Since its launch on December 7, 2023, The Finals has gone ahead to attract over 10 million players in just two weeks, making it one of the most popular first-person shooters this month. The free-to-play, team-based, FPS pits contestants against each other in Virtual Arenas that are fully destructible. The insane level of destruction that players can unleash in The Finals is what makes it really stand out.
Developed by Embark Studios, The Finals’ launch came after a widely successful beta test. Perhaps, the success of the launch is tied to the widely positive reviews left by players who participated in the beta test.
However, one problem that players complained about during the beta period was how cheaters have taken over the game, especially those who are keen on enjoying the game’s Ranked modes. However, players were optimistic that the issue would be resolved before the actual launch.
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Sadly, the problem has persisted for weeks after the launch of the game. Some players of The Finals have taken to different social media platforms to voice their frustration on how cheaters were ruining their matches.
A Redditor with the user Nieoh shared a video of one of the cheaters showcasing his cheat. To get the cheater’s POV, Nieoh posed like a buyer who needed the cheat and the cheater sent the videos as proof. The cheater was using some sort of aimbot to easily take out all the opponents.
It was alleged that Embark Studios was aware of the activities of the cheaters but faced “technical issues” that stopped them from banning the cheaters. However, reports suggest that the studio is nearing a solution that will help them to keep the game “smooth, safe, and fair”.
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However, cheating is not a problem that is peculiar to The Finals alone. It has almost become a norm for multiplayer games to be raided by cheaters who give themselves an unfair advantage over the other players. Similar complaints have been reported in Fortnite, Valorant, Warzone, and Tarkov.
Embark shipped The Finals patch 1.4.0 in time for the holidays
Embark released The Finals Holiday update on December 20 along with the patch for the game. The patch comes with a great deal of balance and quality-of-life improvements, alongside improvements to anti-cheat detection.
“Today’s patch comes with lots of balance, and quality-of-life improvements across the entire game—along with general crash fixes,” read the introductory section of the patch note. “We also made major changes to our anti-cheat detection to ensure fewer matches with players who don’t play fair.”
We cannot verify how much the new fixes have helped Embark spot cheaters. Interestingly, it appears Embark is not aiming to outrightly ban cheaters from The Finals. Instead, their strategy of hitting back at cheaters is to starve them of matches.
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While this is also a way to go around the problem, I reckon many players of The Finals would have preferred Embark to outrightly expel cheaters from the game. Perhaps, that may be the end goal once Embark overcomes its technical difficulties.
The Finals has a lot of potential. From the ever-changing arenas to the unpredictable weather cycles, the game packs a lot of surprises that keep the experience fresh, and make players want to come back for more. There is really no surprise that it attracted 10 million players in just two weeks of launch.
It sucks that cheaters are trying to ruin that experience and Embark must do whatever it takes to protect the game. The Finals is a treasure for players who have been yearning for a fresh experience in multiplayer FPS—and should be protected from those who want to destroy it.
