How The Finals Built the Best Ranked in FPS

In the realm of first-person shooters (FPS), there’s a lot for games to compete on. But The Finals wins the best-ranked experience. You don’t have to take our word for it — listen to the players.

So what does The Finals do differently to get this kind of player reaction?

The ranked features players love

It’s deceptively simple, but the Embark team delivered a ranked experience that players want. With visibility into ranking that most games have to hide and in-game stats that keep players engaged season to season, here’s what sets The Finals apart.

Real ranks shown to players

Players want to see their rank, especially in FPS, where competition is the game. That’s why every game has some kind of ranking system, usually with shiny metal names. But knowing that they’re a Plat II doesn’t tell a player much about how they compare to others, especially those of the same rank.

This is where The Finals stands out. Players are still placed into “buckets” — from Bronze to Ruby — like they’re used to. And these buckets are tied to the player’s individual ranking. The difference is that players can also see this rating. They also see how that rating changes after each match. They’re not left guessing how their performance affected their rank. That’s refreshing in a world where COD players are filing personal information requests from Activision to figure out their rank.

A public leaderboard

Transparent rankings mean The Finals can celebrate its top 10,000 players with an official, public leaderboard. The public leaderboard shows their player rank, the change (if any) in the past 24 hours, and the matchmaking rating alongside the league. No more guessing what it takes to be number one, go check for yourself.

Pre-match screens 

Sure, Embark could have shown rankings and created a leaderboard and called it a day. But they chose to give actionable info to players pre-match. Players can see how they stack up against others in the match and how much they stand to gain (or lose) based on their place in the match (or tournament).

This level of transparency, launched with Season 3, was a big hit with new and old players.

The Finals load screen, image source

Powered by matchmaking ratings Embark trusts

The features are a player favorite. Part of the reason they don’t exist in other multiplayer games is the unpredictable matchmaking ratings studios usually rely on. But Embark decided to do it differently, by using an entirely new rating system. One they can trust.

True skill-based matchmaking 

The Finals can show players the rating data they want because the ratings are accurate and stable. That’s our IVK Skill (read in the proud parent voice)!

Reliable ratings are at the core of all skill-based matchmaking (SBMM), but other systems can’t deliver them. Most games struggle with implementing and then forever maintaining and tuning flawed systems like Elo, TrueSkill, or Glicko. With IVK Skill, Embark isn’t just powering player-facing features; they’re saving time on implementation and maintenance and avoiding common issues like smurfing.

IVK Skill is a matchmaking rating system that’s designed for modern multiplayer games.

Want to test IVK Skill for your game? Get in touch or join our Discord community, where we talk about all things SBMM (whether you’re using our products or not).