug-fixes, some balance changes, and performance improvements all detailed below. Check it out, keep warm, and…
SEE YOU IN THE ARENA!
Snowball Blitz | Last Chance
This is the last week of Snowball Blitz, so make a pile of snowballs and turn in those contracts!
Store Update | P1XEL REIGN CREW
This week, the crowd is about to go absolutely wild!
C-Pop group P1XEL REIGN have entered the Arena and they’re here to take the spotlight from everyone! Do you have what it takes to face them?
Balance Changes
Gadgets
Breach Drill
- Increased the length of the drill bit from 83cm to 108cm, to allow it to more effectively drill through deep walls
Dev Note: We noticed some locations in the world had thick enough walls that they would prevent the Breach Drill’s flash from impacting players on the other side. This change should address that
Game Modes
Cashout/Ranked Tournaments
- Updated the logic for deciding where Cashout Stations should spawn, to create more consistent distances between Cashout Stations and Vaults
Dev Note: This is a small iteration that hopefully makes round pacing more consistent. One of our goals over the next season or two is to revisit various spawn systems, from objective spawns to team/coin spawns.
Weapons
CB-01 Repeater
- Increased aim down sights zoom time from 0.2s to 0.24s, making it slightly slower to aim down sights
- Increased bullet dispersion when crouched, moving while crouched, and when standing still, making the weapon slightly less accurate
Dev Note: The CB-01 has been over performing for a while now, compared to all other Medium weapons, and it sits as the one of the bigger outlier weapons in the game at present. Much of its power comes from it remaining effective at closer ranges when the weapon is intended to specialize at longer ranges. These changes should reduce its close range effectiveness without damaging its performance at range, but this is a weapon we’ll continue to monitor closely.
FAMAS
- Adjusted the recoil pattern, making the weapon jump more during the initial burst and adding slightly more recoil overall
- Increased bullet dispersion slightly, across all stances
- Decreased the delay before recoil recovery begins from 0.7s to 0.24s, making the weapon much easier to control if the player fires in bursts
- Decreased recoil recovery speed from 0.9 to 0.8
Dev Note: We feel the FAMAS has become a little too effective at both long and close range, meaning it has very few drawbacks compared to some other Medium weapons and often fills the role that we intended for the AKM and FCAR. These changes nudge it towards being a medium-to-long ranged weapon, and make it slightly less effective up close.
Recurve Bow
- Increased rate of fire from 98 RPM to 103 RPM
- Decreased minimum draw time from 0.15s to 0.08s, making it faster to perform quick shots
Dev Note: The Bow has dropped off in usage and various other metrics over time making it one of the weaker and least popular Light weapons. These changes are aimed at bumping up its power to give it greater viability.
V9S
- Decreased the damage fall-off end range from 25m to 20m
Dev Note: We mentioned in Update 9.1 that our 9.0 buffs to the V9S had pushed it into a dominant position, especially when it came to damage output per round. Despite some adjustments in 9.1 to try and address that, the V9S still remains a significant outlier in terms of performance, largely due to its increased value in medium ranged fights since S9 launched. This change should firmly push it back towards being a more closed ranged weapon, rather than having it cannibalize the role of other Light weapons.
Content and Bug Fixes
Animation
- Fixed a visual issue where one of the .50 Akimbo pistols could appear to float when affected by a flashbang or when burning
- Fixed incorrect thigh deformation on characters during movement
- Adjusted the animation when a Contestant using .50 Akimbo pistols is pulled by a Winch Claw
- Fixed meshes appearing blurry during inspect animations
- Fixed an issue where, in some BFR animations, the Weapon Charm could appear on screen before the Weapon
- Fixed an issue where being glitched while aiming with the H+ Infuser could cause melee weapons (such as the Dagger) to be held in an ADS pose until swapped
- Fixed animation distortions when entering Low Gravity while using Akimbo pistols and Mesh Shield
- Fixed a firing animation issue for .50 Akimbo pistols after using Mesh Shield
- Fixed an issue where certain Weapon action animations would not play after switching items mid-action and switching back
- Fixed an issue where the quick melee animation sometimes did not play when used immediately after the Spear spin attack or while using Mesh Shield
- Fixed throwing animations not playing after certain actions
Audio
- Fixed an issue where sounds could be muted when leaving paused private lobbies
- Fixed incorrect destruction sounds on various environmental objects
