The Finals catches fire early as player count contends with CoD, Apex Legends, more

Massively-hyped first-person-shooter The Finals is doing numbers on the Steam Charts. Prior to its full release, it has trounced a number of FPS rivals and is chasing one of the year’s biggest games.

Embark Studios team-based FPS The Finals is enjoying a successful PC playtest. It’s already rocketed to a massive 264,874 peak player count, a staggering figure for pre-release.

The game has gotten shoutouts from Dr Disrespect but also gotten some flak for its questionable use of AI voice work. Despite some minor controversy, it’s been maintaining some solid stats during its playtest.

Recent data from Steam showed The Finals eclipsing Call of Duty, PUBG, and Apex Legends in concurrent players. Currently sitting at number four in the charts, it has come dangerously close to surpassing Baldur’s Gate 3.

Earlier in the day The Finals achieved a total of 132,844 active players beating out Apex Legends by more than 20,000. The similarity between the two games has fueled comparisons.

If The Finals maintains its popularity, it may become a genuine contender in a massive market. Some players are already calling it “the next big FPS”.

Early audience reviews are reflecting the positivity from larger streamers with the game scoring a player rating of 81 on SteamBase. It has a pretty solid ratio of 5,811 positive ratings to 1,134 negative ones.

The game has even tapped on the heels of Baldur’s Gate 3 a few times which is pretty impressive. Sure Larian’s RPG is months old now but it has a remarkable retention rate and if The Finals can jump it in the charts, it’ll be a big endorsement.

The Finals’ growing popularity could see an interesting shake-up to the difficult-to-penetrate FPS scene. That will depend on whether the success of its playtest translates to the full release.

PC players can take part in The Finals playtest by applying on the game’s Steam page and console players can download it on their respective stores. Unfortunately for last-gen gamers, the game will not be coming to PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.