70% OF DEVELOPERS WORRIED THAT LIVE SERVICE GAMES WON'T LAST
A new survey has found a majority of developers are concerned about the longevity of live service games, especially when it comes to players losing interest.
While some live service titles, like Helldivers 2, can prove a breakthrough hit, the amount of online games which have shut down in recent years, after only a very short time, proves that the majority aren’t so lucky.
Over the past decade, the chase for live service success has been fuelled by the likes of Fortnite and Destiny, with many developers trying to emulate the same business model of in-app purchases and regular updates.
While some titles have flourished, many others are now no longer available – from Knockout City, Rumbleverse, Spellbreak to Ubisoft’s Hyper Scape.
Following this trend, a new survey from the Game Developer Collective has now illuminated the concerns game studios have around making live service titles.
For the survey, 600 developers were interviewed between February and March this year. According to those interviewed, the live service label is defined by frequent updates and in-app purchases.
As shared on Game Developer, 39% of participants had mild worries over current live service business models, while 31% were ‘very’ concerned. The rest of the 29% either had no fears or were unsure.
The survey also covered the reasons why developers were worried, with the main issue being sustainability.
At the top of the list, at 63%, was concerns over players losing interest, while 62% cited competition from other live service games as a key problem. Other points listed include rising user acquisition costs (47%) and rising development costs (34%).
Elsewhere in the survey, developers were asked about monetisation methods in their next game, compared to their prior titles. The biggest shift is a rising interest in paid DLC, with 30% of developers intending to include it in their next game, up by 9% from their previous title.
Other methods, like paid in-game items and battle passes, have seen a small drop in interest from developers, down to 24% and and 9%, respectively.
Unsurprisingly, 76% of developers are considering a paid digital release for their next game, while interest in physical launches has dropped from 26% to 22%.
The slim chance of success in the live service arena was recently shown in a report from Newzoo, which highlighted how the majority of games played in 2023 were old live service titles – many seven years old or more – like Fortnite, Minecraft, and League Of Legends.
Despite these concerns though, it’s hard to gauge whether developers will stop chasing the live service model – especially as Helldivers 2 has shown there’s a chance it can still be successful if you get lucky.
Although in many cases it’s publisher demands that are fuelling the continued glut of new titles, rather than developers themselves.
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2024-04-17T12:59:46Z dg43tfdfdgfd