The Finals Releases Big Season 4 Update

Key Takeaways

Embark Studios releases Season 4 content update for The Finals, now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Season 4’s biggest twist is the new sponsor feature, where players choose between one of three new sponsors with unique rewards by earning fans.
Additional content includes new weapons, map, balance adjustments, bug fixes, and improvements in ranks, leaderboards, and customization.

As a seasoned gamer with over two decades of experience under my belt, I must say that this latest update is nothing short of a game-changer! The new Cashout tutorial seems to have been designed with the player’s comfort and enjoyment in mind – kudos to the developers for making learning fun!

After weeks of teases and reveals, Embark Studios has finally released the highly-anticipated Season 4 content update for The Finals. The patch is available to download now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and is filled with a plethora of new content for The Finals players to check out, including a new stadium, three new weapons, a new gameplay feature, and much more.

In the fourth season of The Finals, a notable change is the introduction of sponsors for the players. As the new season begins, players are given an opportunity to select one of the three new sponsors – HOLTOW, ENGIMO, or ISEUL-T. This choice is permanent for the entire season, as each sponsor offers distinct incentives. By fulfilling contracts, players can amass fans, which will lead to increased benefits from their chosen sponsor.

In addition to the fresh sponsor addition, players of The Finals will find several exciting new weapons to explore. First on the list is the potent .50 Akimbo pistol, exclusive to the game’s heavy class. Following that is the Pike-556 marksman rifle, accessible only for medium class users, and lastly, a new pump-action shotgun, the M26 Matter, designed for light class players. Existing weapons will also undergo balance adjustments, including tweaks to the 93R, AKM, CL-40, Dagger, Lewis Gun, among others. Some weapons are being toned down, like the reduced magazine size of the AKM, while others, such as the Lewis Gun, are receiving an upgrade with a smoother recoil pattern.

Season 4 also brings with it a new map for The Finals players to cause carnage on, known as Fortune Stadium. Embark says the map features a streamlined urban environment which has sectors dedicated to each of Season 4’s sponsors and some highly vertical spaces. As players battle it out on Fortune Stadium, they’ll notice the colors of the three different sponsors scattered around the arena.

The official notes reveal all the bug fixes and adjustments made in the September 26th update for The Finals. This Season 4 update on both console and PC improves various aspects of the game, such as audio, modes, maps, matchmaking, movement, and more, ensuring a smooth gaming experience with the latest content update for all players.

The Finals Season 4 Patch Notes

New Map: Fortune Stadium

Hello there! At Fortune Stadium, we have exciting news thanks to our sponsors – HOLTOW, ENGIMO, and ISEUL-T. They’ve introduced a fresh layout in our stadium! Explore the sleek, urban landscape designed especially for you, featuring distinct areas dedicated to each brand and some thrilling vertical terrains.

Three New Weapons

.50 Akimbo

HEAVY

These bad boys bring extra firepower and precision to the arena!

Pike-556

MEDIUM

Extend the effective range of the Medium build with this designated marksman rifle!

M26 Matter

LIGHT

Swiftly master this new pump-action shotgun!

New Feature: Sponsors

This season, our esteemed sponsors are eager to team up with contestants and aid them on their journey throughout the season by providing merchandise, funds, and a grand celebration! Contestants now have the opportunity to choose HOLTOW, ENGIMO, or ISEUL-T as their sponsor for the entirety of Season 4.

Gain supporters by finishing tasks and excelling in competitions. As you accumulate more supporters, your sponsor will provide you with greater incentives! Can you reach the pinnacle and secure all rewards from your preferred sponsor? Remember, you can only make one choice, so choose carefully!

New Feature: Alternate Sights & Scopes

In simpler terms, we’ve provided additional viewing options for certain weapons, including traditional sights and modern ones like Red Dot Sights or Scopes. You can change between these views by utilizing Virtual Reality (VR) within the weapon customization interface.

