A free loot shooter on Steam celebrated huge player numbers at release, but after almost a year, things look much worse. The developers are currently working on a new season, but that also means there are fewer updates at the moment.
Which game is it? The First Descendant was released on June 30, 2024, and was a huge surprise hit on Steam. At its peak, the game had 264,860 players, despite significant criticism regarding monetization and grind.
However, the enthusiasm among players seems to have almost disappeared a year after the release. If you look at the current numbers on SteamDB, The First Descendant has lost over 97% of its player base in almost a year.
Currently, it is hard to reach 7,000 concurrent players, although a new class recently brought some player growth. As the developers admitted in an open letter, there currently seems to be little content available, but there is probably a good reason for that.
Fewer updates because they are working on Season 3
What do the developers say about the current problems? In a recent developer letter (via tft.nexon.com), the director of the game, Minseok Joo, discusses the upcoming Season 3 and the currently rare updates.
As he admits, it is normal for players to think that there isn’t much to do at the moment and to wonder if development has stopped. They understand these thoughts, but the team is currently working on the Season 3 update.
They are currently not focusing on smaller, quicker updates because they want to fully dive into the major update. However, he confirms that they are seeing player feedback and working on improvements. He also mentions three dates.
Updates are scheduled to be released on May 15, 2025, May 22, 2025, and June 19, 2025, which will not only balance some aspects but also bring Quality of Life
changes. He talks about changes to the party finder as well as longer login events.
All these changes are meant to lay the groundwork for the upcoming Season 3. However, it is still unclear when the season will be released.
What are your thoughts on The First Descendant? Have you already forgotten the game, or do you still check in regularly? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments. There seems to be a basic interest among many players still. : Free loot shooter on Steam brings a new class into the game, doubling its player numbers
