Is The Finals a battle royale?

The Finals burst onto the FPS scene with a bunch of destruction and chaos. You play as one of three teams racing around the map to open vaults, cash out money, destroy buildings, and eliminate enemies. But some players are uncertain if The Finals is a battle royale or something else.

Creative Director of The Finals, Gustav Tilleby, answered this question: “The Finals is a game show at heart. It’s not a battle royale or a military sim.”

But what truly makes The Finals different from a battle royale?

Is The Finals a battle royale?

The short answer is no.

The Finals has three times of three competing against one another on a massive and destructible arena in an attempt to bank the most cash. There are three different classes with their own unique abilities and weapons. Throughout the match there are short events that add lasers and zero gravity as players attempt to explode buildings and each other.

Early on, players compared it to a battle royale since it featured teams rushing around to take down one another in a massive map and it features a wide range of abilities like Apex Legends. But there are many key differences. Here is why The Finals is not a battle royale and is, instead, an arena shooter:

• No ring: The Finals doesn’t have a map that continuously shrinks thanks to a ring that forces players into certain areas
• No last team standing: You don’t win by eliminating enemy teams — you win by having the most cash (which you get by opening vaults and cashing the money)
• No loot: You don’t search the map for weapons, armor, ammo, and other items. You drop in with a loadout and won’t find anything on the map

“From the very beginning, we said that if we’re going to make a shooter, it needs to be different; it needs to be something that nobody else is doing,” Tilleby said in an interview with The Verge. “I personally love systemic game design where you give the players tools and it’s really up to them to use them.”