The gaming market seems to be going through a tough spot, with every major developer and publisher laying off hundreds, if not thousands of their employees in the last couple of months. Many have even suspected this is a sign of an upcoming, if not already in progress, market crash. Huge games are being cancelled, monster-sized budget games are flopping on release (looking at you Skull and Bones), and game prices are higher than ever. Is there a crash? I don’t know, but it’s certainly not a healthy market right now.
Players Want More Live Service Games?
However, EA thinks they’ve got a plan, as they aim to double down on their games as a service mentality, even though time and time again live-service games continue to fail, and yet publishers are still going all in on this format. Heck, even when these games are successful, it can still lead to gamers finding their favourite games that they’ve often spent quite a lot of money on, either through buying the game or microtransactions, being taken offline whenever the developers feel like it, should profits start to dip… and then the game is gone forever.
Bigger communities, large open worlds, microtransactions, and the DRM-like always-online nature, that’s what EA wants. “We’re seeing a rapid player shift toward large open-world games, massive communities, and live services,” says EA President Laura Miele.
I don’t agree, at all, I think the rise in popularity of these games has less to do with how much gamers want them, and more to do with it being the majority of big releases being shoved under our noses by publishers instead of something new, creative or unique because they know they can squeeze more money out of gamers with the same old model time and time again.
Thankfully, EA hasn’t completely given up on single-player experiences, but honestly, it’s starting to sound like they want to be.
