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70% of developers worry about the live service model’s sustainability, survey shows

Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
I didn't hear anyone complaining while looking for their lightning in a bottle? It is just now that the well is drying up that they show "concern" over it.
Yep! What, like 1 out of 10 are successful? 1 in a 100 end up like Minecraft, Roblox, Apex Legends, Fortnite, GTA Online or Helldivers 2. That's about it.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
You have to go back all the way to when PlayStation didn't take Live Service seriously (plus include a 2024 game lol) to build a case.

Nevertheless, I don't think you actually believe any of this, so good show.
And you have to use games that have nothing but teasers to show so far. At least wait until more stuff come out to try and sell your snake oil... though you'll be waiting quite a bit given so many of them were delayed or straight up cancelled.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
And you have to use games that have nothing but teasers to show so far.
The reason why I'm doing that is because it shows how PlayStation is thinking. The majority of their new IP will be Live Service because IP has significantly stronger pull in the SP space. This is basic stuff.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
The reason why I'm doing that is because it shows how PlayStation is thinking. The majority of their new IP will be Live Service because IP has significantly stronger pull in the SP space. This is basic stuff.
More like they know they'd just be pissing off fans if they turned old beloved IPs into cash grabs 🤷‍♂️ .

I'm pretty sure people like Danjin44 Danjin44 would be thrilled with the idea of a live service always online Gravity Rush 3 with forced coop, some PvP and MTX.
 

bitbydeath

Member
Guys I have a genius idea. How about we sell a complete game with a finished amount of content, and if it does well enough, we follow up with another complete game with a finished amount of content, called a sequel.
That way we wont have to assume gamers will play our game forever, nor waste our precious dev time making awful grinds to keep them on.
Baldurs Gate 3 could have begun life as a complete game and moved into the live space after and they would have attracted millions.

Want more missions, more levels, more spells, more characters? Yes please!
 

BlackTron

Member
My thing is sound. If you recorded the voices of people playing modern GAAS games and compared it to the sound of someone playing... God of War Ragnarok for example, it's night and day. Art that elicits emotion is excellence distilled.

Isn't this just the difference between the sound of a single player and multiplayer title?

People make a lot more noise playing Mario Kart 64 than Zelda, I wouldn't say Kart has OOT beaten on artistic or game design merits though.
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Don’t even suggest that! That would be fucking miserable.
"YOU VILL PLAY ZE GAAS, AND YOU VILL BE HAPPY"

scheming-boxes.jpg
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Isn't this just the difference between the sound of a single player and multiplayer title?

People make a lot more noise playing Mario Kart 64 than Zelda, I wouldn't say Kart has OOT beaten on artistic or game design merits though.

I tend to disagree. There may be exceptions, but art that gets you excited, laughing, heart rate increasing, yelling etc. is generally superior to art that leaves you stone faced.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
More like they know they'd just be pissing off fans if they turned old beloved IPs into cash grabs 🤷‍♂️ .

I'm pretty sure people like Danjin44 Danjin44 would be thrilled with the idea of a live service always online Gravity Rush 3 with forced coop, some PvP and MTX.
Danjin44 Danjin44 competes in turn based, message board combat. As do you.

It may not exist yet, but Live Service comes for both of you. The pool grows wider and deeper.
 

StueyDuck

Member
The fun thing about surveys and stats is that they can say whatever you want them to say.

I mean I bet if you only asked studios making bank from live service games it'd be different.

And I bet if a studio were to have a helldivers2 type success they'd quickly change their answer 🤣

I'm not a fan of live service games but surveys and polls etc they are always heavily aligned in one way or another
 

Guilty_AI

Member
Danjin44 Danjin44 competes in turn based, message board combat. As do you.

It may not exist yet, but Live Service comes for both of you. The pool grows wider and deeper.
I may accept them... IF they can be played fully offline, and IF they don't force me to involve with other players at all, and IF they don't throw monetization in my face, and IF i can play them at my own pace without worrying about losing content or daily login bonuses.

