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The Industry Runs on GaaS

I

Instant_Classic

Member
Top 10 Most Played PS5 Games list.

Top-10-Played-PS5.png


Note: This list is essentially the same on the Xbox side.

Every single game on the list is a live serice, type game.

PS5 Ships 92.2 Million Units as of December 2025 - Sales

PS5 did not reach 92 million units by the lack of a single player games it has.

Heck, PS5 has OUTSOLD the PS3 which had COUNTLESS more SINGLE PLAYER and EXCLUSIVE games.

Why spend 5 - 7 years developing a one and done single player game (many won't beat), when we (Sony) can have reoccuring revenue for many years?

People don't understand, this man was right.

la0eLGX.gif


Gaming is a business, and Jim Ryan knew where things were heading.

rayLp3J.gif


Eiher get in, or get out.
 
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Von Hugh said:
I personally don't give a flying fuck about any of those games on the list.

No Idea Idk GIF by Muppet Wiki
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The industry does, these games account for literally the majority share of interest in today's gaming landscape.

Gaming forums are literally a bubble of a like-minding people, saying "we want moar single player games".
 
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The list in the OP is not suprising since it's based on playtime, so live service games will naturally sit at the top. Not that I mind any of this, since I've pretty much been playing only live‑service titles myself lately.
 
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winjer said:
Also worth remembering the industry path is paved in dozens of GaaS that died right soon launch.
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Many single player games fail and don't meet sales expectations, you just don't hear about them.

Look how many new single player games in general on Steam, don't even hit 30 - 50k concurrent players at release.

Funny, Sony's most successful game on PC is Hell Divers 2.

A LIVE SERVICE GAME.
 
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winjer said:
Of course we hear about them too.
But the biggest flops are GaaS.
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GaaS gets the most attention, however the numbers don't lie.

Unless the single player game is hyped up with a lot of buzz, it will probably fade into the abyss, as most of them do.

It's the norm, and doesn't get as much coverage as GaaS does in gaming bubbles.

Here's link to Steam's top 10 most played list.

Steam Top 10 Most Played

All GaaS
 
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Instant_Classic said:
GaaS gets the most attention, however the numbers don't lie.

Unless the single player game is hyped up with a lot of buzz, it will probably fade into the abyss, as most of them do.

It's the norm, and doesn't get as much coverage as GaaS does in gaming bubbles.
Click to expand...

For every one GaaS that succeeds, there are dozens that fail.
 
calico said:
If they are designed to milk their addicts for money on an on-going basis, yes.

The answer to OPs question 'why make SP games?' is because catering to the entire market is still more profitable than catering to a part of it.
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The market you would like Sony to cater to, is dwindling.

Single player games really only appeal to people born in the 90s or prior, when those kind of games made the majority of what was sold.

Kids born in the 2000s and later, GaaS is what they know and care about.

The data proves this.
 
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Take away any new game launches but GAAS genre= industry crumbles, all gaming companies go bankrupt.
Take away all current and future GAAS genre games(think china's ban from the top, ordered by winnie the pooh himself ;p )= companies make less money vs now but game industry is fine and keeps thriving :)
 
Most gamers love online multiplayer games on consoles. It has been since Halo era on original Xbox and then continue to Xbox 360 & ps3 generation with gta 5 & CoD, and it's only been expanding since then.
GaaS is, unfortunately, the evolution of online multiplayer games so players keep engaging with them; update contents, long term support, almost 24/7 social connections, etc.


This is the reality and I am fine with it; it's not like they stop making single player games. My backlog of single player games is enormous, and there are still many newly announced games that I want to try.
 
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Sony's GAAS strategy has been seriously flawed so far. Their biggest hit, Helldivers 2, is made by an outside studio that won't be working with them on their next game. And of course there's the matter of the biggest flop of all time.

Jim was right in a sense, but made the all the wrong moves.
 
Instant_Classic said:
The market you would like Sony to cater to, is dwindling.

Single player games really only appeal to people born in the 90s or prior, when those kind of games made the majority of what was sold.

Kids born in the 2000s and later, GaaS is what they know and care about.

The data proves this.
Click to expand...
Why would only catering to kids be more profitable than catering to the entire market, including the part with the most disposable income?

If we double the number of GaaS games produced, is it going to double spending on GaaS games? I would expect it to not make much difference. The GaaS money may get diluted among more games, or shuffled around to make different winners, but I see no reason to believe it wouldn't just be more GaaS games fighting over the same amount of demand.
 
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SantaC said:
Elden Ring + Hogwarts = 70 million plus sales for single player games...
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Two games, wow.

Let's ignore the thousands of other games released annually that fail to generate $

"Over 5,000 games released on Steam this year didn't make enough money to recover the $100 fee to put a game on Valve's store, research estimates."

I'm providing you data, you're providing me feelings.
 
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winjer said:
Also worth remembering the industry path is paved in dozens of GaaS that died right soon launch.
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And dozens of AAA, hundreds of AA and thousands of indies that underperforms heavily

winjer said:
For every one GaaS that succeeds, there are dozens that fail.
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We had Delta Force, Arc Riders and WWM in 2025 (HD2, Marvel Rivals, ZZZ, WuWa in 2024) - care to elaborate what 30+ gaas games failing each year
It's delusional lies people choose to believe in, actual failure rate is around 50%, not much worse from SP games

calico said:
If they are designed to milk their addicts for money on an on-going basis, yes.

