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Automaton Games Adds 1000-Player Mode to Revolutionary Battle Royale Game, Mavericks: Proving Grounds, Built with Improbable’s SpatialOS

Debuts First Gameplay Trailer and Reveals Upcoming Closed Beta

World’s largest battle royale game invites players to join closed beta this August

LOS ANGELES, June 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Electronic Entertainment Expo — Today at the PC Gaming Show, Automaton Games, developer of the upcoming massive multiplayer tactical shooter Mavericks: Proving Grounds debuts its first gameplay trailer, showcasing brand-new features and the unprecedented scale of its highly-anticipated 400-player, next-gen battle royale experience.

Mavericks’ battle royale will also feature a 1000-player mode that will break the battleground and offer a revolutionary multiplayer experience, Automaton revealed. Available shortly after launch, these 1000-player battles will feature five-player squads dropped into a continually shrinking section of the game’s 16x16km (100 square miles) map to compete to the last team standing. Two hundred to 400-player solo and squad games will be available as standard from Mavericks’ early access release later in the year.

Closed beta and exclusive E3 content

Automaton also announced that its closed beta will launch this August, giving a limited number of players the chance to play Mavericks for the very first time. Players can sign up for a chance to access the free, closed beta, and be part of the world’s largest ever battle royale game, at mavericks.gg/closed-beta. Players who sign up before 11:59 p.m. PDT on June 17 can also claim an exclusive E3 Content Pack that includes a unique in-game weapon skin and starter outfit.

“Players have been asking us when they’ll be able to go hands-on with Mavericks from the moment we shared the first details,” said James Thompson, CEO of Automaton Games. “At E3, we’re delighted to be able to show off a sample of what they can look forward to, and to open registrations for our closed beta. We’re building not just the world’s biggest battle royale experience, but a game which uses our technology and Improbable’s SpatialOS platform to innovate in ways that go beyond player numbers. Seeing how players experiment with these new tools and systems will help us to take the Mavericks experience to new levels.”

Players joining the Mavericks: Proving Grounds beta can expect a genre-defining experience including advanced gameplay systems such as destructible environments, unique and dynamic wildlife and terrain deformation. This makes Mavericks the world’s only persistent, living world battle royale game.

This is made possible thanks to Improbable’s ground-breaking technology, SpatialOS. SpatialOS is a cloud-based platform for creating games that go beyond the design limitations of traditional server architectures, allowing developers to build massive, living, persistent worlds with player populations that were previously impossible.

Mavericks: Proving Grounds will release in two phases: the battle royale mode at the end of 2018, supplemented by a persistent open world in 2019. To sign up for the free closed beta, visit mavericks.gg/closed-beta.

Fans of Mavericks will also want to keep their eyes peeled, with Automaton teasing even more exciting reveals throughout E3.

See Mavericks at E3

Twitch @E3 2018: James Thompson will be joined by Bill Roper, Chief Creative Officer of Improbable, who will reveal more exciting gameplay and features from Mavericks live on the Twitch stage @E3 Wednesday, June 13 at 1:15 p.m. Pacific Time. Tune in on Twitch.tv/twitch

PC Gamer @ Facebook’s E3 2018 Livestream: Mavericks will be dropping more exciting news about the game during PC Gamer’s Facebook Livestream on Wednesday, June 13 at 10:35 a.m. PT. Watch it here https://www.facebook.com/pcgamermagazine/

Follow Mavericks on Twitter at @playmavericks and with the hashtag #MavericksE3.

About Automaton
Founded in 2015, Automaton is a fast-paced team led by breakaway veteran talent from historic MMO’s such as RuneScape and EVE Online. Since incorporation, Automaton has pioneered a revolutionary approach to MMO design and development, which it will be showcasing in 2018. At the same time, the team launched an experimental online game in 2017, the multiplayer psychological shooter Deceit – the first game to use the CRYENGINE V platform and showcase its latest features. In August 2017 Automaton received a $10m investment from Cambridge Venture Partners.

About Improbable
Founded in 2012 in London, UK, Improbable is a company dedicated to building technology to enable powerful virtual worlds and simulations designed to help solve previously intractable problems. In gaming and entertainment, this enables the creation of richer, more immersive and persistent virtual worlds. In May 2017 Improbable announced a $502m Series B funding round, led by SoftBank.

About SpatialOS
SpatialOS lets developers exceed the limits of a single server or game engine using standard tools and game engines. It allows for a swarm of hundreds of game engines, running in the cloud, to cooperate to simulate a world much larger, richer, and with more players than any single engine or server could. SpatialOS is currently in a free open beta for game developers – any developer interested in exploring how they can use SpatialOS to create new realities can download the SDK at https://improbable.io/games.

The post 1000-Player Mode Battle Royale Game, Mavericks appeared first on The Nerd Element.

