Marvel Rivals is a bright spot in a dark year for live service | Opinion

gamesindustry.biz:

Turning points are tricky things: they seem so obvious in hindsight, but are tough to spot when they’re actually happening. False positives are common, because all manner of things can seem pivotal in the moment, but transpire to be far less important in the long term.

This probably speaks to a general tendency to underestimate the sheer power of inertia. Especially in an industry like video games, where product development cycles now run for many years, changing course is rather like steering an oil tanker and even very consequential-seeming events can have little real impact on the direction of publishers and studios.

All of which is to say that I’m cautious about declaring that 2024 has been a pivotal year for the industry’s obsession with live service models. I know how many projects are still lumbering forward fuelled by a dangerous cocktail of inertia and sunk-cost fallacy, sweetened by a dash of hope (and a lot of cope).

Nonetheless, there’s undoubtedly change in the air – discussions about the merits of live service models are more rational and grounded, and executives who have spent the past few years frothing at the notion that every IP in their company’s back catalogue is the next Fortnite just waiting to happen have finally stopped getting quite so high on their own supply. If this hasn’t been an actual turning point of a year, then at least it might herald a 2025 when product planning meetings can consider the merits and drawbacks of live service models objectively, rather than acting like wild-eyed prospectors in a gold rush.

The reason for the sudden onset of sobriety over live service games is, of course, that 2024 has really been a brutal year for so many high-profile titles. Sony’s Concord is the new poster child for failed live service games – shutting down after only a matter of weeks, and unfortunately taking its studio with it – but as dramatic as that may have been, it’s on-theme for the year. Concord never looked destined for success, having