Let’s Chat Discover - 5/27 @ 2PM ET - Question thread

General Announcements
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23

Will the discover team stop being dismissive and defensive?

Whenever concerns are raised the reply is this is functioning as intended. They are seeing the results they want to see without addressing the actual issue. For instance, not pausing to think we are seeing a result we like but maybe there are really bad side effects. For instance maybe your super happy your filtering brought some random map to the front of the row with 20 minute playtime and 7% retention, but could also accept yeah maybe that is wrong because you pushed back 4 other stronger maps with better stats to try to find one good one. It was a massive net negative if you start looking at that bad it’s causing as well.

Can there be more transparency around why rows are not functioning as they are described?

How discover works mentions we need good playtime, retention, CCU, etc. but then maps with 3x better stats can be in placement #50 on a row while a map with way worse stats are at the front. I understand wanting to push more innovative maps or ohhh they have QPTR but in the end if they are vastly outweigh by better maps that are hitting everything else they still should not be there. Overall discover is a much worse place. We are approved for being in that genre, but there is clearly still some part of the algorithm that then just filters it out anyways even if you hit better stats overall.

Why does the discover team prioritized internal goals over player experience?

I get that they want to see things like innovative maps and oh this open world has hundreds of voice lines and custom NPCs and wow it’s everything WE want internally and the row is filled with experiences the discover team is so glad they surfaced. And the playtime is horrendous, retention is horrendous, way better maps are pushed to not even be visible. And the player is pushed maps they are not wanting to play that long, and defiantly not coming back for and will slowly make them less likey to play again. So the internal stuff is really just way too much of a focus right now. Gotta get back to some player stats stats getting you good placement because those stats are the players vote and that vote is being ignored.

Can the discover team give actual clarity?

For instance, the comment that this system is better than before for maps getting exposure. All you have to do is look at maps released in the last month and see how few are actually getting decent numbers. And compare that to two years ago when we had rows like trending. It’s even scarier now because most of the good maps don’t even get exposure it’s just a bunch of 45 CCU maps with bad thumbnails and bad stats being pushed to the front. Then the discover teams gives inaccurate excuses as to it’s functioning as intended instead of a yeah, we need to look at this or at lease be more transparent as to why you are serving these poor maps over better ones so we can understand it.

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24

Why update tab is now accessible only to maps with active players? this will never help new developers, its useless doing maps right now, since if i do a new map, it will go into new tab and after new tab will die, if i will try to update 4-5 days after it will never reach update tab since its only for active maps, this is so unfair, and i hope that you guys will think abt it, cause its impossible.

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25

Last Thursdays update appears to have severely impacted Search Impressions. Can you provide some color if this is a bug or a design change? This is two of our maps. Impressions started to drop on Thursday with the update and since have been very low, close to zero.

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26

I will also add that changes like this really affect smaller creators. We don’t get much discover presence with some of our maps so when users can find our maps via searches it really means a lot to us. We try to adjust our descriptions and titles but when the rules are constantly changing on us it’s hard to make it so players can find our maps.

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27
  1. Can discovery become more family friendly to non popular creators?

For example, its nearly impossible to get plays in a new map for someone who hasnt many followers in their creator profile. " Updated" tab now lets you join only if you already have plays and not islands with zero plays even though they get updated with many changes. Could you revert this so maps with zero plays have a chance to join with big updates?

  1. Could you add a limit on how many impressions a map can get from sponsored per day so this wont be exploited by popular creators and give a chance to smaller ones
  2. Are you planning on re adding collections? It was a good way for more maps to get visibility and plays

Thanks for doing this!

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28

After the last update, Discovery died, and Collections followed suit. Updating any game no longer creates engagement, no players. Creating a new game is also pointless, as it will die before it’s even released. All the work becomes pointless. I don’t think this chat will change the situation.

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29

More transparency is a good step forward. Thank you for this.

(EVERY POINT MADE HAS OVER A MONTH OF ANALYTICAL DATA SUPPORTING IT)

  1. How do you justify the extreme increase in difficulty for a new island to ethically establish 500-1000+ CCU for at least a couple days after launch? (not counting Roblox IP-theft maps or creators with huge communities). The ability to build momentum as a new island with high metrics is nearly impossible since the removal of having the ability to earn multiple rows (Top Rated, Most Engaging etc.)