New World Tour Ranks

For Season 4 we’ve introduced Platinum and Diamond ranks to World Tour! We’ve also heard your feedback on the difficulty of earning Emerald rank, so in Season 4 Emerald will now be unlocked and available to earn from the beginning of the season and will be earned with Win Points, not tournament wins. Expect lots of fun stops along the way as you climb your way to Emerald Tier 1!

New Ranked mode

8-team, 24-player tournaments are making a comeback! This season, you’ll find yourself participating in Cashout games with this format. To enhance the ranked gaming experience, we’re now arranging tournaments according to each team’s power, and your Ranked Score adjustment will be determined by your final position in the tournament relative to your initial placement. We think this change will provide a more transparent and genuine tournament experience.

Cashout Rule Variants for Ranked and World Tour

To give the best experience in our competitive Ranked Tournaments and our more casual-friendly World Tour Tournaments we’ve introduced slightly different variants of the Cashout rule set in each mode.

In Ranked Tournaments, the 10% team wipe penalties are active, gameshow events such as ‘Low Gravity,’ for example, are disabled to reduce randomness, and loadout changes are only permitted between rounds of the tournament.

In the World Tour, penalty wipes for teams don’t occur, game-show events remain active, and players can transfer items from their Reserve to their Loadout after team wipes as well as between rounds. Although Ranked Cashout remains unchanged, the World Tour experience will be modified in several ways during the season, offering new and exciting opportunities!

Improved Player Cards

Let’s dive into some personal customization for Season 4 Player Cards! We’ve introduced a fresh design, customizable badges, borders, and titles for players. Collect unique badges, borders, and even player titles! New backgrounds are also up for grabs. Plus, we’ve enhanced the lighting on your character to highlight your individual flair!

Now, circuits operate alongside World Tour events and have the same sponsors, providing an additional method for you to gather rewards from the show’s supporters. Additionally, we’ve eliminated the prerequisite of finishing previous contracts before accessing later circuits, aiming to make the overall experience smoother and more straightforward.

Two Extra Loadout Slots

Excitedly speaking as a fan, I’m thrilled to share that, due to your overwhelming support, we’ve expanded our Loadout capacity! Now, you’ll have not one, but two extra slots, bumping up the total from six to a glorious eight. Enjoy the added flexibility in customizing your gear!

New Battle Pass

As a gamer, I’m super hyped about this season’s Battle Pass! It’s jam-packed with 106 levels of juicy rewards just waiting to be unlocked. The spotlight is on some top-notch gear from our favorite sponsor OSPUZE, and we’ve got even more goodies coming from the fresh face on the scene, IVADA. Buckle up, it’s going to be an epic ride!

New Career Levels

10 additional stages have been incorporated into our Career Level system, each offering unique rewards. The rewards are generously provided by one of our show sponsors, ENO+RINO.

Leaderboard Improvements

For Season 4, we’ve significantly upgraded our leaderboards. Now, players have the ability to sort leaderboards based on regions, and the World Tour leaderboard offers filters for each of its individual stops as well.

We’ve set up scoreboards for Quick Cash, Terminal Attack, Bank It, and Power Shift, as well as one that monitors the progress of every Sponsor.

New Static Crosshair Setting

In the finals, the default sight is a moving one that adjusts as your character performs actions like running or jumping. However, we understand some players might prefer a stationary crosshair. To cater to this preference, we’ve included a new setting in our crosshair customization to disable the “in-world crosshair”, resulting in a fixed sight that remains centered on the screen at all times.

New Feature: Facial Hair Customization

Now, you can choose among several beard and mustache styles to give your rival an elegant upgrade! Take a peek at the ‘Style’ section for options!

New Feature: First Time Player Experience

To help newcomers feel more at ease as they join our game, we’ve redesigned the onboarding process with some substantial updates! These enhancements involve introductory videos for each build category, a detailed Cashout tutorial demonstrating destruction, streamlined and swift menu interfaces, and many other improvements!

