Apex Legends Mobile, Avengers, and Why Live-Service Games Aren't Going Away

ign.com:

Amid a whirlwind of announcements from developers that they would be discontinuing support for their live-service games, some analysts online have begun to assert that the Games as a Service (or GaaS) model has run its course. As someone who spends an embarrassing amount of time playing, and reviewing, many games that make use of the GaaS model, I’m here to tell you that reports of the death of the live-service model have been greatly exaggerated.

I can’t blame people for thinking the season pass-filled sky is falling — it’s been an absolutely horrific start to the year for live-services. Whether you were disappointed by the news that Back 4 Blood developers would be moving on after only 15 months since its debut, or that Rumbleverse was giving up after only 2 seasons, it’s been a brutal couple of weeks filled with live-service developers waving the white flag.

But for anyone with a familiarity with the games in question, these foreclosures likely didn’t come as a surprise. For example, many players saw the end drawing near well before Square Enix called it quits for Marvel’s Avengers, which suffered from content pipeline issues, odd choices concerning in-game cosmetic items, and an underwhelming initial reception.

Knockout City, a game I personally adored and which IGN gave high marks, made the critical mistake of launching as a $30 game, which created an unnecessary barrier of entry that similar GaaS games don’t have as free-to-play titles. In the blog post announcing that their ninth season would be their last, they cited challenges in meeting the content demands of players with their small team, which certainly isn’t news for anyone who played in recent seasons and found themselves starved for new content.

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