  2. Many maps with CCUs in the range of 100-300 that have amazing metrics have seen 0 visibility in their genre row (position 1-120) for over a month. How is this justified and why aren’t their amazing signals triggering any visibility in their genre row?

  3. With almost the entire creator community unanimously agreeing that Discovery is really not good and are being forced to quit because of it, when does that become enough to make drastic changes even though they don’t align with your original plan? It is very clear that the state of discovery is the main source of creators giving up and losing faith in UEFN.

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30

Q: Can we get analytics (the old greyed out one) back in creator portal? it was very useful for comparing analytics for multiple maps on one account, unlike the current per project analytics which does not do that aspect at all.

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31

Hi @Flak

I would to asking for the Lets Chat Livestream pools what @Squatingdog hosting.

QA 1: Epic makes on purposes to deni fun elements like fire rate feature whats implemented as creative settings but its somehow out of hands enabled it without turning out in the settings to allowed it. If its not allowed then set this on a creative/uefn as option for enabled/disable it, some maps are made for fun. Options Called Weapon Rapid-Fire No Cooldown (Trigger the shoot Button faster if you can)

QA 2: What devices are epic give us for surprises on the table, maybe a expersions for the devices Weapons Controll Device (ADS, Mag-size, Recoil, Bullet drop etc), Advanced First Person Device, Admin controll device (Midgame/gamestarts public) , New Audio effects, New Inventory slot for zero build Button for having 6 Inventory slots instead 5.

QA 3: Coming (OV) Overwatch on Cooperation to creative/uefn like star wars?

QA 4: What is the next Season what Epic is cooking up for us

QA 5: Take epic games care about Balistic stuff or make new weapons for the creative/uefn developers to make some maps, because these weapons what we already have is to small weapons picks.

I hope you all doing great to keep the game alive

32

Hi,

Why did you remove the “New First Person Island” category? This category meant a lot to me as a new horror map creator. Is there any chance you could bring it back? If not, could you please explain why?

On another note, I wanted to share something else: my developer and I spent over 90 hours (basically a whole week) working on a map. We published it last week, but it didn’t feature in any category (NO DISCOVER - New or Updated). Could you clarify how exactly we can get into these categories?

I know you’re fighting against map spammers, but if you could at least fix this issue, it would be really great!

Scordal

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33

  1. How will new creators get players if their maps never appear in the New Discovery tab?

  2. Why do most maps appearing in Updated tabs belong to already established creators with existing player bases?

  3. Is the New Discovery tab currently bugged or inconsistent for many creators?

  4. What are the exact parameters required for a map to enter the New tab?

  5. Does development time, originality, or effort actually affect New tab placement? I see development does not working properly

  6. Why are maps with no recent updates still appearing in Updated tabs while newly updated maps from small creators receive no visibility?

  7. Will the Updated tab be changed to prioritize actual map updates instead of only active player counts?

  8. Are there plans to add more visibility tabs such as:

  • Weekly Picks

  • Top Rated Weekly

  • Hidden Gems

  • New Maps of the Week

  1. Will Epic create better visibility opportunities specifically for small and new creators?

  2. Can creators get transparency on why their maps did or did not enter Discovery tabs?

  3. Are you planning to improve or retrain moderation AI to reduce false bans and demonetization?

  4. Can Epic create a stronger feedback system or community polls involving small creators instead of mainly established developers?

  5. Why was the older system, where most new maps at least got temporary exposure every few days, removed?

  6. Is Epic aware that many new creators currently feel they only get one chance at visibility before their maps effectively die?

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34

Hello! Congratulations on organizing this livestream. I’m sure it will be both insightful and important for the community. I would like to submit a question that I would be very happy to see answered during the broadcast:

For years, one of the main criticisms of Discover has been the fact that it predominantly prioritizes and recommends maps that feel very repetitive, such as 1v1 and Red vs Blue maps that are practically identical to one another and consistently remain featured in Discover. Meanwhile, maps with innovative mechanics, original ideas, and strong scalability often go unrecommended and end up relying exclusively on Epic Picks for visibility.

