Shroud says The FINALS is ‘too much’ for Call of Duty players

Embark Studios' THE FINALS has made one hell of a debut, welcoming contestants from all over the world to compete in their team-based shooter antics. Players are engaging more and more with each passing day, and it's building potential to truly compete with team shooters like Counter-Strike and VALORANT.

We're still a long way from toppling Call of Duty, but even as The FINALS climbs, some players aren't sure that the general shooter crowd are going to be able to hack it.

THE FINALS claimed to be “too much” for CoD fans by Shroud

As one of the leading Call of Duty players in the world, Michael "Shroud" Grzesiek has shared his opinion on where THE FINALS fits in culturally. He thinks it might be a tad over the edge for players who are used to the gameplay sensibilities of the Call of Duty series.

"A lot of people don’t understand this game, it’s too much for the CoD brain, I think," he said in a recent stream playing the game. "For someone who hasn’t experienced anything like this, I guess it can be a little confusing."

Players have rushed to defend THE FINALS against the claim, but it's presumed that Shroud is talking about the attitude that comes with Call of Duty - ignoring the objective and farming for kills, a strategy that players fall into more than they’d care to admit.

Fans react to claims that THE FINALS isn't for CoD players

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Image via Embark Studios

Some players have taken to the comments of TikTok to unleash their feelings on Shroud, claiming that this is just another in a long list of bad takes from the CoD pro.

"Too much for the CoD brain?" says one comment. "It’s just running and gunning like any other cod? It has a longer ttk that’s about it lol. Classic horrible take by Shroud."

"CoD lives in his mind rent-free," says another, which is a pretty fair suggestion given that Call of Duty is his job for the most part. Regardless of what Shroud thinks, The FINALS is doing incredibly well right now, and a lot of new players are actually migrating from Call of Duty. "Too much?" Not quite.