Additionally, we’re unveiling a fresh collection of OSPUZE-labeled beginner uniforms. Frankly, it was time for a change from the routine ‘rookie sleepwear!’ Rest assured, veterans, these new uniforms will be made available to you as well!

Furthermore, we’ve incorporated a defined collection of objectives and rewarding tasks within our main interface, designed to guide novice gamers through their initial five gaming sessions. Our aim is to make the learning process smoother for new players, giving them a taste of all the enjoyable experiences that await.

Season 3 Rewards Coming Soon

As a dedicated player, I’m excited to share that usually, all rank-based rewards are distributed at the onset of each new season. However, this time around, we’ve decided to hold off on the distributions temporarily. The reason being, we want to thoroughly review our leaderboards beforehand to guarantee that every participant has rightfully earned their well-deserved rewards without any discrepancies or injustices.

In the third season, we introduced additional competitive options and incentives for THE FINALS. We did this by introducing a new rank called Ruby in the Ranked Terminal Attack, as well as an Emerald rank in the World Tour.

In Update 4.2, we’ll make sure everyone gets their well-deserved prizes from Season 3 promptly. We want to verify that they go only to those who played fairly and truly deserved them. So, hang tight! Your time to shine will come soon.

DLCs

At the beginning of Season 4, there will be three distinct downloadable content packs offered at varying prices for your perusal. Keep in mind that, similar to the previous season, the Starter Pack is also returning as a downloadable content option for this season.

Let’s get into the details!

This new season promises an enhanced experience with a fresh map, broader weapon selection, updated sponsor features, and numerous upgrades in rankings, leaderboards, and customization options. In other words, we’re looking at the most impressive iteration of THE FINALS yet! Let’s delve into the specifics and figures behind these modifications to help you get ready for The Arena!

Balance Changes

Archetypes

Heavy

Dev Note: We wanted to leave a quick dev note on the state of the Heavy archetype, as we know there have been some frustrations that the Heavy is ‘overly nerfed’ compared to the Light archetype. While the Light (most played) does remain much more played than the Heavy (least played) as of the end of Season 3, across all skill tiers and modes we see that the Heavy is by far the most winning of our three archetypes, with Light the most losing. Our intent with much of the balancing is to bring all of the archetypes’ win rates more closely in line, while also equalizing their pick rates. This ultimately means that, when it comes to the Heavy, we need to work through a process of both making it more balanced in terms of power and making it more fun to play. This will be an ongoing process but is the underlying thought process behind some of the changes made to start Season 4 when it comes to balance and usability of items.

Gadgets

Anti-Gravity Cube

Increased radius from 6m to 7m
Increased height from 11m to 12m

Breach Charge

Increased ammo from 2 to 3
Increased cooldown from 26s to 30s Dev Note: We felt the Breach Charge had become under-used in the current meta and we believe this change will increase its value versus the Thermal Bore

Data Reshaper

Increased range from 15m to 21m
Increased number of charges from 2 to 3

Explosive Mine

Decreased max damage from 140 to 120
Decreased cooldown from 30s to 15s
Decreased ammo count from 2 to 1 (max mines deployed remains at 2)

Game Design Note: The purpose of Explosive Mines has consistently been to serve as a defensive tool for securing choke points and guarding objectives, with proper placement being key. However, the ability to immediately place two mines back-to-back frequently resulted in excessive mine stacking, often directly on the objective. This allowed for defenses to be established too swiftly. To reduce this issue, we are introducing a 15-second delay between each deployment and reducing their damage output. Our aim is that these changes will discourage stacking and motivate teams to reach the objective location earlier, enabling them to fully prepare their defenses before battle ensues.

