this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
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In the graveyard of live service games Concord may just be the biggest headstone, and that seems to have focused some minds over at PlayStation. Previously the noises coming from Sony were all about the importance of live service games to its future strategy, and it had announced plans to launch more than 10 live service games by the 2025 fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2026.

Now? Not so much. A new Bloomberg report reveals that "following a recent review" PlayStation has canceled two unannounced live service games in development at subsidiaries Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. Bend is best-known for Days Gone and, back in the day, Syphon Filter, while Bluepoint mainly handles high-profile remakes like Demon's Souls.

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[–] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 182 points 6 months ago (1 children)

While playing the single player masterpiece which was God of War, I absolutely thought: "The only way to make this game better is if I had the luxury of buying a battle pass to grind for seasonal cosmetics along with a dozen other people." πŸ€€πŸ€€πŸ€€πŸ€‘

[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I’ve played each game and they are all awesome.

[–] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 47 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Would be better if you can earn skibidi toilet emoji dances for Kratos

[–] steal_your_face@lemmy.ml 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Would love to see a kratos twerking emote

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[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 70 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Lmao. GoW live service? Fucking hell it's video games by committee.

[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 17 points 6 months ago

This was inevitable as soon as games started getting the budgets of blockbuster movies. No one wants to invest that much money into a project without getting some oversight and control in return.

Of course, very, very few people who have access to that kind of cash have any design sense whatsoever, and even fewer understand the creative process, or what makes games "good"... so they ask for shit that they think will be "safe" money-makers, and we get what we get: endless, samey, soulless shlock.

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 61 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Good riddance. Seems like Sony got the message; we're sick of everything being a "live service".

[–] justOnePersistentKbinPlease@fedia.io 56 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Well, no.
Deep Rock Galactic has fully optional skin packs to make money and they're doing great.

Warframe has been chugging along for over a decade now and they're doing great. Beating the pants off of Destiny 2 for average player count.

The live service trick is that live service only works if the company actually cares about the product. Those two companies stand out because they legitimately care and have great communication with their communities.

[–] codexarcanum@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 6 months ago

DRG and Warframe also hit the critical requirement of actually being games that are fun to play!

I haven't played a lot of WF, but I've got hundreds of hours on DRG. There is no grind. Getting holiday loot takes 5 to 8 matched total, and the Seasons are long and very relaxed. I maxed out XP for this season already and the next probably won't start until at least this summer.

The community is going strong, the game is fun, Ghost Ship seems stable and like a nice place to work. It's so stupid that more companies don't see that they could run like this instead of chasing "get rich quick" corporate schemes that always alienate the fans.

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 14 points 6 months ago (2 children)

So far Warframe has been the ONLY example of a good live service game. It's the OG when it comes to the model, but it's also the exception, and not the rule.

[–] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 27 points 6 months ago (7 children)

Don't forget Path of Exile.

Id argue a bunch of early access games that get constant updates are Live Service games too.

And indie games like Terraria and Minecraft were the best examples of live service.

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[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Destiny historically vasscilated between "fucking amazing" and "dumpster fire". The problem has always been that it is near impossible to maintain that level of quality and entertainment consistently while also innovating on a regular basis. It is very difficult and very expensive.

[–] ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

They moved into "dumpster fire" territory significantly more than "fucking amazing", sadly. Like one good expansion, three bad updates and two bad expansions, one good update.

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago

DRG doesn’t make me feel like they are taking advantage of me with their transactions because they aren’t required. It’s nice that way.

I'd say also it depends on the franchise. Depp rock? Be a funny space dwarf yelling rock and stone? Hell yes imma do that with some friends.

God of war? No. Much more serious tone, I want to do that alone to explore the narrative

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[–] henfredemars@infosec.pub 32 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It’s for the best. The series deserves better than live service.

[–] VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 32 points 6 months ago

Yeah, cancelling this seems like a good call.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 31 points 6 months ago

A God of War live service game? Who the fuck signed off on that? I'm glad the article was able to zero in on the blistering stupidity of such a thing.

[–] Iapar@feddit.org 31 points 6 months ago (2 children)

You want to make money? Let bluepoint make a bloodborne remaster and bring it to PC.

Like, make the obvious good and profitable decision.

[–] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

But hear me out. Battle passes, dark patterns and FOMO.

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[–] RangerJosie@lemmy.world 29 points 6 months ago

The more canceled live service games the better.

Make a real game or don't bother.

So the fuckers can learn!

[–] vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 6 months ago

god of war live service? wtf???

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 18 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Good, live service games are cancer.

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

And then they die when the servers are no longer maintained. Make more standalone games that don’t require servers.

Or at least release the server code when you shut the game down, so anyone can spin up a server of their own. Community servers are fine, but you should always be able to host your own for friends to play on.

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[–] DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

cancelled God of War sequel

"That's bad!"

Live service

"That's good!"

[–] Shape4985@lemmy.ml 13 points 6 months ago

Thank fuck now more effort can be put elsewhere instead of live service slop.

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 12 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Stupid question, but was is a live service game?

[–] Maalus@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Game they keep updating with new content and microtransactions.

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[–] groet@infosec.pub 9 points 6 months ago

Its the definition of "you dont own the game". You pay to get access to the service of playing the game and it wants to keep you playing as long as possible so you spend more money on micro transactions. They are constantly updated, usually as some form of "season", have daily login streak bonuses, etc. And after 2 years the game shuts down and you have nothing and can't play anything you paid for anymore.

Every live service game that fails or gets cancled is a good thing.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago (4 children)

online multiplayer bullshit with monthly fees.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

Monthly fees optional. These days I'd assume the battle pass model is more common.

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[–] TommySoda@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I don't even know what a God of War live service game would be like but I can't imagine it would be good.

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[–] Plebcouncilman@sh.itjust.works 10 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

All I read here is that there are still 8 too many live service games in development. Are execs addicted to gambling or what? Because that’s exactly what live service game development is. Also I would like to know what kind of research they are doing that indicates that more live service games is what the market wants, when people who play them rarely ever switch once they find the one they like and at this point there are entirely too many of them.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Live service games that become successful can make billions of dollars, so everyone is trying to be the next big one. Having a ton of concurrent live service projects is the "throw shit at a wall and see what sticks" strategy. They expect most to fail but hope that the 1 that succeeds makes up for it and then some.

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[–] vaguerant@fedia.io 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Bend is best-known for Days Gone and, back in the day, Syphon Filter

Are we just gonna pretend Bubsy 3D never existed?

[–] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

Damn. Bubsy 3D to Days Gone. What a redemption arc lol

[–] djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 6 months ago (7 children)

Good! Wonder what trend the brain-dead CEOs are going to chase after now. Cozy games?

[–] icecreamtaco@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Since games take 5+ years to make now we're probably in for a wave of metaverse products.

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[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Looks like we dodged a bullet with God of war live service.

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[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I can't imagine how it sucks to being these devs. They obviuosly earned more and lived better than me, but I'd have a hard time parting with some project even if they are all mismanaged unborn messes.

[–] Krudler@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago

I was a professional developer in a wide range of gaming areas for about 20 years... Looking back, I can honestly say that 95% of the work I did ended up as a vapor... The 5% that made it to market were so fleeting...

I derived my satisfaction not from completing projects, but solving the underlying problems. That kept me very engaged.

But yeah, not everybody sees things this way.

[–] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 6 months ago

This is an absolute win

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