A new free game is a huge hit on Xbox Series, PS5, and PC, but it's not all rosy. Quite the opposite. Gamers are already starting to make themselves heard.
There aren't many video game releases for July 2024, but there are some great ones, mind you. Yesterday, July 2, a brand new free game was released on PS5, Xbox Series, PC, and even PS4 and Xbox One. A free-to-play game that had already made its mark during a few test phases and which had actually been quite popular with players who were able to try it. We're of course talking about The First Descendant, Nexon's looter shooter that's off to a flying start; nothing could really have predicted such a craze.
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The First Descendant, a free game that is a hit since its launch
Free-to-play games have always worked pretty well, even if, when you take note of the majority of reactions on the networks, these games don't seem to be really appreciated. And yet, they are indeed real golden gooses and some of them are real successes, whether they are competitive games or cooperative service games. The First Descendant is a rather effective looter shooter, nervous, pretty enough to tickle the retina and rather pleasant to take in hand.
It seems that the testing phases, the first feedback from players, the few rather positive previews from the press and a fairly aggressive campaign on Twitch have managed to catapult this new free game to the top of the podium of the most played titles on all platforms.
Console figures are still missing, but on Steam for example, The First Descendant peaked at over 229,000 concurrent players. At the time of writing, there are still over 137,200 of you playing.. A very nice score, which allowed the game to sneak into the top 10 of the most played games on the platform for a few hours. A nice performance that announces only good things for the future… or almost.
Not everything is rosy and the fall may be harder
If The First Descendant is a hit and benefits from the good smell of the new kid coming out of the oven, in addition to surfing on the fact that it is a free game, several small things come to taint this nice launch. Already, if we take a step back from the figures, as nice as they are, they should quickly drop. It's like that for everything, once the effect of the novelty has passed, the soufflé falls and not everyone can absorb the fall. Here, with nearly 230,000 players at most, if there is a fall, it could hurt. This is all the more true since the first feedback is not all as positive as expected.
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On Steam for example, the game has an average overall rating, which is not great. However, in terms of gameplay, the feedback is very positive. Dynamic, fun, rather beautiful… The First Descendant has a very nice packaging and nice content. But the problem is the business model.
An economic model singled out
While most free games rely on a cosmetic shop to survive, others offer paid gameplay alternatives. This is often the case in Korean, Chinese or Japanese productions. Countries that consume video games differently, where this kind of concept makes Western players' hair stand on end.
The First Descendant is not a pay-to-win but rather a pay-to-fast. Pay to go faster in good French. Boosters, unlocking content in advance to reach the end game faster… Lost Ark also has this problem, another Korean free-to-play. Note that as is often the case, the store is absent from the versions tested by the press, so don't be surprised not to find any mention of it.
It is of course possible to enjoy the title without paying a cent, it remains a free game, but the structure still pushes the less patient players to the checkout, and that does not please. It remains to be seen how the studio and the publisher will react in the coming weeks. For the moment, they are concentrating on correcting the few glitches that have punctuated this generally rather clean launch, far from some of the pile-ups that we have already experienced in any case.
If you are curious and want to form your own opinion, The First Descendant is available for free on PS5, Xbox Series, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.