More and more publishers are eschewing traditional methods of game delivery, and moving towards Games-as-a-Service style titles, with ongoing continuous player engagement and monetization, thanks to steady content drips. Sadly, due to some abusive and exploitative monetization in certain GaaS style games, as well as many taking their proliferation as signalling an impending death of single player games, many players now almost consider GaaS to be a dirty word.
That said, publishers continue to explore the model. That includes Square Enix, too- they already have Final Fantasy 14 on the market, and Final Fantasy 15 has been treated like one, too. Nonetheless, it feels like Square Enix’s CEO Yosuke Matsuda is hesitant to commit to a company wide transition to GaaS games.
Speaking to MCV, Matsuda said, “I think that really depends on the overall design of each individual title. Our feeling on it is, people have bought these games, and we want them to be able to enjoy them and play them for as long as possible. So after they’ve completed the game, to add new things and give them extra things to enjoy. That’s an important thing, and very vital for us to provide that.”
It is good to see that they are mindful of the fact that this comes down to each individual game’s design, rather than being something that can be shoehorned wholesale into every game as is. I think that, especially with Final Fantasy 15, they have also shown that GaaS doesn’t have to mean the death of an epic single player experience- if that’s the kind of thing they have in mind, then I can’t wait to see more GaaS style games from them going forward.