Flashbang

Increased the max duration of the Blind status effect from 4s to 4.5s
Increased the max duration of the max intensity of the Blind status effect from 1.8s to 3.5s
Increase the intensity of flashes that explode close to the enemy’s position
Increased the view angle of flashes, causing more intense flashes when the flash goes off by someone’s side or slightly behind them
Flashbangs now only show Hit Indicators on the crosshair if they reach a minimum amount of intensity on a hostile target
Decreased the intensity and duration of the Blind status effect on teammates
Improved the leniency of hit detection of the Flashbang when targeting players, so that it is less likely to be blocked by small objects

Developer’s Remark: The Flashbang has not been used as much as expected, so we’ve made some improvements to enhance its reliability and effectiveness.

Glitch Trap

Disabled crosshair hit markers when the Glitch Trap attaches to an enemy, so that it can no longer be used to detect players
Decreased ammo from 2 to 1
Decreased cooldown from 30s to 20s

Jump Pad

Added a small amount of variance to the Jump Pad so that objects cannot bounce on them indefinitely

Proximity Sensor

Increased radius from 10m to 11m

RPG-7

Decreased damage from 140 to 100
Increased reload time from 0.9s to 2.15s
Decreased projectile dispersion when aiming down sights from 0.3x to 0.25x

Developer’s Note: The RPG wasn’t meant primarily for use at the start of battles, despite being easier for beginners to access. Our original intention was that it would be used mainly for destruction. This modification aims to make it functional as an opener, but significantly less effective one. By doing so, we are returning its primary focus back to destruction and breaching.

Tracking Dart

Increased magazine size from 2 to 4
Decreased ammunition regeneration rate from 13s to 12s
Decreased tracking duration from 15s to 10s

Zipline

Decreased the height of Ziplines slightly, so that they will better fit through doors

Liftables

Propane Gas Canister

Decreased direct physical impact damage from 50 to 25

Modes

Cashout Modes

Introduced new re-spawn placement logic for teams that are wiped, with the goal of reducing the number of ‘third-party’ fights

Ranked Tournaments (Cashout)

Added Ranked Tournaments
Disabled game show events in Ranked Tournaments

Memo for Developers: To enhance the competitive and amicable atmosphere of Ranked Tournaments, we’re eliminating all in-game event surprises. This change should lead to more predictable matches, fewer random occurrences, and improved strategic planning opportunities.

Increased the cash awarded per Cashout in the final round from $10,000 to $25,000
Increased the cash required to win the final round from $20,000 to $50,000

Terminal Attack

Terminal Attack now uses a best-of-nine-rounds (first to five) format, with a half-time break where level destruction is reset

Terminal Attack (Ranked)

Removed Ranked Terminal Attack and replaced it with Ranked Tournaments

World Tour (Cashout)

Disabled team wipe penalties in World Tour

Note for Developers: The World Tour is designed to offer a less intense, friendly tournament atmosphere compared to our Ranked Tournaments. Our findings during Season 3 indicated that eliminating team wipe penalties reduced player stress and resulted in more competitive matches.

Enabled the ability for players to swap items between their Loadout and Reserve between team wipes in World Tour

Note for Developers: Introducing an update that enhances the user-friendliness of World Tour for casual gamers by enabling them to exchange items across different lives. On the other hand, Ranked Tournaments will maintain their current policy, permitting item swapping only within rounds, as we consider the ability to strategize against rival teams and adapt to map variations an essential skill in competitive gameplay.

Increased the cash awarded per Cashout in the final round from $10,000 to $25,000
Increased the cash required to win the final round from $20,000 to $50,000
Added Diamond and Platinum ranks to World Tour, between the Gold and Emerald ranks.
Emerald rank is now unlocked and available to progress towards from the start of the season
Emerald rank is now earned by collecting Win Points, rather than tournament wins
Updated the required Win Point totals for all World Tour ranked tiers, due to the change in ranks and how they are earned

Specializations

Dematerializer

Improved targeting to reduce the amount of times the dematerializer fails to make a passageway through objects.

