Easter eggs have long served as the perfect tool for developers to hide sneak peeks at what they’ve got in store for players within their games. Now, it seems that The Finals developer Embark Studios is looking further afield from its break-out FPS hit on PS5 and Xbox if theories surrounding a new The Finals QR code that’s popped up in its in-game shop materialize.
The ‘HOLTOW Quote’ sticker that’s currently available in the store may seem unassuming at first, but anyone who knows the best FPS games like Apex Legends will tell you that any cosmetic featuring a QR code will lead you somewhere. And they’d be right. When scanned, the code takes you through to a site named after the in-game sponsor, though there’s not exactly much there. In fact, upon loading up the site you’ll be greeted only by a flashing red light.
While it’s not exactly much to go off of, if you open the gif of the red light in a new tab, the file name reveals what appears to be a date: 5.15.25. That’s May 15, 2025. Considering The Finals has not long released, and it would be strange for a game utilizing a seasonal model to be hinting at something happening over a year in the future, our best guess at this time would be that this could be the ARC Raiders release date for Embark’s upcoming extraction shooter.
However, when considering the rumored open beta period for ARC is set to land within the coming months, as well as the fact that the game has already been delayed twice, there’s every chance Embark will be looking to get it out of the door this year. The question then becomes: ‘does Embark have something else cooking that we don’t know about?’
The realistic answer is ‘no’. After all, it’s one thing developing a live service title, but maintaining it long-term is a separate commitment entirely – the cancellation of The Last of Us Online is a testament to that challenge. With both The Finals and ARC Raiders in circulation, it’s hard to imagine that Embark would be able to fit a third game into that lineup unless the studio has been targeting the single-player space.
The other viable possibility at this point is that ‘5.15.25’ is actually an in-game date – The Finals’ maps all sit at various points on the timeline – so a new map or event is currently in the oven. The flashing red light also makes more sense this way considering The Finals is a deadly gameshow.
Whether it’s an unannounced addition to the list of new PS5 games and new Xbox games or something soon to materialize in-game, this The Finals QR code has certainly sparked our imagination. Hopefully, then, it won’t be long until the devs drop the deets on what’s behind that mysterious red light.
In the meantime, Embark’s been working away at getting The Finals into the best possible shape, promising new PS5 and Xbox updates to fix current pain points for players. A new map or event would undoubtedly be the cherry on top when it comes to kicking 2024 off the right way for the studio.