In a new report about the current state of the gaming industry by the GDC (Game Developers Conference), it appears that live service titles are still a big thing for companies. One of the key takeaways is that one-third of all AAA developers are currently working on live service games.
“One in every three AAA developers surveyed (33%) noted that they are working on a live-service title,” says the report. “Across the entire survey base, 16% are currently working on a live-service game, and while 13% noted they are interested in developing live-service games, 41% expressed that they were not interested at all.”
The report also notes that opinions on the business model diverge depending on which developer you talk to. Some developers appreciate the financial and community-building effects of a successful live-service game. Others are concerned about creative stagnation, microtransactions, and predatory practices.
“One of the biggest concerns surrounding live-service gaming was market over-saturation, with many developers noting how hard it is to build a sustainable player base,” says the report.
The survey also gave us a few other bits of interesting data, like the development of PC games, increasing since the last survey. Compared to 66% of developers confirming that they were working on PC games, this time around, the number of PC game developers has climbed up to 80%.
The report notes that this was likely thanks to handheld gaming PCs becoming popular, and especially the success of the Steam Deck. A similar jump was noticed in the popularity of browser-based games.
The more popular live-service games have seen quite a bit of financial success, including World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 to shooters like Destiny 2, Counter-Strike 2, Overwatch 2 and more recently, Marvel Rivals. However, the market has proven volatile lately, as evidenced by Sony cancelling live-service projects from Naughty Dog, Bend Studio, and Bluepoint Games.
This in the wake of Concord, which flopped badly enough that Sony decided to servers down and refund all players just two weeks after its release. Its failure reportedly prompted the company to re-evaluate its live service ventures, leading to the recent cancellations.
More recently, the long-rumoured Horizon-based MMORPG developed by Guild Wars 2 publisher NCSoft was reportedly cancelled, with developers seemingly moved to other teams in the company. However, more recent reports indicate that this might not have been the case. Guerrilla Games’ own online title based on Horizon is still in the works.
