Live service isn’t gaming’s holy grail — and Bungie just proved why
If there’s one sign we can take from the unprecedented number of layoffs across the games industry these past two years, it’s that we’re in the midst of an identity crisis. The industry isn’t in any danger of crashing, but publishers and studios are now being forced to adapt to the new market in ways they may never have had to before. The two major strategies seem to be falling back to the safety of established IP, and rolling the dice in the hopes of launching a successful live-service game. The latter has been attempted by just about every big player in the space, from EA to Xbox, but very few have managed to siphon off a big enough audience from the established titles to last any meaningful length of time.
Recent layoffs at Bungie are just the latest sign of that. The Destiny 2 studio just cut 220 jobs in the wake of its successful and critically acclaimed The Final Shape expansion. Even if you manage to beat the odds and create a popular live-service game, it’s becoming clear that that’s still not a golden ticket that publishers can rely on.
High-risk, low reward
It’s nothing new in the games industry for big publishers to chase the latest trends. Live-service games are just the latest example, albeit a more broad one since it is more a business model than a genre. Instead of trying to recapture an audience with sequels and new titles every few years, these games hold an audience almost indefinitely and earn a consistent drip-feed of income that amounts to more profit in the long run.
On paper, it makes sense for every publisher or platform holder to want a piece of this pie. However, we’re now seeing the harsh reality that even the most successful live-service games are not immune to the same issues plaguing the industry at large. PlayStation believed in this path so strongly that it outright purchased Destiny 2 developer Bungie, as well as Firewalk Studio prior to its debut title Concord being released. While the jury is still out on the latter amid mixed
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