The Finals Is Doing Everything Right
With how season 2 is shaping up, I'm still confident that the finals will be the biggest game of 2024. Well, it's all thanks to a huge feat from Embark Studios, the game developers, who in the last few weeks, or. I guess, months, not just the previous season, have delivered content, updates, and more at an unprecedented rate.
I don't think I've ever seen any game developers deliver so much content and patches, mind you, not only from one big patch at the start of a new season but every week leading up to it as well. Like, really, with season 2 alone, we're seeing three new guns. Three new gadgets One new specialization, one new map a whole new game mode.
A new map modifier event and tons of free cosmetics a great battle pass and better matchmaking. A new ranked system and even private matches came out for 90 days for reference.
In addition to all of this content, Embar completely removed Recon's senses; they nerfed nukes. You know when you place C4 on a barrel and throw it at someone for a full-free team to kill so hard that they're not really worth doing anymore, and even Nerf the defibrillator, and you know heavy as a whole to balance out all the free classes as well, and this huge patch is following.
Several months of weekly patches featuring new content, swaller balance changes, other features, and most importantly, some huge features. While also addressing some large pain points, and while all of these constant patches were going on. Embark spent a ton of time with their args. Teasing and releasing constant leaks from the hacker group CNS to hype out the new season, they even kept us in the loop with constant communication.
In Discord, there are frequent developer updates and behind the scenes articles telling us more about the creative processes and the development of the game, as I mentioned in my previous article. Embark listened to the community and nerfed what was previously a way overtuned aim assist, and not only that, but they added a fair and often requested solution to assist as well.
Being Gyro Aim, it's safe to say that the game is in the best state it's ever been right now, and I'm sure the boys over at Embar have just started. I do have to say that while it's great to see a positive uptake in players, it definitely could have been a little bit more, and I think it's important that the game grows.
The game is great, and it deserves so much more attention than it's currently getting. If the game grows more, not only will the developers get what they deserve, but the community will become more active, there will be more great content from creators and fans alike, and as far as something tangible for the average player, the more players the game has, the better the matchmaking.
And the more enjoyable the game will be, the stage is set, and the game is in a great state right now. Sure, there are some bugs to fix, but knowing Embark's update schedule, I'm betting that we'll see a lot of patches to these issues in the coming few weekly patches. As I mentioned in my previous article, since the stage is set and the game is in its best state possible, that probably means that Embark and Nexon will be ready for that very marketing push we are waiting for.
Nexon shared their plans for the Q2 earnings report all the way back in early February, but the more I think about it, especially with how they handle hyping up season 2. I don't think that the marketing push necessarily will be with the typical Buy ad space on TV. Tik Tok, or Time Square. Sure, that's a great way to get more awareness of the brand, which could lead to somebody trying to outrun the game down the line.
I mean, you never really see a Coca-Cola. Sign and immediately rush to buy a Coca-Cola. But I mean, once you're feeling thirsty, it's already planted in your mind. You've heard of a CO, and there's one right there. You might as well go for a Coke rather than a Pepsi. I mean, the servers always ask if a Pepsi is okay; they never ask if a Coke is okay.
Wait, what was I talking about? You know, Apex is the Pepsi, and the finals are the Coke. That's besides the point; raising brand awareness is huge, but that alone won't really make sense if you want to grow a game. I think that Nixon and Embark are smarter than that and that they're trying to grow the game organically by bringing in communities and getting new eyes on the game.
First off, I'm starting to think that, thanks to the addition of private servers, we're going to start seeing some real competition take place. Obviously. Embar will want to invite their competitive scene, but for the sake of the game. I'm hoping to see some huge events with large tournament organizers that invite some of the largest creators in the space.
Ideally, we want to see a mix of huge creators and maybe some players from the current competitive scene to allow a grass-roots eSports scene to flourish. One great example of this is something I keep bringing up time and time again: Twitch Rivals. Twitch Rivals has been done for every game by now and has always been huge for their respective streaming and competitive scenes.
Inviting huge streamers from Apex Fortnite Batt Rental or OverWatch to some cool events that are online or on land with big enough price pools will give these streamer communities another chance to see the game, as in they'll either get a chance to see how great the finals can be for the first time or, more likely, they'll see how much the game has improved since the last time their favorite streamer tried it out and might even start being more interested in the game themselves.
Now, I'm obviously biased toward Twitch rivals because I really want to see one and, obviously, would really want to play in it. If there is one, you know, hint hint, but out of all the Poss possible tournaments or events Embark and Nexon could invest in, this seems like the most natural one to go for.
It even makes a lot of sense if you consider the drops that are available this very week. For those who don't know, if you watch two hours of any of the finals live stream on Twitch until March 28th, you'll get this cool-looking Twitch charm to put on a weapon. Obviously, twitch drops are a great way to artificially boost viewer numbers and get more attention to the game.
I mean, hell, Twitch drops single-handedly blew up Tarov back in the day, but I think this specific Twitch glitch charm might be a hint that there will be more Twitch-related events on the horizon. Personally. I'm really hoping to see some events soon, but my point is that Embar needs to invest in the creators, not only their smaller to midsize creators but also large-scale creators that may have left the finals or just haven't given it a shot just yet.
