May 16, 2023

Post Beta Recap

May 16, 2023

BY Paul Yan

It’s been roughly 3 weeks since Crash Team Rumble’s Closed Beta experience and today, I wanted to share a brief update with you about what we've learned and how we're tracking toward launch. First of all - if you participated in the Beta, thank you so much for giving the game a try. Your experience gives us the necessary real-world data to help tune the game and track down problematic edge cases for us to improve. A very special thank you to those of you who also took the time to fill out the survey and share your insights and hopes with us. We appreciate your feedback so, so much.

I'm very glad to share that a large majority of you reported having had a great time with Crash Team Rumble and are excited to play more. Many of you played over 100 matches - some of you even played over 30 hours that weekend!! (Maybe take a break once in a while?) But otherwise - that’s incredible!! It also looks like many of you were surprised that you had as much fun as you did. It's becoming somewhat of a running joke with us at Toys for Bob to see many comments use the word "actually" to describe their experience - as in "the game's actually really fun!" We’ll take the back-handed compliment.

We also see that getting hands-on with the game made a positive difference. Perhaps it’s because the game's difficult to describe as a brand new genre or because video doesn't quite capture the frenetic decision-making that's required to make interesting strategic plays - whatever the case, Beta provided the opportunity for more players to experience the game first-hand and be pleasantly surprised.

As we followed along during the Beta, we were encouraged to see you grow in your understanding of how to play some of the more advanced characters like Neo Cortex, and how to circumvent "unstoppable" blockers like Dingodile (that said, we are making tuning adjustments for better balance). We saw that it took some time for you to understand roles, but when you did - it unlocked a new type of play and appreciation for the different hero kits and when to engage with each map's unique set of Relic Stations.

Lastly, on the technical side of things - you reported that the matchmaking and lobby experience was “actually” solid. We saw issues with idle players holding up match wait times and some cross-play issues we hadn't encountered before (both of which we now have a fix for!), but we've come away from the experience high-fiving our Engineering team and having a higher level of confidence and excitement for launch on June 20th. All. Systems. Go.

One more thing before we wrap - we got a lot of questions asking about the Tawna skin dubbed "Retro Threads". I'm excited to share that with you today. This skin is (Alt) Tawna's homage to the original Tawna (from the very first Crash Bandicoot game) by donning her iconic blonde hairstyle and classic outfit. This skin is exclusive to those who pre-order the game. Many of you applauded the customization options and I can’t wait for you to experience what Season 1 has to offer.

That's all folks!

Paul Yan

Toys for Bob

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