According to Polygon, the current console generation saw publishers make massive bets on live-service games, with Sony planning over 10 such titles by 2026 after acquiring Bungie for $3.6 billion. The U.S. gaming market exploded from $45.1 billion in 2019 to $61.7 billion in 2021, fueled by pandemic spending and low interest rates. This led to rapid expansion and hiring, but the failures came quickly – Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers and Babylon’s Fall underperformed, Warner Bros. ended development on Suicide Squad and MultiVersus, and Sega scrapped Hyenas before launch. Sony’s high-profile flop Concord shut down weeks after launch, taking its studio with it. Even established companies like Remedy Entertainment faced financial woes when their live-service shooter failed to convert single-player fans.
The Gold Rush Mentality
Here’s the thing about chasing trends in gaming – by the time everyone’s doing it, the opportunity has usually passed. When Epic Games was pulling in $9 billion from Fortnite in its first two years and EA was seeing eightfold growth from Ultimate Team modes, every executive started seeing dollar signs. But they missed the crucial part – these weren’t just business models that worked, they were cultural phenomena that captured lightning in a bottle.
And let’s be real – how many live-service games can people actually play? Most gamers have already invested hundreds of hours and dollars into established titles like Fortnite, Minecraft, and Call of Duty. The war for attention was basically already over before these new games even launched. Publishers were essentially asking players to abandon their existing investments and communities for unproven alternatives.
Why So Many Failed
Look, it’s not that live-service games are inherently bad – it’s that most publishers approached them completely wrong. They saw the revenue numbers but didn’t understand what made the successful ones work. Games like Helldivers 2 succeeded because they focused on refined gameplay and community building, not just slapping a battle pass onto a mediocre experience.
The hubris was staggering. Companies known for amazing single-player experiences suddenly thought they could pivot to multiplayer forever-games overnight. Square Enix making Destiny clones? Sony trying to turn The Last of Us into a live-service title? It’s like watching a master chef suddenly decide they’re going to run a fast-food chain – different skills, different audience, different everything.
The Fallout and Future
So where does this leave us? Well, the industry is definitely in a “right-sizing” phase, which is corporate speak for “we hired too many people for projects that failed.” Thousands of developers lost their jobs because executives chased a trend without understanding the market. It’s brutal out there.
But there’s a silver lining. The market is clearing out, and the survivors are learning valuable lessons. EA’s finding success with Battlefield 6 and Skate by actually listening to their communities. NetEase cracked the code with Marvel Rivals by combining familiar IP with proven gameplay. The future isn’t about flooding the market with live-service attempts – it’s about making fewer, better games that actually deserve player attention.
And honestly? Maybe that’s for the best. The live-service landscape was getting overcrowded anyway, with every publisher trying to claim their piece of the pie. Now we’re seeing a return to what these companies actually do well – Sony with Ghost of Yotei and Astro Bot, for instance. Sometimes the best business strategy is sticking to what you’re actually good at.