His raspy voice first boomed through my headphones on the Wake Up Show anthem back in 1994, changing my life forever. I remember sitting up in bed when he began spitting his intricate rhymes, wondering who the hell he was and how I could hear more. At the time, I was shy and quiet, and spent most of my time trying to make sense of my parents’ tenuous relationship, which wobbled on the precipice of divorce. Just when I needed it most, the kid who’d dubbed himself "the corrupt novelist Nas" invaded my ears, giving me something else to obsess over than the demise of my family. After his Wake Up Show salvo, I found my way to Illmatic, Nas’ seminal first album that inspired me to be a writer. I would listen to that tape—yes, tape—for hours on end as Nas rapped about the horrors and joy of Queensbridge, dodging overzealous cops, and mourning slain friends. Though he was talking about a hood 3,000 miles away from my own, I found solace in the stories he weaved, and eventually picked up my own pen to begin telling my own. I would not be a writer if it weren’t for Nas. In 2016, I was able to tell him just how much his music, his words, meant to me growing up. Thankfully, he was warm and gracious and humble, all things you want your faves to be when you finally meet them. I walked away feeling blessed to be in his presence, and relieved he wasn’t an asshole like so many other celebrities who have been hailed as geniuses. And then, things changed. In April, Kelis detailed years of physical and emotional violence she said she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband, Nas. "It was really dark," Kelis said of their relationship. "A lot of drinking. A lot of mental and physical abuse and it got to the point where if I wasn’t pregnant, I might have stayed with him. I really did love him. We were married—we weren’t dating, we were married, this was my person." Nas was also my person. He was the rapper I would refer to when defending the genre against critics who said rap was merely a place for men to be materialistic and misogynistic. And though he’s had his fair share of problematic songs ("Owe Me," "Oochie Wally," and "Black Girl Lost" come to mind), most would agree Nas tries to "say something" in his music, whether it’s about investing in Black businesses, inspiring the next generation, or being a good dad. Being physically abusive just didn’t seem to be in line with the man I’d grown to love through his music. Then again, domestic violence rarely takes place out in the open. And when women have accused rappers like Fabolous, the Notorious B.I.G., and Big Pun of abuse in the past, they’ve been largely ignored, or worse, ostracized. So while I was devastated to hear of the violent relationship between Nas and Kelis, given some rappers’ history of abuse, I wasn’t surprised. I also wasn’t willing to push the accusations aside to enjoy his music.  Thursday, Nas dropped his 11th studio album, Nasir, and I haven’t even listened to it yet. Normally, I would’ve tuned into his listening party and streamed the album back-to-back as soon as I could, but between Kelis’ allegations and Kanye West’s involvement in the project, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Many people, however, could. Nasir trended on Twitter Thursday night, with scores of fans hailing it as a return to form for the Queensbridge legend. Aside from a few scattered tweets from Black women like Professor Blair Kelley, who admitted, "Kelis' statement about abuse in her relationship and Kanye being Kanye have really messed up my ability to just listen to Nasir and just not think about what I know," most have seemed to be able to either separate Kelis’ abuse allegations from Nas’ artistry, or ignore them altogether. Over on Forbes, writer Bryan Rolli, wondered, "Why hasn't Nas been forced to reckon with abuse allegations ahead of 'Nasir' release?" In his article, he grappled with the outrage over Kanye West’s support of Donald Trump versus Kelis’ abuse claims against Nas. "Nas’ new project has generated excitement through a scarcity of details. And just as West’s two new releases, ye and Kids See Ghosts, followed the rapper’s controversial, scorched-earth media blitz, Nas’ album arrives amidst controversy in the form of assault allegations from his ex-wife, Kelis," Rolli wrote. "The difference is, while fans and critics still want to crucify West for his asinine public behavior, they haven’t bothered to hold Nas accountable for the allegations levied against him." One reason very few people have threatened to "cancel" Nas (as they did with West) may be because women are often seen as disposable and untrustworthy. That’s true of the wider culture, but it’s especially true in hip-hop music, where "I don’t love them hoes" has been the mantra for the better part of 20 years. Another reason people haven’t demanded Nas answer to Kelis’ claims is our resistance to holding our faves accountable when they’ve done things we typically find reprehensible. It happened in the wake of Bill Cosby’s rape allegations and conviction, and it’s currently happening for many who still listen to R. Kelly’s music in spite of two decades worth of sexual misconduct accusations. For me, the issue remains complicated. While I’ve cut Kelly out of my musical rotation forever, I still sometimes watch reruns of The Cosby Show, and when I’m feeling down and need a little pick-me-up, I still throw on Nas’ "The World Is Yours." And when it comes to Nasir, I can’t promise that I’ll never listen to the album. In fact, I’m pretty certain I will hear it one day. But as a fan of the man and his music, Nas’ silence on Kelis’ allegations speak louder than any song in his classic catalogue.