Season eight of THE FINALS launched shortly after the open qualifiers for The Grand Major 2025 and introduced Smooth Destruction—a significant update to the destruction system, making it more cinematic and authentic than ever before.
Smooth Destruction improves impact destruction from collapsing structures in THE FINALS, allowing them to trigger destructive chain reactions and create new ways to play. This feature was introduced during The Grand Major 2025, and in a Q&A with design director Matt Lowe, Dot Esports asked about the team’s approach regarding timing major updates with esports competitions.
THE FINALS is unpredictable—it’s a game show where anything can happen and every match is different. That extends to esports, where players compete in a “sandbox where anything can happen.” Lowe said this is exactly what competitors and spectators should anticipate when it comes to systemic updates.
“We’re also just as much of a casual game as we are an esports game, and that means we’re dedicated to maintaining our schedule of changes and have no intentions of straying from our core pillars in order to accommodate esports,” he added.
Lowe admitted this approach isn’t completely lawless, though. Smooth Destruction may not be as radical a change as it might seem, but the team is mindful of introducing changes that can impact ongoing events and tournaments, without binding their plans for the game to any competitions.
On the topic of core additions, season eight introduced instant replays to THE FINALS, and Lowe shared a little more regarding this feature’s future, including the full replay system that’s already on the roadmap. “We still have a bit of technical work for Instant Replays, but once we’re happy with the state of that feature, it is our intention to work on a full replay system that will provide context to matches from multiple points of view,” he said.
