Live-service games are a pretty contentious topic of discussion, as over the years, many games have suffered closures and cancellations for a range of reasons. There has been a big push to release more and more content and potentially even sequels, or in some cases, some games release in a broken or unfinished state, instead choosing to promise improvements and updates over time rather than having a polished product on launch.
Former Sony Boss Criticizes Industry’s Focus on Live Service Games
A former Sony executive criticizes the industry’s exaggerated focus on live service games, comparing it to seeing a ‘mirage’ in the desert.
This has led to many games receiving a wave of initial hype that quickly fades out, due to the player base moving on, whether due to a lack of new content drops or a dissatisfaction with the current state of the game. However, thanks to the dedicated team of developers behind them, many titles can grow and blossom into a pretty amazing product months or years after the first release, regardless of whether the players choose to stick around or not.
5
Fallout 76
Surviving The Apocalypse Together
Details:
- Launched with technical issues and a lackluster world
- Many patches and updates have fixed performance and turned the game into the multiplayer Fallout that was promised
Fallout 76 entered the live-service space under enormous pressure, being marketed as the multiplayer Fallout game that many fans had been wanting for over a decade. Launching with stability problems, thin narrative content, and a lack of NPCs, the world felt hollow and a departure from many of the core elements that people loved about the franchise. The concept was ambitious, but the execution was poor, forcing many to move on, leaving the future of the game uncertain.
Over time, however, the game evolved dramatically, as major updates brought with them many of the features and systems that had been missing from the world. Content drops like Wastelanders, Steel Dawn, and The Pitt reintroduced NPCs and brought with them much more immersive questlines that made the game feel closer to the original vision. There have also been substantial performance improvements and consistent quality-of-life adjustments that have further stabilized the experience, turning Fallout 76 into a far more polished product.
4
Sea Of Thieves
Almost Lost In The Wave
Details:
- Repetitive activities on launch despite a compelling world
- Now a fully-fledged sandbox with more progression and tasks to follow
Sea of Thieves drew in a lot of attention at first thanks to its charming art style and more accessible approach to pirate simulation, but the amount of content on launch left a lot to be desired. There were a lot of good concepts already in place, like the sailing mechanics and basic treasure hunts, yet it struggled to retain players long-term who were looking for more variety and more things to do later on.