We can talk then.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I may accept them... IF they can be played fully offline, and IF they don't force me to involve with other players at all, and IF they don't throw monetization in my face, and IF i can play them at my own pace without worrying about losing content or daily login bonuses.

We can talk then.
Games like Elden Ring has MP and yet you can completely play it offline and it doesn't need GaaS crap to engage players and people still playing that game to this day and only getting one big expansion later this year.

These are my type of games.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
majority live service games doesnt work.


Thats like saying every AAA horror game sells just because resident evil games are selling well.

That's not really how markets work. Growth isn't wholly dependent on whether or not a majority of attempts succeed or not.
 

BlackTron

Member
I tend to disagree. There may be exceptions, but art that gets you excited, laughing, heart rate increasing, yelling etc. is generally superior to art that leaves you stone faced.

I might respect this opinion if you were comparing apples to apples ie single player vs single player games. A substantial part of the fun in a mp title is in the competitive dynamic. People make more noise playing sports against each other than going to a museum.

This does not mean a mp title must be lacking in design compared to a sp title, but it does mean that noise level is a poor metric for artistic content.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
More like they know they'd just be pissing off fans if they turned old beloved IPs into cash grabs 🤷‍♂️ .

I'm pretty sure people like Danjin44 Danjin44 would be thrilled with the idea of a live service always online Gravity Rush 3 with forced coop, some PvP and MTX.
That guy isn't even the biggest gravity rush fan here
Heimdall_Xtreme Heimdall_Xtreme would personally assassinate Men_in_Boxes Men_in_Boxes if Sony ever got the idea of making a godforsaken gravity rush gaas
 

Gambit2483

Member
They are forcing live service into so many different types of games too these days, many of them being low quality due to it.
So yes, they should be concerned. We dont want that shit.
MK 1 and its trashy monetization structure is one game that recently comes to mind. I'm not sure if it counts as "live service" but it's a damn shame what they did to that game.
 

Shut0wen

Banned
Dont get why developers cant just make a deep rock galactic type GAAS where you pay full price for the game and the GAAS part is free and just sell cosmetics
 

laynelane

Member
Speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference, the company’s CEO of global streaming and games JB Perrette said its four main IP – Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, DC and Harry Potter – will be involved in these plans.

“The opportunity is to take those four franchises and be able to develop a much more holistic approach, particularly around expanding into the mobile and multiplatform free-to-play space, which could give us a much better and consistent set of revenue,” he said. “And you’ll see us launching later this year some mobile free to play games, which we hope will start building that.”

I think it's become more and more obvious in many cases that the above bolded is the major and/or only goal. On paper, the idea of live service games doesn't sound too bad (a game that continually updates with new content), but that isn't really how it's worked out in many cases. That 'new content' comes with so many caveats - microtransactions, battles passes, season passes, daily log-ins, etc. It's not about giving meaningful, fun content to the players - it's about getting as much money from them as possible. And since players have finite money, time, and interest - it's no wonder many live service games fail or are failing.

Also, after the success of Hogwarts Legacy, it's not exactly surprising to see the takeaway being 'how can we make more money off of this' but it is disappointing.

“And then secondarily live services, so rather than just launching a kind of one and done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, Hogwarts Legacy or Harry Potter, that is a live service where people can come today and live and work and build and play in that world on an ongoing basis?

ie. How do we get them to keep playing and keep spending money. It's just all so transparently cynical and greedy.
 

Klayzer

Member
Games like Elden Ring has MP and yet you can completely play it offline and it doesn't need GaaS crap to engage players and people still playing that game to this day and only getting one big expansion later this year.

These are my type of games.
Monster Hunter, GranBlue Fantasy, etc. Those are the type of MP/ offline games I support.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Dont get why developers cant just make a deep rock galactic type GAAS where you pay full price for the game and the GAAS part is free and just sell cosmetics

A lot of them do this. Many don't even require you to pay full price. The vast majority of the top GAAS only sell cosmetics that don't effect gameplay.
 
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