At GDC, Nexon’s The First Descendant developers held a panel titled “Persevering Through a 57 Metacritic as a Live Service Game.” In a volatile industry that has no sympathy for live service titles that don’t immediately become large hits, the discussion dove into the important choices that the developers made to move quickly but to do so while being considerate of community feedback and looking toward a future with The First Descendant Season 3: The Breakthrough.
Executive Producer Lee Beom-jun and Creative Director Joo Min-seok of the Nexon-published game sat down with us to discuss the game’s future, what they’ve learned through their time developing it, what is coming in The First Descendant Season 3, and why balance is something they keep coming back to.
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To start, we talked about what the state of The First Descendant is now that it’s completed two seasons. While the game had a rough first season, Season 2: Void Pursuit brought in a 92.4% increase in daily active users. With the launch of the Season 2 Episode 2 update, they’ve continued to see positive reactions from their community. A lot of it is thanks to Serena, the newest Descendant to join the fray.
“So recently, the user feedback for Season 2 Episode 2’s storyline is very positive, and we were very happy to see that because Episode 2’s storyline was [directly] based on the feedback we’ve accumulated so far since the launch. We learn what [players] love and enjoy the most, and then we try to make sure that that feedback is reflected in this new [update],” Executive Producer Lee explained.
The First Descendant team isn’t afraid of criticism, and that’s a reason for their resiliency.
Regarding feedback, The First Descendant team hasn’t been shy about hearing criticism as much as praise. In fact, it was core to the talk they held for GDC audiences and, ultimately, one of the reasons for rebounding from a lackluster Season 1. One of the ways that the team did this was to set up a complete AMA-style (Ask Me Anything) feedback loop with their community and simultranslated developer sessions to meet its international community where they need it.
Lee Beom-jun continued, “[Serena], the character in the new storyline, was released and our community has been enjoying it,” Executive Producer Lee said before leading into the plans that the team has for Season 3. “This summer, in July, we’re going to launch Season 3 updates, which will offer refreshing content. For instance, there will be a new large field, and then a new colossus for the field will also be introduced.”
The addition of a larger field also means a way to traverse it. “[Additionally], there will be a vehicle that you can mount and then exit to walk around the field. Outside of the field, there will be a completely new space introduced that will be a large area where you can show off your collections, [the lounge].”
Discussing the Lounge, which will appear in The First Descendant Season 3, is actually one of the most interesting moments of our time together at the table. When I asked the developers about the inspiration, I was expecting something data-focused or a deep dive into a specific community ask. Instead, it was actually inspired by a Reddit post.
Creative Director Joo Min-seok explained, “So many players have been voicing the need to showcase and decorate their own space with the achievements they get in the game. [The First Descendant] is a game where you can collect your achievements and that’s why we wanted to introduce this Lounge space.”
Executive Producer Lee added to the topic, “When you first look into [The First Descendant], there’s this one Descendant that looks directly at you, and on Reddit, there was this one player that posted a picture that they made from that screen with each of the Descendants that this player collected dressed in their favorite skins all together in one screen, and that was very interesting and inspiring.”
As the duo looked through their phones to find the image that inspired the idea, a screenshot that a player had made with all their favorite skins of their favorite character displayed in the hub, they chatted about how seeing that one image set a lightbulb off on how to solve for organic discussions in the community about trophies.
The First Descendant Season 3 is on the way, and the feedback process the team has developed is central.
When asked about what they’ve learned on the project that is reaching its second year in live-service, Lee Beom-jun took a moment to prepare his answer. And then, opened up. “After each season update, we do a wrap-up session to talk about how we came up with the changes, what kind of results we gained, and how we can do better in the future.”
“[The First Descendant] gave me so many of my first moments. For instance, this was my first console game and also the first time that I entered the North American market. There were so many things I had to learn, and there have been many changes I had to meet in terms of processes or how to approach [game development],” Executive Producer Lee expanded this by explaining how he and the team ensured that both Korean and North American audiences were heard in the update process.
“For instance,” he continued, “After the Season 2 Episode 2 update, I also learned so many things about what to do and what not to do. To mention one, it would be focus group testing [FGT]. I had done FGT before, but only pre-launch. This time, we decided to go into FGTs even after launching the game. We saw a clear need through user feedback that we needed to listen to more voices, and that’s why we [held them] in both Korea and America. This allowed us to gain user feedback [from both audiences] and we made adjustments in the content that we developed.”
And it’s here where The First Descendant’s balancing issues came into focus, Lee added, “The homework that I have at the moment would be to find the right balance, but interesting balance, between characters and weapons. I would like to set the perfect process in order to cheat that though. I need to create the process to achieve that goal.”
Balance and quality of life are core to updating the game for Season 3.
When it comes to balance issues in The First Descendant, support characters have felt underserved compared to their high DPS counterparts. As a traditional tank player, I’ve had trouble finding a character I feel comfortable playing. I’ve tried Ajax for a true tank experience, but his damage is too low to be sustainable. I fell in love with Yujin as a character but not so much as a healer. And Jayber can be a good pick if his drone gets a rework.
