Submitted 1 day ago by Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/has-the-live-service-dream-crashed-back-down-to-earth
x as a service has always been a net negative for the consumer, and a net positive for the seller.
It strips them away from responsibility, because you can sell incomplete dogshit under a promise of future patches, or push something out for a price, and then continue raising the price, as you pump out more stuff into the system.
In the case of games specifically, we’ve all seen the typical outcomes. Low effort slop, with a flood of “micro” transactions at a later date, or complete abandonment
I can’t read anything about this concept without hearing Liz from TrueAnon saying “Bee to bee SaaS” sarcastically
Games that are paid for with cosmetics are fine imo. I will never, ever, not once buy a virtual hat for any amount of money. That said, if a game wants to be free and provide consistent updates, and morons riding the meme-train want to subsidise me, that’s just gravy.
Im shocked and appalled that game companies think people are stupid enough to spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on pretend clothes and I’m exactly as shocked and appalled that they’re right.
If games want to be free to play, but suddenly im coming up against a guy thats basically invincible because he spent real money, im out.
There are two games in which I have spent money on cosmetics. Path of Exile and Vermintide 2 and in both of them I wasn’t not even interested in the cosmetics. I just wantwd to support the developers further
It does seem a lot of games pivoted from cheap enough so everyone will buy it, to whale hunting. They had people run numbers and found whale hunting paid off more, and how much $ they could charge for a skin combined with FOMO before driving the whales away.
Virtual hat made me laugh, as a kid I bought the first version of this back when this game was still semi popular, I fr wasted some of my birthday money on virtual hat Image
idk it was funny af to me then tho lol
It’s just the basic logic of maturing market. They couldn’t really increase the game prices that much more without affecting demands, nor could they improve efficiency of making games (the capital costs and team sizes have only gotten up) so they did the thing they could. Try to turn games from a product that the sell into a service they provide and can therefore lock people into their walled gardens and keep continuously charging fees and subscriptions. Too bad games are more of an art form than a news paper or a some tool maintenance contract is.
Games as a service is a piece of shit except for I can’t figure out how Helldivers 2 could function as anything else and that game is my favorite
Games as a service could work. The issue is that making money isn’t enough. You need to be making more money every year and bean counters have hijacked games as a way to squeeze as much money as possible from players.
It’d function the way it does on PC, which is to say, as a product, not a subscription locked service.
I wish I could buy warbonds on floppies
The problem is not the functionality, it’s the business model.
Yes. About 2 years ago.
BroBot9000@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Games as a service has always been a scam. They use literally addictive gambling traps to keep people hooked to a money drip feeder with season passes and loot boxes.
All that only to rip the plug out when the servers are on life support.
Avoid them just like preordering. They are no benefit to the players.
MoreZombies@aussie.zone 1 day ago
Hard disagree -before it went Free to Play, Team Fortress 2 was a shining example of GaaS! A steady stream of updates and external media that constantly kept that game in the limelight.
Games As A Service is not a scam in and of itself - the issue is the greedy people often behind them.
SynonymousStoat@lemmy.world 1 day ago
At least with Team Fortress 2 they have always had dedicated servers you can host yourself. Most GaaS never provide a server that you can run and host yourself.
BroBot9000@lemmy.world 1 day ago
One shiny red apple on a pile of rotting fruit does not make an apple pie.
Games as a service was always enshittification wearing trench coat. TF2 and MMOs back in the day were merely bait.
acosmichippo@lemmy.world 1 day ago
well that’s the thing, it went free to play. Pretty classic enshittification arc.
partial_accumen@lemmy.world 1 day ago
How was TF2 (pre-FTP) a GaaS? I bought it in the Orange Box for a one-time cost. Where is the as-a-service component to that business model you’re citing?
dil@lemmy.zip 19 hours ago
Thats why I cant play them, whats the point, cant open it in 10 years and have nostalgia over it, none of them seem that fun to me, but visual progression is my favorite part of games so they aren’t really meant for me, I miss cool looking stuff meaning the person nolifed the game
0li0li@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Funnily enough, I want an offline addicting loot machine to play with podcasts or youtube. That’s why I play arpgs, but only-only games, for money? FUCK NO!