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For more than a quarter-century, video game creators have aimed for live-service games. Trailblazing titles like EverQuest converted single-purchase customers into loyal paying users, sparking a period of followers attempting to copy those results. Regardless of many attempts, few managed to overthrow the leaders.

The pursuit for the next enduring hit intensified with the rise of high-revenue titans like Grand Theft Auto Online, some of which have dominated gamer attention over many years. Their lasting appeal motivated developers to make massive gambles during the latest hardware era.

Flush with funds and arrogance, prominent studios like Square Enix sought to remake themselves as ongoing-game creators, repeatedly ignoring their core identities. Such publishers are known for masterful story-driven experiences, but those skills did not guarantee a smooth transition into the competitive world of online , forever-updated , microtransaction-fueled video games.

Starting from the launch year of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, many of big-budget GaaS projects have come and gone. A lot have collapsed embarrassingly, leading to widespread job cuts, game cancellations, and company collapses. Subsequent to unprecedented expansion, arrived risky bets, and aftermath that may represent a “adjustment” of the market, but also equates to the disappearance of thousands of positions.

How Did We Get Here?

Approximately that period, leading companies like Electronic Arts identified games-as-a-service as a key focus for their ventures. A certain company's worth grew dramatically during the last ten years, thanks in part to the revenue model behind its recurring sports titles. Another firm had comparable expansion, because of persistent games like Destiny.

Back in that same year, a prominent developer launched the popular title, which swiftly started bringing in vast amounts of currency monthly. The game's strategic shift earned the studio an approximate nine billion dollars in the opening period.

As the latest hardware were released, the U.S. video game market rose from $45.1 billion in 2019 to nearly sixty billion in the next period, in part due to more purchases stemming from the worldwide lockdowns. In 2021, the American industry reached a record peak. Studios, aiming to carve out their place in the GaaS arena, and supported by low interest rates, swiftly scaled up, bringing on thousands of workers and approving projects — many of them ongoing experiences. The consequences of those decisions would have a enduring influence for years to come.

The Setbacks Happened Fast

One major publisher tried to mimic Destiny’s popularity with games like Marvel’s Avengers, which disappointed. A different publisher tried to diversify beyond its story-driven , offline , and accessible titles with another Destiny-like, and an influenced action game. Development has stopped on each. A further studio canceled the live-service shooter the planned title after a long time of work, ahead of the game hit the market. Even indies sought to crack the live-service market; multiple titles are also examples of the live-service gamble. A certain studio's latest economic difficulties can be chalked up to the lack of success of an action game to convert players of a previous hit into ongoing-game enthusiasts.

Perhaps the biggest bet on GaaS came from Sony Interactive Entertainment, which bought Destiny maker Bungie for billions and then declared plans to publish over a dozen ongoing experiences by the target year. That included a later canceled social experience featuring a well-known franchise, a reportedly abandoned title from another franchise, and the notorious the first-person shooter, which shut down and saw its whole team shuttered just a brief period after debut.

The publisher has since scaled down from that aggressive strategy, catering to its audience with the AAA single-player fare it's famous for, like Astro Bot. The fate of revealed GaaS titles like FairGame$ remains uncertain. Sony’s future risky project, Marathon, will be a significant challenge for the challenged studio.

Why Did So Many Fail?

One key factor is that many consumers have already invested immensely, both in time and money, into existing titles like Fortnite. The battle for the enduring title, for a lot of gamers, was effectively over in the previous generation. Several of those established titles still dominate popularity lists across PC, Switch, PS5, and Xbox platforms.

Recent Successes

Several more recent live-service titles have succeeded. One publisher is seeing positive results with each of Skate, releases that have been carefully refined and influenced by the passionate communities behind them. A different company built a following with Marvel Rivals, blending an affinity with Marvel’s brand and the proven mechanics of a popular shooter. A console maker and a studio succeeded with their cooperative shooter, using a blend of smooth controls and smart community engagement.

Many game makers seem to have learned the lesson: The available time and money to {