I've played it and didn't like it.

OK, and? Not every game should appeal to anyone. Moreover, you didn’t even say why you don’t like it.

I like overwatch and team fortress 2, mind. 

These game are similar to THE FINALS than Counter-Strike or Valorant, but they are not the same. THE FINALS is an arena shooter, closer to Quake, roughly speaking, though it’s not the best comparison. It is indeed a game of its own.

But if counter strike and valorant players liked it, it'd be popular.

If Genshin Impact players liked it, it would be popular.

If Fortnite players liked it, it would be popular.

If DotA 2 or LoL players liked it, it would be popular.

Buddy, what is the point of such statements? Water is wet, or what?

It's a free game, low barrier to entry for established shooter players.

Low barrier? I think so, however the reality is that most people are not willing to learn a game and they think it is functionally the same as CS or COD — so many new players make idiotic mistakes and refuse to learn the game.

"Hidden gems" are exceedingly rare, and especially for multiplayer games.

My point about “hidden gems” was that some games are indeed amazing and they do not have a massive community behind it. THE FINALS isn’t a hidden gem, it’s kinda well-known amongst the big dedicated FPS fans, however it’s almost unknown among regular folks.

So consider that you may just be wrong and people don't like it, and that maybe they don't like it for good reasons.

Says this and lists no reasons, lmao.

I’ve heard lots of takes about the game from people who stopped playing it, and it was legit all skill issue or idiotic attitude, or both. I didn't say people play it like COD and CS and expect it to be such, out of the blue — I say it from experience, I saw lots of people like that.

I listed one of the real reasons already — the game has a low skill entry, relatively speaking, however it still requires people to learn the game and think “outside the box”, hence why I call it, basically, 4D chess. Some people refuse to play it, because either they just cannot accept the complexity of it, it’s too much for them (I know a couple of people like that), or they just do not manage to sit through the, sometimes, ruthless matchmaking to learn the game — though the issue is that most people, as I’ve said, play it like CS or COD, like they think Kills/Deaths are the only thing that matters, but not only they do not score kills (or they might), they are still losing, because the game is about the objective (Cashout), not flexing your KD. Add the fact that it is very-very teamplay-heavy game, and solo you cannot do much.