Still, I find myself swayed by Bunny’s aesthetic because I haven’t been able to find a character that fits my playstyle, so why not go with actual style? I shared this with the duo after Creative Director Joo asked for my feedback on them. But to be honest, they were already ahead of me.
With so many Descendants and new ones being added, balance has to always be top of mind. “We are aware of the balance issues,” Executive Producer Lee started, “It is a point that we are carefully watching. We recently introduced new character, Serena, and she’s very powerful and very attractive, which is why she is very popular among the players these days. But you know, compared to other Descendants, butt we are carefully watching and trying to receive feedback often about her.”
He also stressed that balance is remaining top of mind by reiterating, “We are aware of the gap between the descendants in terms of their power, and we are very seriously working on that issue. [To do this], we like to set the baseline, and if there are underperforming descendants, we are going to do an overall buff patch in April. We are aware that you know some of the OP characters are okay to balance with content and other methods. But if it’s too much over the baseline, then we’ll have to adjust their power balance issue as well.”
But at what point does balance become quality of life (QOL)? For Lee Beom-jun, it already is. He explained “[Regarding] QOL improvements that you mentioned, we are doing weekly hot fixes and every one includes QOL changes too. [Additionally,] we are continuously working on [QOL improvements] to make the gameplay environment for users more comfortable and enjoyable.”
Lee Continued, “Then, when it comes to characters, we used to call every character-related issue a balance issue, but from a North American player perspective, to make it easier for them to play certain players, it’s called QOL, not balance issues. So the point I really like to highlight is that we are here engaging closely with our users in the community and reflecting that feedback into our future [changes].”
But DPS capability isn’t the only reason that players choose their characters. Aesthetic and design are also how players are choosing their favorites and the developers know that.
“When it comes to designing the looks of the Descendants, we give each character a specific concept. For Serena, we wanted to make her look like a traditional Hollywood star,” Lee explained, pointing to the wall behind him covered in floor to ceiling image of Serena.
“We believe that if beautiful characters have a background story, we can help them resonate more with [players]. So that’s why we’re focusing on the narratives and the background stories of the Descendants. For instance, when we first showed Ines in Episode 2 of the main story, we showed our users her personality and her background story so that she can be multidimensional. And then, after we showed her, we released her as a playable character and for Serena as well.”
The duo jointly explained how teasing a story ahead of diving deeper helped build player investment. “When we first met Serena, we mentioned that she’s an older generation Descendant that’s from a century ago. We briefly mentioned that she’s from like 100 years ago and that everyone was focused on asking, ‘What has she been doing for you 100 years? She must be a Granny.’ The hype increased even before we released the new character, and I think that’s because of the approach that we’re using.”
The Nexon team is making strides toward more co-op-friendly play, even if it isn’t there yet.
I’ve always approached The First Descendant as a multiplayer game, but many users prefer its solo-player-friendly nature. That said, co-op isn’t exactly where the game is at now. When asked about it, the developers explained that getting to a more co-op-friendly state is going to come, just not yet.
Executive Producer Lee began, “To be honest, I believe that The First Descendant is more solo-player friendly at the moment, due to the fact that this is a grinding game. I believe that the users expect some cool player moments within a grinding game. ‘I was just playing hard on my own, then I accidentally met this player and we worked on the content together, and then it unexpectedly gave us more fun,’ is the multiplayer element instead of saying to a friend, let’s grind together.”
He continued, “At this moment, [The First Descendant] has some content issues and difficulty with the content levels. That’s why Eugene, Ajax, or other support Descendants are not really shining as much as the others. We are trying to set the right direction that works in terms of making co-op play better. During [The First Descendant Season 3] or other upcoming updates, we’d like to make content that is more suitable for co-op play so that more players can opt into it.
“So at the moment in The First Descendant, we only offer random matchmaking t0 play together with other players,” Lee added, “So if you want to effectively farm, that’s not a very good choice. And maybe that’s why many players opt for solo-play. But on the other hand, we would like to include a party search feature [in the future] that can help players to farm together with other players more effectively.”
Creative Director Joo Min-seok added, “We want to make a co-op play as much fun as solo-play. But then there is still room for improvement. Through the upcoming party search feature or new co-op content that’s coming to The First Descendant, we hope that in the future, more players can have fun playing with their parties.”
Ultimately, one thing is clear from the panel and my discussion with the developers: all feedback is important feedback. Through constant adjustment, the Nexon team has built community trust. While that doesn’t mean their path is easy as they move into Season 3 and beyond, it does mean that they have their finger directly on their player pulse without being overly reactive to every request.
But it wasn’t just about a dynamic feedback loop. Nexon has also shut down support on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 to better focus on optimizing and creating new content on current-gen platforms. But to do that, they’ve also expanded their development team by 50% compared to when the game launched. Where other live service games have shuttered after a rocky launch and critical reception, Nexon has doubled down on this title, and it’s paying off.
Approaching live-service development in such a volatile time can be intimidating, to say the least. If anything, though, The First Descendant has shown that a Metacritic score isn’t all there is to a game, so long as you learn from it.
The First Descendant Season 3 is set to release in July 2025.
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
