SUMMARY
- The Finals is tearing up Steam charts with its innovative and fun gameplay.
- Fans have praised the game for its fluid gameplay mechanics, however, it has been scorned for missing a feature.
Communication is crucial for any team-based multiplayer game, and The Finals is no different. However, fans are voicing their concerns over the game being a multi-player game and yet lacking a critical communication feature that allows them to communicate with their teammates.
That being said, it’s not that the game does not have any modes of communication, it does support the voice feature. However, it is the text chat feature is missing and is causing inconvenience to players. Embark Studios’ The Finals has been a great success, be it their open beta which crashed servers, or the game making it among the top 10 games with the highest player count on Steam post-launch.
However, there are some issues that the players are facing in the game. Earlier, some players had voiced their concerns about The Finals Battle Pass being impossible to complete. And now, fans are expressing their displeasure regarding the absence of the text chat feature in the game.
Text chat feature missing in The Finals
Recently a Finals player ‘angrylegalthrowaway’ took to Reddit to highlight the issue on January 4, 2023. The user said that not adding text chat to a match was unsatisfactory and an unjustified decision by developers. The user adds that there are times when a player can’t use voice chat but still wants to communicate with their team through text. Being deprived of the option corners the players who cannot use voice chat for whatever reasons, which is unfair.
Lack of text chat is a massive oversight.
byu/angrylegalthrowaway inthefinals
The user writes, “I play when the family sleeps. I can’t use the voice chat” adding that it is the only time they get to play the game, leaving them helpless. “Is it really so mind-shattering for someone to hear ‘you suck’ or whatever other nonsense you hear in a game?” the user added.
A user commented, “It frustrates me a lot as well to not have any text chat. I dont like using my microphone but i could understand the reasons behind (avoid toxicity?, avoid typing during the actions).” (sic)
Several other such users came out in support of the user saying they too wish the game had a text feature and not having it is really disappointing and inconvenience.
Why does The Finals not have a text feature?
Although the developers have yet to comment on the issue, a possible reason for not adding the text feature in The Finals could be to reduce toxicity in the game. In the past several multiplayer games such as League of Legends have witnessed the text chat often becoming a place for toxic players to insult and offend their teammates and opponents. This ends up ruining the experience for many.
That being said, as the user points out, these kinds of notorious players exist in almost every competitive game and are not exclusive to text chat. These players can always find ways to be toxic even through voice chat or even gameplay. And for this reason, the option to mute a player or even turn off chat completely exists, to avoid unpleasant situations in voice chat.
One thing that THE FINALS fans wish to see is a text chat along with the ability to mute players. ‘Angrylegalthrowaway’ points out, “Why not let US as the PLAYERS decide what we do or don’t want to hear, instead of forcing a blanket rule on everybody?”
Several players agreed with the user that if the goal is to lower toxicity, forcing people to use solely voice chat is just “naive” and “worse.” Particularly for those players who are uncomfortable with voice chat or simply can’t use it due to personal issues. Irrespective of what Embark’s idea was for not including text chat, it seems like it isn’t the way to go, and is certainly not looking good for the game at the moment.