Goo Gun

Fire mode changed from semi-automatic to fully automatic

Healing Beam

Decreased healing rate from 50 health per second to 40 health per second

Mesh Shield

Mesh Shield will now enter cooldown either when destroyed or lowered

Game Developer’s Note: Initially, the Mesh Shield was designed as a Specialization meant to protect teammates or symbolize the durability and resilience of the Heavy character type. However, we found that the mechanism of raising and lowering the shield while firing weapons was challenging for some players to grasp and quite annoying for those playing against it. We acknowledge that this change is substantial and will keep a close eye on its effects.

Decreased Mesh Shield cooldown from 15s to 12s. The cooldown is only 8s if the Shield is undamaged when deactivated

Weapons

93R

Smoothed the vertical recoil to avoid having sharp jumps in intensity, which could previously cause an inconsistent feel
Updated firing animation when aiming down sights to give greater visibility
Increased fire rate from 210 RPM to 220 RPM
Decreased bullet dispersion when firing ‘from the hip’ when crouching, crouch moving, standing still, running, and in ‘uncontrolled’ states such as falling or sliding
Decreased the rate at which bullet dispersion builds up over time when firing for a sustained period
Increased the bullet dispersion recovery speed from 0.45 to 0.65

Developer’s Note: The 93R has been challenging for us to balance due to its burst-fire mechanism. Burst-fire weapons can lead players to expect that all bullets within a burst should hit when aimed properly, but this also means the weapon can deal significant damage per ‘shot’, making it powerful when the full burst connects. Differentiation from the FAMAS and achieving a suitable balance has been tough. We’ve hesitated to make the 93R a two-shot weapon against Lights, as every test of this approach made the weapon overpowered, but at 72 damage per burst (or three shots, nine bullets required to kill a Light), the weapon consistently underperforms and remains on the borderline of being too strong or very weak. In this update, we’ve focused on improving its effectiveness when fired without aiming down sights and enhancing its mobility. We believe this change places the weapon in a more favorable position, but we welcome your feedback on it.

AKM

Decreased magazine size from 36 to 32

CL-40

Increased max damage from 93 to 117

Developer’s Remark: This adjustment might appear substantial, but it maintains the weapon’s effectiveness against Light and Medium entities, requiring two and three hits respectively. The primary purpose of this modification is to reduce the number of shots needed to take down a Heavy from four to three. Previously, the CL-40 required 100% accuracy to kill a Heavy without reloading, which we deemed unfair.

Decreased fire rate from 275 RPm to 210 RPM

Dev Note: A small adjustment to offset the significant damage buff a little.

Increased the max damage radius from 9cm to 30cm

Dagger

The Dagger’s backstab secondary attack can now be held, only triggering when the button is released, rather than automatically. During this stance, the player moves at the normal run speed and cannot sprint

Lewis Gun

Smoothed the recoil pattern of the Lewis Gun, reducing the amount of horizontal recoil at some points. The recoil pattern overall remains the same but should be considerably easier to control

LH1

Decreased the damage fall-off start range from 80m to 50m
Decreased the damage fall-off end range from 100m to 55m

Developer’s Remark: We noticed that the incorporation of multiple scopes for the LH1 was moving it closer to the SR-84’s domain. This adjustment helps alleviate this overlap to a degree.

M60

Increased fire rate from 560 RPM to 580 RPM
Smoothed the recoil pattern of the M60, reducing the amount of horizontal recoil at some points. The recoil pattern overall remains the same but should be considerably easier to control

MGL32

Decreased reload time from 3.1s to 2.8s

Developer’s Note: The MGL32 is a weapon we hope to extensively revise in the future, but for now, let’s focus on a minor yet impactful change to improve its usability. This tweak aims to make the weapon more effective and useful in gameplay.

