Video games have been a consistent staple of pop-culture since 1952 when Tennis for Two, the first every video game came out. Since then, the industry has transformed in unimaginable ways with games like Pong, Minecraft, and Fortnite. Video game developers are constantly changing the formula to create the next big thing.
A major change in recent history has been the introduction of the ‘live service game’ model. A live service game is usually a video game that is constantly getting updates, has an online-multiplayer experience, and they usually have some sort of micro-transactions involved.
Most of live service games are free-to-play, and cover that loss of revenue with micro-transactions for cosmetics or in-game upgrades.
“I used to call them forever games … It’s back in vogue, everyone knows their whole goal is to never finish (developing) the game,” said Video Game Theory professor Robert Muhlbock.
“Forever games” will rarely have an ending attached to the finish product and the goal is to keep player retention in order to have the players spend money on various microtransactions. With a model like this, some games might be released feeling rushed or unfinished.
A famous example would be the release of No Man’s Sky. Multiple features were promised by the developers as it was supposed to be one of the “biggest open-world experiences ever” as it was set in space. However, when the game was released, negative reviews took over the internet calling the game “empty” and a “bug-filled mess”.
Early reviews on No Mans Sky (source: steam)
Gameplay screenshot of No Man’s Sky
“I will never play No Man’s Sky, no matter how good it gets. It actually broke my heart,” said Video Game Design student Graeme Miller.
Since release, No Man’s Sky has received countless updates in an attempt to save the game, and has even had their reviews turn very positive on steam. The developers fixed the bugs, added lots of free content, and revamped the open-world.
Despite their efforts, the damage done by the disappointing launch has seemed to take its toll. ‘Hello Games’, the development team, has not released a game since No Man’s Sky. Their next project, Light No Fire, is said to be in development with no release date set yet.
With live-service and “forever games” becoming more of a trend every year, many studios have turned a single-player game series into a long-term live-service game.
Fallout 76 was released in 2018 and it was the last to release in the series to date. It’s been receiving consistent updates since release, with no news on the next solo game in the series: Fallout 5.
Fans of the Fallout series have mixed feelings towards Fallout 76, as it’s so different from other games in the series.
“I don’t hate it, I don’t think it’s bad,” says Muhlbock. “But, at the same time I feel, as many people have said, it misses what the core element of Fallout is.”
There is still a lot of love for live-service games in today’s gaming world. As Muhlbock says, some of the most popular games in the world today are online, live-service games.
With live-service games becoming more popular every day, it’s hard to always know when the creators are putting the players first.
For more information and opinions on live-service games and their effect on the gaming industry, listen to “The Big Gamer Podcast” on YouTube and Spotify.
