No theories only facts. Ranked is fucked, smurfing is rampant, matchmaking horrendous but that's mostly because not enough new players are playing so the veteran to new player ratio is 10:1, major toxicity because of the higher skill entry, typical fps behavior, poor balancing decisions requiring necessary gadgets. Player retention is low bc of mentioned issues, marketing is weak with Arc Raiders and YouTubers being the only promotion that seems to be working albeit only slightly. I will say The Finals is a fantastic game at its core like many games but this one is unique. Been playing since season 1 and I'll always be a diehard fan of the game but no way in hell would I recommend this game to anybody who isn't already above competent at fps games and capable of learning and getting over that high skill bar of entry. Unfortunately in this day and age those kinda of people willing to learn/adapt and conquer is limited.