Sony released recently that people are playing more single player games.
Yet live service multiplayer skinnerbox microtransaction bonanza is probably more lucrative, so…
Not to mention the ever enticing allure of “free to play”
Free for prey, pay to slay
Single player is not the opposite of live service. Suicide Squad can be played single player. Baldur’s Gate 3 can be played multiplayer.
And this is why indie games have been having such a good time of it. Sure, we might get the decade long “Early Access” of 7 Days to Die, or “We resemble but are legally distinct from Pokemon” Palworld, but we get fun games with a lot of obvious passion behind them. I do wish we would see more Baldur’s Gate 3 style large productions which aren’t designed around micro-transactions. But, I also realize that big name studios are run by folks with business degrees and not gamers; so, I should expect major games to be after my wallet like a meth addict.
Man, it’s insane how Larian has set up their business model to be so pro-consumer. Everyone needs to be looking at how they’re doing things as a case study.
Sucks to be them because I aint playing that shit.
And I’ll be playing 0% of them.
Laughs in indie games
Well, if we’re talking Path of Exile live service style, it’s completely fine. The game is perfectly playable and enjoyable for free and wallet opens you cosmetics and some nice to have features (like bigger stash etc.), basically nothing gamebreaking. I played it quite a lot on a casual level, waiting for new Diablo (not necesarilly blizzard Diablo, just the essence of the original 2). It is fun and I played it mostly for free, when I decided to spend about AA level game of money to support the devs. Nithing forced me to do so, I just enjoyed the game and wanted to support the company. And I still think it’s a great game and am looking forward to sequel.
But there’s also another live service other than this one. Like that Diablo Immortal one. I haven’t played it myself (and won’t ever do it), but the drama around it was quite a big one. And no wonder it was! Holy hell, they’re squeezing those balls hard. Even if the game was all fun and games I wouldn’t touch it with its style of microtransactions, loot gambling and other bullshittery.
If studuos are working on this second style live service, then they should probably go bankrupt straight away.
I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who are paid more to work less and I’m not kidding
But for so long as live service games make the insane amounts of money that they currently do, this is going to be how it is. Indie devs are a blessing
Ah yes, I totally have the time to dedicate to each and every single one of these ‘endless’ experiences and an bottomless wallet chock full of cash whose only purpose is to be spent on cosmetic items that nobody but me will ever give two shits about.
