A new title from Embark has hit the competitive FPS genre with a bang. By rewriting the script for an “extraction shooter” many fans believe The Finals will be the next big Esports title. However, is the game ready for the ultra-competitive scene? Here we will look at all facets of the game – and come to a conclusion and assess what needs to happen to make the game ready for Esports.
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Competitive Nature
When looking at The Finals, it’s clear there the game is set up to go down the competitive route. With a dedicated “Tournament” mode, players can compete against 16 other teams to get the win. The integration of this is very interesting as there has been no mention of venturing towards Esports just yet. However, features like this show a clear interest in the competitive side of the game.
The gameplay itself seems to have a high enough skill ceiling to be viable at the highest level of play. Although the developers are still making changes to the game, whether that be bug fixes or balancing, The Finals shows a lot of potential from a gameplay perspective. The top-level players have become very effective at assessing gameplay situations and knowing when to take fights and when to run.
As an extraction shooter – The Finals brings a new feel to the competitive FPS genre. Its fast-paced nature and destruction may be seen as overly volatile to be labeled as “competitive”, however, we are now seeing players find effective strategies to mitigate the RNG nature of destruction.
In-Game Infrastructure
Unfortunately, The Finals doesn’t currently feature a “custom game” mode, meaning players can’t create their lobbies and are forced into official lobbies to experience the game. Essentially, this makes it impossible for the game to be Esports-ready in its current state.
If Embark implemented this feature, it would be a huge step in the right direction for the game. This is arguably the only essential change that needs to be made for The Finals to be Esports-ready. However, there are still a lot of gameplay changes and updates that need to be put in place for the game to feel balanced and competitive from head to foot.
Playerbase
The player base for The Finals is still extremely strong. Although we have seen a large drop since release that is very much expected for a new game. As of writing this, the game is sitting at a similar player base as Rainbow Six Siege and Destiny 2 – both titans of the FPS genre.
However, this is for Steam only. The Finals features crossplay capabilities which allow PC and console players to join the same lobbies. Which effectively doubles (or even triples) the player base.
It seems the community surrounding the finals is also rather supportive. One look at the official discord server and we can see that players are constantly providing direct feedback to the developers.
As more updates are released for the game, we will probably see a lot of the player base return and attract new players.
Is The Finals Esports Ready?
Put simply… no. However, the future is bright for The Finals. With many claiming this new title has revolutionized the FPS genre we are likely to see the developers support this game for years to come.
The game features some Esports familiar components that hint towards a positive future, nonetheless, there are still a lot of changes and updates that need to be made for the game to be Esports-ready, and compete with other massive titles – such as Valorant and CS2.
