The Finals is a free-to-play, multiplayer, first-person-shooter developed by Embark Studios based out of Sweden, It released around 2023 on all platforms except the switch and has maintained a steady player base through its past 2 seasons. However, in a business update by Nexon, Embark’s parent company it was stated that the player count was less than expected.
A Mixed Feeling On The Current Season
There is no doubt on the amount of effort and love Embark Studios pours into The Finals, there are weekly store refreshes of cosmetics, gun charms and skins for for all the guns in the game, some of the charms and skins have also been clues to one of the major easter eggs that was solved by the easter egg hunting community.
But season 3 of the game had a large number of players dissatisfied with some of the major changes that were applied. One of the major upsets was changing the ranked game mode to Terminal Attack, which was the traditional 5v5 competitive game mode we’ve seen in Counter Strike and Valorant.
The Competitive Blunder
This change had the competitive community in an uproar, while you’d get the usual “I’ll never play this ever again” complainers, others gave their straight forward and very valid opinion for skipping the season that being Terminal Attack is sort of an antithesis to the values of The Finals, this game gives out the fast-paced, game show aesthetic while the Terminal Attack mode just feels like the complete opposite to it.
To mitigate this, the developers released a new game mode called ‘World Tour’ which was a weekly tourney where players must reach the top rank with their team to be awarded by that week’s sponsor, the people who are in this ‘gameshow’ of “The Finals”. This mode coupled with the new weapons and the new Kyoto map was enough for new people to come visit the game but alas it may not have attracted enough players.
Season Four: What We Know
Alas, the teaser for season 4 dropped showcasing as always a brand new map, gun attachments, new guns and a brand new feature to grind for. Along with this, competitive rank will feature cash out again hopefully bringing back the competitive spirit that was there before the Terminal Attack blunder.
Another feature to look forward to is the sponsors who will be pushed more to the spotlight than being faceless entities. The teaser showcased the heads of the Engimo, Holtow and Iseul-t. At the start of season 4, players will have to choose to be sponsored by any one of the three for the new season and will have to grind towards the awards each sponsor gives.
This feature will no doubt provide even more of an incentive than before for the grind along with the battle pass. Embark had also been teasing more facial cosmetics on their official discord along with more and more teasers for those hungry for more.
They have also confirmed that they are reworking the tutorial for a much more in-depth overview to help new players jump right into the action instead of feeling lost. This change may increase player retention as most players who abandon these sorts of games after one or two matches are mostly due to not having enough knowledge about what happened in those matches.
When Is Season Four Coming?
Embark did reveal that they will reveal season 4 at TwitchCon taking place on the 20th of this month but the official release date for the season will take place on September 26th. This season surely should bring The Finals back into the spotlight among the giants of the free-to-play genre. One of the core reasons for the initial success of this game was the unique 3v3v3 mode of cash out which enjoyed quite a bit of spotlight from a number of big streamers.
Another criticism of season 3 was the fact that the new weapons of season 3 were all melee weapons which was in stark contrast to the gun play that this game is about. Since the teaser did showcase new guns for the medium and heavy classes season 4 is proving to be what Embark had claimed, a back to form season.
