The First Descendant Has Now Retained Only Seven Percent Of Its Players

Over the past few months, The First Descendant has been floundering. Player unhappiness and poor reviews, which the developers didn’t expect, meant the free-to-play shooter’s peak player count dropped by over 95 percent within the first six months.

The First Descendant team pulled out all the stops to try and rectify the situation, adding the oft-requested jiggle physics and a hot spring to show them off, all in the hopes of revitalizing a once-vibrant community.

Related

Five Of The First Descendant’s Core Characters Are Being Completely Reworked

Valby, Luna, and Jayber are three of the names on the list.

Unfortunately for Nexon, that tactic didn’t seem to work, with February, the month of hot springs and jiggle physics, being the worst the game has ever seen.

The First Descendant Has Its Worst Month Ever On Steam

According to SteamDB, The First Descendant averaged just 8,227 players in February, with the game peaking at 13,939. This is another huge drop from the prior month and its worst month on record.

In January, the game hit a peak of 20,490 players, with an average of 10,194 playing at any given time. This represents another 19 percent drop in average players and a 31 percent drop in its peak player count.

This is even worse when you compare it to its figures from its launch month in July last year, where it peaked at 264,860 players and averaged 124,352. This means The First Descendant has only retained around seven percent of its average player count.

Naturally, some drop-off from launch is to be expected — it happens to every single live-service title — but for a game to shed such a huge portion of its player count, despite adding content intended to appease its fans, is bound to be alarming for Nexon and its developers.

For context, Marvel Rivals, another game that launched in the free-to-play space, lost only three percent of its players in the first six weeks. The First Descendant lost 72, and it has only continued to fall from there.

Action RPG

Third-Person Shooter

Released

July 2, 2024

ESRB

Mature 17+ // Violence, Blood, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language

Developer(s)

Nexon Games