How do the recent changes to Discover impact this issue?

Thank you in advance!

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35

Is the end goal of discover to be fully personalised rows + Epic picks? or has it been decided that discover will always include genre/new/‘metric’ rows on the front page instead of being personalised.

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36

Thanks for being open to criticism and questions, with the upcoming live stream.
These are my main questions and doubts:

Q1.
Is Epic aware that the current rotation for the tabs (mostly the top spots, < 7) has changed very few maps, and that some maps have been there since the change of Discover? This can lead to a very stagnant ecosystem, making other maps die really quickly.

Q2.
How does Epic think the current system helps new quality maps surface and keep a stable player base, outside new & updated?

Q3
Are there plans to re introduce tabs like top-rated and most engaging, especially for new & updated maps? That might be a good answer to Q2

Q4.
Are there plans to improve the Discover system to make it more reliable and less prone to bugs? It seems it has had a lot of issues since the changes released.

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37

[8.a] Can you provide any information on the Discover tests that you’ve conducted over the last few months and their results?
[8.b] What Discover changes can we expect following those tests assuming that we’re still in the testing phase?

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38

Do Creators Just Have to Dump Their Maps and Make New Ones?

What choice do creators have rather than dumping their maps and making new ones?

Even when a map reaches the “New” Tab, it often only gets around 3K impressions. After that, where does the map go?

  • You can’t return to the New Tab

  • How will you ever reach the “Updated” Tab without active players?

  • What motivation is there to keep updating your map if visibility is already gone?

If your map gets into New Tab → you have only 1 chance.
If your map does NOT get into New Tab → your map effectively dies immediately, you got 0 chance.

So what option do creators have besides abandoning their maps and making new ones repeatedly?

What can a creator do if:

  • Their map got fewer impressions because of a system mistake?

  • Their map simply didn’t perform well during its first New Tab push?

  • They want to improve and keep updating the map afterward?

Currently there is no Discovery path supporting creators after that point.

Doesn’t this system unintentionally encourage creators to dump projects instead of supporting and improving them long term?

Could this also lead to spam behavior, where creators repeatedly publish new maps just to try getting another chance at the New Tab?

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39

Question: Why did Discovery move away from player-count-based category sorting?

Islands with strong active player counts used to stay visible after being featured, which helped them keep momentum. With the current system, maps can spike to 200+ CCU when they appear in an updated tab, then drop to almost 0 within 30 minutes once they are removed.

From what I have observed, the old system also seemed to help smaller creators and newer maps more. Even if they did not get featured often, they could still climb categories naturally when players were enjoying their island, because the active player count helped keep the island discoverable after the initial feature ended. It also seemed to make categories feel more dynamic, since newer maps had a better chance to appear in front of players instead of the same established maps from bigger creators staying visible most of the time.

What was the reasoning behind this change, and was this drop-off effect considered when moving away from player-count-based category sorting?

Thank you for answering our questions :heart:

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40

question : why the current new and updated are divided ? also i think that currently with new you can do max 20k impressions but back then at the prime news and updated i use to do around 150k impressions so its 10 times better can you bring back this type of news and updated section . we currently do 10minutes in discover when back then it was close to 1hour . I think this is the biggest mlistake you have ever done in disovery . i can also talk about top rated and trending variety but if u fix the news & updated it would be great as first . Currently small and mid creator are stuck in an discover that only push big creator or sponsored

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41

Questions for Epic regarding the current state of Discovery and Sponsored Row.

  1. Is it fair to give new maps only one chance on New Tab and nothing afterwards?
    Isn’t it obvious that sometimes a map can fail on first release due to timing, bad rotation, low exposure, bugs, region issues or anything else? Why is there no second push or retry system afterwards?

  2. Are you guys aware of the current situation where many maps are staying on New Tab for 3 days straight and one map was even there for 7 days?
    Due to New Tab not rotating properly, many maps never even got their position because it was occupied by the same maps forever.

  3. Even after getting 700+ CCU from New Tab with good stats, the map has nowhere else to go.
    There are barely any middle tabs to continue pushing the map. Why was the Top Rated tab removed?
    We should have Top Rated tabs for every region and every category.

