While Nexon is currently enjoying significant financial success, largely due to the millions in sales generated by Embark Studios’ ARC Raiders, not every game released by the publisher or its developers manages to hit the mark. Nexon has shown commendable honesty in admitting this, even pointing out specific games that haven’t performed as hoped, such as The First Descendant.
In its most recent financial briefing document, Nexon highlighted the once-anticipated shooter as a prime example of what went wrong, placing it alongside Dungeon & Fighter Mobile. The document explicitly states “Strong launch, no persistence” when discussing The First Descendant’s debut. The game initially saw an impressive peak of 264,000 concurrent players on Steam, but its player base has steadily declined since that initial surge. While it still manages to attract a few thousand players daily—a figure that isn’t the absolute worst for a live-service title—it clearly falls short of Nexon’s original expectations.
“These are design issues that aren’t fixed with a patch — they require structural changes in game mechanics,” Nexon openly admitted. Although seasonal content and various corrective patches are still planned for the game, this candid acknowledgment suggests a potential shift in strategy. It implies Nexon may soon prioritize focusing on projects that demonstrate genuine long-term viability, rather than investing heavily in titles that fail to meet critical performance benchmarks.