PlayFab Digest: April Feature Updates
Take a closer look at the enhancements to PlayFab for the month of April.
Welcome to the PlayFab Digest! We’re excited to share the latest PlayFab updates. This month, we’re highlighting new platform enhancements including native ARM64 support for the PlayFab Unified SDK, expanded community statistics with group-level aggregation, bulk user role management, and a new API access policy experience. Let’s look at what’s new for the month of April!
Preview: Native ARM64 build support for the PlayFab Unified SDK in GDK 2604
The April 2026 GDK release (2604) introduces a preview of native ARM64 builds for the PlayFab Unified SDK (v2).
Note: This preview is intended for evaluation and testing, not for production titles.
What's new
Native ARM64 libraries for the PlayFab Unified SDK (v2) ship in GDK 2604, enabling native ARM64 builds for the PlayFab layer of your title.
Note the ARM64 port applies to PlayFab Unified SDK (v2) only; PlayFab Standalone SDKs (v1) are not included.
Benefits
- Native execution. Removes x64 emulation overhead for the PlayFab components on ARM64 devices.
- A single ARM64 toolchain. With the PlayFab SDK available as ARM64, you can keep your PlayFab integration on the same build configuration as the rest of your title (assuming your engine and other middleware also support ARM64).
- Forward-looking alignment. As Windows on ARM hardware becomes more common, having a native PlayFab build positions your title to run natively on those devices.
How to get started
- Install the GDK 2604 release.
- Add an ARM64 build configuration alongside your existing x64 configuration.
- Link against the ARM64 variant of the PlayFab Unified SDK (v2) shipped in GDK 2604 release.
- Build and validate on Windows on ARM hardware, keeping your x64 build as the production target for now.
Community Statistics for Groups
What’s New
Last August, we released community statistics which enabled scenarios like global boss battles or community-wide milestones. Now you can also aggregate player statistics to a group entity, automatically computing totals or other aggregate values scoped to that group's members. This removes the need for custom server-side logic to track per-clan or per-guild progress. Common use cases include clan leaderboards that rank teams by collective score, guild contribution tracking, and team-based challenges where only members of a specific group contribute to a shared goal. The pattern works the same way as title-level community stats: define a player-level source statistic and a group-level destination statistic, and PlayFab handles the aggregation automatically as player stats are updated.
How to Get Started:
- Create a source statistic definition at the title_player_account entity type, as you would for any community stat.
- Create a destination statistic definition with EntityType set to group and AggregationSources pointing to your player statistic.
- Read the group's current aggregate value by querying statistics for the group entity.
- Learn more about community statistics in PlayFab here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/playfab/player-progression/statistics/community-statistics
Bulk Edit for User Role Management
What’s New
Game Manager now supports bulk editing of studio permissions and title roles, replacing the previous one-user-at-a-time workflow. Studio admins can select multiple users and update their access in a single operation. You can grant or revoke admin access and billing summary access at the studio level and add or remove roles per title across your selected users. Role changes use merge semantics, so adding a new role won't remove existing assignments. This is especially useful for studios managing large teams across multiple titles, where onboarding, offboarding, and periodic access reviews can be time-consuming and repetitive.
How to Get Started:
- In Game Manager, navigate to your studio's Users page and select the users you want to update.
- Click Edit Users to open the bulk editing experience, where you can modify studio permissions and title roles for all selected users at once.
- Review the confirmation dialog to verify your changes before applying.
API Access Policy Page
What’s New
Every PlayFab title has an API access policy: a set of permission statements that control which PlayFab APIs can be called from the game client. The policy acts as a title-level firewall, evaluated before every API request is processed. Previously, configuring these policies required editing raw JSON, which was complex and carried the risk of misconfiguration. Game Manager now provides a visual interface for managing API access policies. You can browse all available APIs grouped by category, search for specific endpoints, and allow or deny access per API using simple checkboxes and category-level wildcard rules without manual JSON edits required. A pending changes sidebar tracks every edit in real time, and a Revert to Defaults option provides a safety net. For power users, the full JSON editor remains available. The new page gives you a clear, at-a-glance view of your title's API security configuration, making it easier to lock down access and prevent unintended API calls from players.
How to Get Started:
- In Game Manager, navigate to your title's Settings and select the API Access Policy page.
- Browse APIs by category or use the search bar to find a specific endpoint.
- Learn more about API access policies in PlayFab here.
- API Access Policy in Game Manager - PlayFab | Microsoft Learn
Thanks for checking out the great features that we’ve delivered in April! We’ll see you next month for more exciting updates in our upcoming PlayFab Digest. Happy Developing!
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