  4. Sophistication Score genuinely feels like a myth right now.
    Maps with supposedly “high sophistication” are not entering New Tab while copied maps still enter easily.
    I literally tested a copied map myself and it still entered New Tab with almost the same title and thumbnail while other genuine maps are getting trashed instantly.

  5. Are you aware that the new changes are giving way less impressions to creators?
    Even #10 position is giving only around 3-4k impressions now.

  6. Please check the New Tab daily.
    Even the #1 map sometimes has 0 players.
    The only maps consistently holding 100+ CCU are maps uploaded by creators/accounts that already have followers.

  7. Are you still going to take months or years to fix all of this?
    Can’t these things be adjusted within weeks if the problems are already visible to everyone?

  8. When will the AI moderation system be fixed?
    Right now it feels like the AI moderation specifically targets creators who already got previous violations.
    After one violation the system starts giving more and more false violations, mostly “Keep It Authentic” violations.
    People are even getting IP respect issues on NCS music.

  9. Can we please get a weekly limit on Sponsored Row?

  10. Right now rich studios permanently take the #1 and #2 sponsored positions and have massively increased the price per impression.
    This leads to the same maps appearing in Sponsored Row all the time.

  11. Are you not aware that Sponsored Row is being abused?
    A weekly limit would give the community much more variety and allow all creators an opportunity to benefit from Sponsored Row.

  12. Sponsored Row currently only brings around 100 CCU for lower positions, and smaller creators can only afford or reach those lower positions anyway because top spots are dominated by already rich creators.

NOTE:-
Did you guys actually see the problem? Are you aware of how bad this has become?

Because right now almost every door is closed for new creators.

We barely get New Tab exposure.
We barely get tabs after New Tab.
We can’t compete for Sponsored Rows.
And because of this, creators are just forced to dump months of work with no visibility.

It genuinely feels like only around 50-100 already popular creators/accounts with followers are able to succeed consistently now.

Meanwhile new creators and poor creators upload maps and get dumped by the system immediately before even getting a real chance.

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42

Very excited for this one!

I run FN Analytica, where we spend A LOT of time analyzing Discover patterns, ecosystem trends, and creator performance data, so I’m really looking forward to hearing more about the direction Discover is heading! :grin:

Some questions I’d like to submit please:

1. Category System / Ranking Logic
With the new Discover category selection system, where islands now choose a single category and are only surfaced within that selected category (if correctly allocated), will each category have its own independent ranking model and weighting system for ordering islands within those slots?

For example, will “Combat,” “Social,” “Horror,” or “Tycoon” categories prioritize different engagement or satisfaction signals based on genre-specific player behavior?

Previously, Discover rows such as “Popular” had more clearly defined ranking logic and qualification thresholds. For example, being ranked by highest minutes per impression over 96 hours, alongside thresholds such as Avg CCU ≥2000 and ≥15 minutes per player.

Will these new category systems function similarly, where each category effectively has its own underlying ranking logic, benchmarks, and expansion expectations tailored to that genre/cohort, and if so will those be included in the documentation?

2. Role of Tags Now That Categories Exist
Historically, tag combinations appeared to strongly influence category placement, testing cohorts, and neighboring recommended islands in Discover.

With the introduction of explicit category selection, what role do tags now play in Discover distribution?

Are tags primarily used for validation/classification purposes, or do they still materially influence testing cohort, audience targeting, and row eligibility?

3. Cohort/Category Relative Scoring
With the new category system and increasing personalization in Discover, are islands now primarily evaluated relative to other islands within their selected category/cohort and publishing timeframe, rather than against the entire ecosystem globally?

For example, are performance expectations and expansion thresholds now normalized differently for categories such as Horror, Social, Shooter, or Tycoon?

4. Sophistication / Update Recovery
How does Discover currently evaluate island updates over time?

For example, if an island’s initial release performed poorly or had a low sophistication score relative to its original publish cohort, but later updates significantly improved quality and performed strongly against newer cohorts, does the island’s overall sophistication/profile update accordingly?

Or can weak early performance continue to negatively impact future testing and expansion opportunities?

Cheers!

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