THE FINALS fans are worried it’s dead in the water

THE FINALS is one of the more ambitious arena shooters out there, but it has been on a steep decline since the day of its launch.

Embark Studio's innovative ethos of "Why open a door when you can use a rocket launcher to blow a hole in the wall, right?" was enough to capture hundreds of thousands of players back in December, with fully destructive surroundings proving to be a huge pulling point.

But, THE FINALS now only houses around 5% of its launch-day community, and fans are fearing the worst.

'Slept on' THE FINALS has fans worrying about its health

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On Steam alone, THE FINALS launched with a peak of 242,000 players but now struggles to peak at over 13,000 players daily - all as players continue to drop off.

These stats, while not fully indicative of the overall numbers given you can play on Xbox and PS too, show a worrying trend, and players are now fearing the worst that THE FINALS could be dead.

Taking to Reddit, one fan quizzed why nobody was playing the game anymore, asking, "Why is everyone sleeping on it?"

User Dethproof814 posted, "It's seriously one of the best FPS games out right now. The destruction is so addicting, toppling buildings, manipulating walls, zipping around like a cracked-out Tracer. And the gunplay is so tight, like why is everyone sleeping on it?"

Of course, THE FINALS does face some quite stiff competition, with Call of Duty, XDefiant, and even the newly-released toy store-based game Hypercharge all fighting out for players.

But most fans think that the skill gap in THE FINALS is enough to put off most players, who can't commit to grinding every day to get better.

"It's very much one of those games where once it's out long enough there's a massive skill gap in players and without enough players to fill up SBMM it dies," one fan said.

Another added, "I absolutely love the game, but it is tough for a casual player, which is why it's struggling, I think."

Unfortunately for THE FINALS, it looks like the architect of its own downfall. Many believe it's too difficult for those who like jumping in and out of games, and given the popularity and saturation of the arena shooter genre now, THE FINALS is in danger of heading to the dumpster soon.