The First Descendant’s star is rising, as the game broke its player count on Steam during its initial weekend.
It’s no secret that The First Descendant was plagued with issues at launch, to the point wherethe servers were downfor lengthy periods of time. Even when those major connection problems were resolved, players were still being booted out of games.
It didn’t take long for the game tocome under fire for its monetization practices. It might be a free-to-play title, but if you want anything other than the most basic and boring of gear, then you’re going to have to grind for it. Either that, or you can reach for your wallet.
Despite all of these complaints, The First Descendant is skyrocketing in popularity. A thread onThe First Descendant Reddithas announced that the game hasbroken its concurrent player count on Steam, with over a quarter of a million people descending at once.
“Couldn’t get into Warframe because of the style, couldn’t get into Destiny 2 because of the expensive DLCs, I’m honestly in love with The First Descendant,” one user wrote, while another said, “The game is very good early on and now the majority of people are still early on lol We’ll see what things look like 3 months from now.”
One user joked, “264k bunnies only using guns,” referring to theincredible popularity of Bunny, a Descendant whose skins pile on the fanservice.
“Games so addicting. Even if it needs a few tweaks but gotta say bosses feel great and when you grind the required pieces for what you want it feels very satisfying as well,” one user pointed out, while another summed things up, “I’m having a blast!”
One big weekend doesn’t necessarily mean it will maintain those numbers. The fact that The First Descendant is free means the initial interest was always going to be high, but it now has to hook those people who have downloaded the game.
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A quarter of a million initial players on one platform is still a huge achievement. If the game releasesenough content to keep people engagedand if Nexon can avoid becoming too greedy, then we might be witnessing the birth of a new must-play franchise.
Scott Baird is a Games Writer on Dexerto’s UK team, specializing in Pokemon, Baldur’s Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, Final Fantasy, and Magic The Gathering, and Nintendo games. He also has bylines at Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, Screen Rant, The Gamer, and TopTenz.