- Included the announcer as part of the commentary volume slider which can be adjusted in Settings
- Updated and polished deploy sounds for many Weapons and Gadgets to improve clarity and consistency
- Fixed an issue where the commentator voice-over at the end of a round in Cashout could be cut off
- Added a sound for inserting a second Cashbox into a Cashout Station
- Adjusted ÖRF grenade voice lines to prevent them from cutting off. Inspect lines now stop when you throw, but continue when preparing to throw
Contract
- Fixed an issue where grenade damage was not recognized for related sponsor Contracts
Cosmetic
- Fixed finger clipping with the QuickSpark sight when inspecting the Revolver with the Plundersteel skin
- Fixed several boots clipping with pants
- Improved hoodie compatibility for the Military Mechanic Hat, fixed hood clipping on Engineer’s Crown, and made Facewear correctly replace the Crisp Ops Helmet to prevent overlap
- Improved the reliability of outfit icons when creating a new outfit in the customization menu
- Improved cloth collision on Heavy Outfits to better fit the Moonbeam Dress top and to reduce visual clipping
- Fixed an issue where newly purchased customization items were not equipped when selecting Equip from the store highlight splash screen
- Fixed a visual issue where the CL-40’s bullet glow could persist after using the Choppy Check inspect and starting an emote
- Reduced clipping on The Beakon and The Beakend Masks from the Chirurgeon and Apothecarion sets
- Adjusted the Surgeon’s Cowl and Best Practice Cowl fit around the shoulders
- Wrist and watch cosmetics now display correctly with the Crosswind Cloak
- Fixed an OSPUZE Sponsor Emote, Mizdown, where the can prop could appear upside down
- Improved compatibility with Long Coats for the Brush of Greatness fox tail
- Fixed naked characters appearing in team intros
- Adjusted the Core Slinger Emote’s muzzle flash on the Player Card to prevent overly bright flashes
- Adjusted the Sledgehammer’s on-screen positioning when customizing or inspecting it in the menus
- Magazines now visually reflect remaining ammo and empty-mag visuals have been added
- Fixed a visual issue where the Anti-Gravity Cube could sometimes show an incorrect skin when deployed
- Fixed an issue where the Concrete Canopy skin would cause the XP-54 to render incorrectly
Gameplay
- Fixed some instances of the “can’t shoot” bug
- Environmental kills now correctly display the granted score
- Added a hit marker when successfully glitching a Gateway
- Added a critical hit marker for Flashbang. The hitmarker now indicates flash effectiveness, showing yellow for a very successful hit
Gamemodes
Point break
- Party members now spawn together more often at the start of Point Break matches
- Lockbolt can no longer attach to the Grand Vaults
Dev Note: Grand Vault manipulation has become a fairly negative experience for many players in Point Break mode since the mode launched and it’s something we’re keen to reduce to ensure more enjoyable matches. This change is the first of a series of changes we’re likely to make over the next few weeks to make manipulation of Grand Vaults much more limited.
Bernal
- Slightly adjusted a Phase 2 Attacker spawn on Bernal to improve flow
Monaco
Phase 1:
- Moved objectives B and C one house further away from the Cathedral
- Moved attacker spawns back a little to maintain similar travel distances to the objectives
- Tweaked Ziplines and planks for smoother routes between the adjusted objective locations
- Replaced a Zipline for a Jump Pad at one of the Attacker spawns for more consistent access to the rooftops
Dev note: Objective B could be quite difficult and sometimes frustrating to capture, due to the defenders having a strong natural high ground advantage from the Cathedral next to it. We hope that these changes still make the Cathedral a fun and meaningful position for long-range Defenders, but less oppressive when attacking. Objective C was moved to maintain a nice flow between it and the new objective B location, and to give it more layers of destruction to better sustain prolonged large-scale battles when it’s the last objective remaining.
Phase 2:
- Moved objective E in the Cathedral slightly away from the wall to make movement around it more comfortable
- Adjusted the Attacker border so it sits a bit further away from the shed in the Forest where Objective G of Phase 3 is located
- Added extra Ziplines to increase rooftop access
Phase 3:
- Added extra Ziplines to increase rooftop access
SYS Horizon
Phase 1:
- Slightly moved Objective B to avoid a small gap between it and the wall, through which you could unexpectedly get shot
Phase 3:
- Adjusted a Defender spawn to improve flow and make a Zipline easier to spot and use
Power Shift
- Fixed an unintended loop in the Power Shift platform path on Kyoto that caused rapid rotation
Dev note: Because of the above fix Kyoto will now return to the map pool for Power Shift!