The answer to OPs question 'why make SP games?' is because catering to the entire market is still more profitable than catering to a part of it.
Click to expand...
SP games becoming increasingly niche. And so are their developers.

SantaC said:
Elden Ring + Hogwarts = 70 million plus sales for single player games...
Click to expand...
Fortnite do that much money in an year (Mihoyo too)
 
GaaS, it's a gas! Gas! Gas!

Instant_Classic said:
GaaS gets the most attention, however the numbers don't lie.

Unless the single player game is hyped up with a lot of buzz, it will probably fade into the abyss, as most of them do.

It's the norm, and doesn't get as much coverage as GaaS does in gaming bubbles.

Here's link to Steam's top 10 most played list.

Steam Top 10 Most Played

All GaaS
Click to expand...
wrong-arnold-schwarzenegger.gif


Terraria is #8, but I'll generously allow you to call Rust a GaaS game.
Non-GaaS games like Terraria, No Man's Sky & Stardew Valley can enjoy lasting success with long term support. NMS releases an update and it jumps to the top5 global top selling, like clockwork.
 
calico said:
Why would only catering to kids be more profitable than catering to the entire market, including the part with the most disposable income?

If we double the number of GaaS games produced, is it going to double spending on GaaS games? I would expect it to not make much difference. The GaaS money may get diluted among more games, or shuffled around to make different winners, but I see no reason to believe it wouldn't just be more GaaS games fighting over the same amount of demand.
Click to expand...
Because these kids, are and will be normalized with GaaS being the standard.

Gamers of the past, won't matter.

Speaking of past, I think many old gamers actually liked gaming MORE once online came into play.

GaaS will be what the industry knows, and runs on.

The same way you remark on single player games, these kids will remark on Roblox, Fortnite, etc.
 
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Felessan said:
And dozens of AAA, hundreds of AA and thousands of indies that underperforms heavily


We had Delta Force, Arc Riders and WWM in 2025 (HD2, Marvel Rivals, ZZZ, WuWa in 2024) - care to elaborate what 30+ gaas games failing each year
It's delusional lies people choose to believe in, actual failure rate is around 50%, not much worse from SP games


SP games becoming increasingly niche. And so are their developers.


Fortnite do that much money in an year (Mihoyo too)
Click to expand...
thumbs-up.gif
 
No. The industry is run a dozen ancient GAAS games (some with annual releases with little more than a fresh coat of paint). The most recent new game on that list is 9 years old. Then we have an absolute grave yard of hundreds of games, that killed their studios or flopped horrendously trying to get into that list. 70% of all gamer time is eaten by about a dozen titles. Every one of the thousands of games that release every year is competing over the remaining 30%

1. Fortnite
July 25, 2017

2. Grand Theft Auto V
September 17, 2013

3. Call of Duty
October 29, 2003

4. ROBLOX
September 1, 2006

5. EA Sports FC (FIFA)
December 15, 1993

6. Minecraft
November 18, 2011

7. Rocket League
July 7, 2015

8. Battlefield
September 10, 2002

9. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
December 1, 2015

10. NBA
November 10, 1999
 
Instant_Classic said:
Because these kids, are and will be normalized with GaaS being the standard.

Gamers of the past, won't matter.

Speaking of past, I think many old gamers actually like gaming MORE once online came into play.

GaaS will be what the industry knows, and runs on.

The same way you remark on single player games, these kids will remark on Roblox, Fortnite, etc.
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If you're talking about once demand for SP diminishes to the point of no longer being profitable to cater to, sure, then it will make sense to stop.

Your last sentence rather highlights the problem with what you are suggesting here though. When I remark on single player games I am talking about 1,000 different games which got money from me over the years. If their remarks only cover a handful of games which they played for tens of thousands of hours each, that is going to suggest a very small success rate for developing GaaS games, or very few being made.
 
If the industry moves on to GAAS and stops making single player games I'll just find a new hobby and take my money elsewhere. Games like E33, Cyberpunk, KCD2, BG3, Elden Ring all seem to have made money. There's still tons of single player games for me to play that look interesting.
 
Metnut said:
If the industry moves on to GAAS and stops making single player games I'll just find a new hobby and take my money elsewhere. Games like E33, Cyberpunk, KCD2, BG3, Elden Ring all seem to have made money. There's still tons of single player games for me to play that look interesting.
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Each game you listed there are literally the upper echelons of games and not the norm, in terms of sales or consumer interests.

Those make up for maybe .00001% of games released in the last five years, and Fortnite alone makes more than all of combined reoccurringly.
 
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I mean ... we already know this? People like to play MP games more than SP games.

Gaming forums are literally a bubble of a like-minding people, saying "we want moar single player games".
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Both things can be true:
- People, on GAF at least, want more SP games and less MP/GAAS games
- MP/GAAS games are the biggest money makers

Is it so strange that people want what they want regardless of that decision not being financially the best one for these corporations?
 
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