The project has faced significant challenges in retaining its player base.
The First Descendant enjoyed a high-profile launch, garnering considerable attention. Much of this initial buzz was attributed to its character design, featuring female characters in revealing outfits and impressive body physics.
However, the gameplay experience told a different story. Many players expressed dissatisfaction with the core mechanics. Consequently, the online player count plummeted from over 260,000 at launch to around 10,000, and more recently, has settled between 5,000 and 6,000.
Recently, during an investor briefing, CEO Junghun Lee addressed projects that are “not working as intended.”
Discussing Dungeon & Fighter Mobile, he stated that the game “had a great start in 2024 but then lost momentum. Its player retention mechanics proved insufficient to keep players engaged in the long term.”
Lee then added, “The First Descendant faces the same issue: a powerful launch but a lack of audience retention. These are fundamental design problems that cannot be remedied with a simple patch; they require structural changes to the game’s mechanics.”