Recurve Bow

Increased damage at minimum draw from 55 to 60
Decreased damage ramp-up start time from 0.2s to 0.15s
Decreased the time taken to reach maximum draw from 0.585s to 0.49s

Riot Shield

Increased damage from 84 to 90

SH1900 Shotgun

Decreased reload time from 2.5s to 2.125s

Spear

Increased run speed modifier during secondary spin attack from 65% to 75%

SR-84 Sniper

Updated the SR-84 to now only fire hit-scan rounds up to 40m range. After this point, the shot becomes a projectile with bullet drop from gravity and drag

Developer’s Comment: Although the SR-84 isn’t generally overpowered or extremely successful across many game modes, it can feel oppressive at extremely long ranges in games like Terminal Attack and Power Shift, leading to frustration among players. We believe this adjustment will lessen the excessive long-range annoyance experienced by players without significantly impacting its effectiveness in medium-to-long-range combat scenarios.

Sword

Updated attack sweeps to be more centered on the crosshair, making the weapon more accurate
Increased the range of the secondary lunge from approximately 5m to approximately 6m
Secondary lunge attack now maintains its top speed for slightly longer

Throwing Knives

The Throwing Knives secondary attack can now be held, only triggering when the button is released, rather than automatically. During this stance, the player moves at the normal run speed and cannot sprint

XP-54

Increase the magnification of the XP-54’s sight slightly, as part of the addition of alternate sights/scopes
Decreased damage from 18 to 16

Content and Bug Fixes

Animation

Fixed an issue where players could spawn into a round without the spawn-in animations or FX
Fixed an issue where pairing a Quick Melee action with other actions would make the animations look faulty
Polished the Riot Shield first-person animation where you would perform a phantom strike if you quickly zoomed after a strike
Removed camera animations when previewing first-person animations in the front end since it felt distracting
Fixed an issue where melee weapon animations could sometimes get stuck in the ‘charging’ pose in third-person

Audio

Fixed an issue where the Santa Hat extra VO lines would not play

Career Rank

Added 10 new levels with rewards to the Career Rank
Fixed an issue where stages or circuits that gave XP might not apply them to both the Battle Pass and Career Rank

Characters

Fixed an issue where various hair types could clip with the bucket hat

Gadgets

General

Fixed an issue where deployable gadgets could remain floating in mid-air

Data Reshaper

Fixed an issue where items transmuted by the Data Reshaper would not count as destroyed for certain Contracts

Flashbang

Improved the leniency of hit traces from the Flashbang to target players, so that they are less likely to be blocked by small objects

Vanishing Bomb

Improved the hit detection of the Vanishing Bomb on the player that threw it

Ziplines

Fixed an issue where Ziplines could break instantly upon being placed

Game Modes

Cashout Modes

Fixed an issue where Vaults opened out of bounds, causing the newly spawned Cashbox to be indefinitely stuck out of bounds.
Added notification messages to the HUD that show Cashout Started, Cashout Stolen and Vault Opened to the entire team when a teammate completes said action
Fixed an issue where the Cashout overtime timer could be broken, making sure a cashout being completed during overtime won’t spawn new Vaults

Cashout Tutorial

Introduced a new version of the Cashout tutorial, for a smoother and more fun experience
Fixed various smaller issues with the tutorial flow and components
Fixed an issue where the correct loadout was not alway loaded in the tutorial

Liftables

Fixed an issue that could cause thrown items to stutter

Maps

Seoul

Fixed an issue where the audience jumbotron could glow

Kyoto

Added autumn themed version of Kyoto

Matchmaking

Players will now connect to levels faster, without waiting for other players who have not yet loaded. As a result, players will reach the lobby much faster and will see connecting players represented as a hologram

Movement

Fixed issue where players could lock their cameras to a fixed direction if they died while climbing a ladder

Performance and Optimization

Fixed issue where VOIP would not work as expected if the push-to-talk key was pressed when going back to the main menu
Fixed a rare issue where during the tournament intro/outro sequence, characters could be invisible
Reduced the number of hitches that could occur when selecting items in the customization and drafting screens