Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's first post-launch patch opens Ranked Battles

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet just got their first post-launch patch.

Earlier today on December 1, Nintendo announced the release of a brand new update for both Pokemon Scarlet and Violet with a new website post. Headlining the new update for both games is Season 1 of Ranked Battles beginning, taking place exclusively in the Battle Stadium.

Elsewhere, "other select bug fixes have been made," according to Nintendo. Rounding out the relatively small patch is a fix for Victory Road, the endpoint after fighting all the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet gym leaders, where the music for the climactic battles with the Elite Four and the Top Champion wouldn't play correctly.

Players' enthusiasm for Season 1 of Ranked Battles might be dampened by a recent exploit. Earlier this week, players claimed the Battle Stadium is easily manipulatable by having a fixed random number generation behind the scenes, meaning some deadly attacks will never miss their target.

If the claims are true, it means Battle Stadium's competition is effectively ruined, as players can make sure any one-hit knockout attacks will always hit. If developer Game Freak is aware of the issues with the RNG behind the scenes, hopefully we can expect a fix at some point in the near future.

This patch likely won't satiate Scarlet and Violet players who've been speaking out against performance issues. Both games are littered with visual bugs and errors, and players have been loudly critical of Game Freak and Nintendo for said issues online since the pair of games launched last month. Nintendo acknowledges the complaints in the new website post though, writing that they're "working on improvements to the games."

Head over to our full Pokemon Scarlet and Violet starters guide if you're wondering who to pick when kicking off the new adventures.