Maps
Kyoto
- Fixed a hillside spawn that could cause players to clip into terrain
- Adjusted Kyoto’s map border to better follow the hillside terrain and restored a missing wall end at the stables
- Removed the bamboo cluster between Cliffside and the Temples to improve readability
Bernal
- Fixed an issue where the ISEUL‑T Hotel could collapse erratically after partial destruction
- Fixed an issue where parts of a building could float after nearby structures were destroyed in the residential area
Seoul
- Fixed an issue where the bridge to the Data Center could clip into nearby structures in the Hospital area
Fangwai City
- Fixed a destruction weak spot in the Traditional area that could cause structures to collapse too easily
- Fixed a gap in the ground that could appear after destroying a residential building
- Improved the visibility of railings and monitors at lower quality settings in the Terminal Area
- Resolved an issues that caused objects to disappear when moving behind certain cliff rocks
Monaco
- Added a ladder on the flat-roof building in the Hotels area to improve rooftop traversal across all modes and variants
- Adjusted the cover placement in some of the Hotels and Shopping District houses to make them less cluttered
Practice Range
- Fixed an issue in the Combat Arena where Gadgets and Specializations could be placed out of bounds under the entryway
Performance
- Improved animation performance in 8v8 matches
- Improved Instant Replay timing
- Disabled dynamic shadows in reflections to improve performance
- Optimized lighting data to improve performance across all platforms
- Improved performance by loading Player Card Backgrounds asynchronously to reduce hitches during previews
- Optimized character cloth simulation during animation updates to reduce CPU cost and improve frame performance
- Optimized destruction updates to reduce stutters during large-scale breakage, improving responsiveness in heavy destruction moments
- Optimized performance by disabling ray tracing on VFX static meshes
- Improved ray-traced performance on Kyoto by reducing triangle counts on common environment meshes
- We’ve made a series of ray tracing optimizations across several maps to improve performance and visual consistency
- Optimized collision for Frag, Smoke, Sonar, Goo, Gas, Incendiary, EMP, and Flashbang grenades to improve performance and interaction accuracy
- Optimized replay loading during checkpoints, reducing startup time
- Improved performance and reduced hitching on Xbox
- Improved performance by optimizing animations, especially on lower-spec PCs
- Refined collision for Dome Shield, EMP Trap, Gravity Vortex, Gateway, Explosive Mine, Gas Mine, and Incendiary Mine to improve performance and interactions
- Improved network stability by fixing an issue that could cause unexpected lag spikes and rubberbanding
- Fixed performance issues caused by NVIDIA Shader Cache being full
Social
- Party invites across platforms now show an error when crossplay is disabled
Spectator
- Fixed an issue where Spectators in Private Matches could not see the health bars of Contestants while invisible due to the Vanishing Bomb or Cloaking Device
UI
- Added the Match Recap to Power Shift
- Fixed an issue where the season introduction screen could repeatedly reappear when returning from sub-menus after dismissing it
- Fixed an issue where Practice Range dummies displayed an incorrect specialization icon
- Fixed an issue where Attackers who backfilled into an ongoing Point Break match could see “Hold to Disarm” instead of “Hold to Arm” when arming the Grand Vault
- Fixed an issue where a new marker could appear on the Career screen despite no new items being available
- Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in an Instant Replay if revived right as it started
- All icons now display a direction marker when highlighted
- Fixed an issue where tutorial hints in World Tour could not be skipped with a controller and might instead open the Rewards screen
- Gameplay UI elements now respect slow motion and pause
- Fixed interaction prompts appearing during the Spear’s spin attack when actions cannot be performed
- Fixed an issue where the schedule button on the World Tour map screen was not clickable
- Fixed an issue where input progress would not display during hold interactions
- Fixed an issue where the left navigation arrow in the Store’s Legacy Battle Passes were hard to select
- Improved controller navigation in the Game Mode Rules screen: you can now scroll through the Arenas & Variants tab with a gamepad and the map list correctly includes Fangwai City where applicable
- Fixed an issue where the tournament screen could be skipped in Ranked matches
- Fixed an issue where team wipe notifications could incorrectly state that a team eliminated themselves
- Fixed an unintended camera zoom-out when returning to the menu after previewing a reward in the Contracts screen
- Fixed some concurrent game show events missing icons
- Added click and hover sounds to World Tour progression and reward buttons in the menu
- You can now back out of the “Sign with Sponsor” screen by pressing Esc
- Added the Point Break leaderboard to the Career menu
- Fixed an issue where newly created outfits could display a missing icon
- Progression animations in menus now play in parallel for a snappier feel
- Fixed an issue where background audio could continue after leaving mid-animation
- Fixed a brief stretch of the loading screen background before entering a match
- Added primary and secondary shortcuts to the World Tour calendar for the current week, allowing quick access to start the mode or view contracts
- Improved World Tour calendar navigation: left/right buttons move between stops, and map stops are now clickable
- Fixed incorrect progress indicators when objectives are armed in Point Break
- Added an animation to the Attacker ticket view in Point Break to make changes easier to spot
- Added a larder header to the Point Break rule information on the loading screen for improved visibility
VFX
- Fixed overexposed Meteor Shower visuals at night
- Improved victory line-up lighting on Monaco at night to address overly bright, washed-out visuals
- Fixed missing impact decals on ice in Kyoto (winter condition) for Weapons and Gadgets
Weapons
Sword
- Added a small timing buffer to charged lunges, preventing cases where damage would trigger but the lunge wouldn’t when released just before landing
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The Finals
Developed by Embark Studios
Join The Finals, the world-famous, free-to-play, combat-centered game show! Fight alongside your teammates in virtual arenas that you can alter, exploit, and even destroy. Build your own playstyle in this first-person shooter to win escalating tournaments and lasting fame. Can you reach The Finals?
- Genre: Shooter
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Modes: Multiplayer, Co-operative
- Release: 2023-12-07
- Publisher: Embark Studios
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Age Rating:
GRAC 15+ / PEGI 12 / CLASS_IND 12 / ACB PG / USK 16 / ESRB T
- IGDB Rating: 74.6/100
