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Could adding Live Service Components help save otherwise fledgling Single Player projects ?

Could adding Live Service Components help save otherwise fledgling Single Player projects ?


  • Total voters
    114

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
In light of the EA CEO saying that DA: V could have done better with live service components, do you think this is viable?

For this experiment, let's put 'woke' to the side. Single player focused games like Dead Space remake also reportedly did poorly, despite being extremely faithful to their originals and being a well reviewed game in general.

Do you think the idea of adding live service components to extend the playbility to otherwise single player games can help them succeed more?
 

Kacho

Gold Member
For this experiment, let's put 'woke' to the side.
not funny transformers GIF
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
If the game is already going to struggle, spending another $10mil - $infinity on MP dev is crazy.

I just don’t see a situation where it would work out.
 
Didn't they try this with headspace 3.

Mid to end ps360 cycle was filled with all sorts of mtx weird live added shit to any games to make extra money.
 

Edder1

Gold Member
Didn't help Suicide Squad, did it? If the game is terrible then there's no saving it. Add to this the fact that Veilgiard was woke social commentary that had tons of negativity surrounding it before release and it was always bound to be a train wreck. These CEOs haven't a clue, that's why they keep funding these train wrecks.
 
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Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
It will kill the game immediately for me.
DLC or expansion is fine. Live service can fuck off.
Some games used to launch with both SP and MP. Some of them still do. That's all a 'live service' or GaaS game is: The MP without the SP.

Separating SP and MP is fine. Especially if the same studio is making both. It's an unnecessary burden on a team that is probably not experienced in building an MP component that can sustain itself. What the new Battlefield game is doing is how it should be done. One team focuses on SP, and another focuses on MP. EA did this with Medal of Honor back in. the day too.

Having said that, MP would not have saved DA:V
 

Wildebeest

Member
Nobody knows what it takes to get people to play a game that isn't already one of the most popular games any more. Maybe you could add some online gimmick, or maybe add a dog that farts glitter? Who knows.
 

Edder1

Gold Member
Didn't they try this with headspace 3.

Mid to end ps360 cycle was filled with all sorts of mtx weird live added shit to any games to make extra money.
Exactly, lol. They could just look back a decade at their own strategy and see how they ruined franchises like Dead Space with this same kind of thinking. You have to be a complete moron not to take lessons from that, but that seems to be a common trend among these publishers.
 
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My friends, this is a troll thread. Not trolling in the original sense in that the OP wants to get you mad, but he's being disingenuous. He knows the answer. So before you start to type away that "live service components can't even save live service games", please take a step back and enjoy more fruitful discussions in another thread.
 
I think the opposite

Adding SP to risky GaaS lessens the chance of failure

If Concord had a strong SP component it may have helped get you into the world/lore more and enticed you to play the MP

Ditto with Marathon

Let’s go back to campaign first content that includes MP
 
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Sleepwalker

Member
No.

There are 3 types of gamers that might play single player games

- the casual who buys 2 maybe 3 games a year, beats them and moves on

- the single player enthusiast who buys multiple games per year and beats them, platinums then, the whole works.

- the multiplayer gamer who will sprinkle a single player big release here and there in between cod and fifa.


Adding live service elements wont help capture more of any of these. The mp guys already are locked into live services of their preference, the enthusiast hates live service and the casual doesnt give a damn about any of it.
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
In light of the EA CEO saying that DA: V could have done better with live service components, do you think this is viable?

For this experiment, let's put 'woke' to the side. Single player focused games like Dead Space remake also reportedly did poorly, despite being extremely faithful to their originals and being a well reviewed game in general.

Do you think the idea of adding live service components to extend the playbility to otherwise single player games can help them succeed more?

Live Service games are superior to the old model, in part, because they allow the artist to work on games significantly longer.

When Michaelangelo is given four years, he paints the Sistean Chapel. If you give him a week, he paints April Oneal from that new Turtles movie.
 

Puscifer

Member
Everyone keeps trying to snatch Fortnites, CS:GO, Warzone, Helldivers 2 and Warframes lights without realizing these are lightning in a bottle experiences and every attempt at the same will see you hitting the ground.

I feel like every publisher needs a GAAS title to carry others so their single player titles don't need those aspects vs shoving it into everything and hoping it works like they're currently doing.
 

Puscifer

Member
No.

There are 3 types of gamers that might play single player games

- the casual who buys 2 maybe 3 games a year, beats them and moves on

- the single player enthusiast who buys multiple games per year and beats them, platinums then, the whole works.

- the multiplayer gamer who will sprinkle a single player big release here and there in between cod and fifa.


Adding live service elements wont help capture more of any of these. The mp guys already are locked into live services of their preference, the enthusiast hates live service and the casual doesnt give a damn about any of it.

Where do I come in? I'm not worried about platinuming anything but I'll put crazy hours into a game I like. I'm on cyberpunk playthrough 3 and 110 hours in and have no clue what trophies or whatever I've unlocked
 

MayauMiao

Member
For this experiment, let's put 'woke' to the side. Single player focused games like Dead Space remake also reportedly did poorly, despite being extremely faithful to their originals and being a well reviewed game in general.
Dead Space 3 got killed because it had live like service.

Also Dead Space remake to many is just remaster so might be a factor why it did poorly.
 

Sgt. Pinback

(L3) + (R3) | Spartan rage activated
Yes, the thing that would have saved DA:V was if people were sold an incomplete game, and could later spend more money on it.

Andrew House is a retard, and this thread is stupid.
 

LectureMaster

Gold Member
In light of the EA CEO saying that DA: V could have done better with live service components, do you think this is viable?

For this experiment, let's put 'woke' to the side. Single player focused games like Dead Space remake also reportedly did poorly, despite being extremely faithful to their originals and being a well reviewed game in general.

Do you think the idea of adding live service components to extend the playbility to otherwise single player games can help them succeed more?
fj07RZd.jpeg
 
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Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
No, game development needs to slim down and start costing less. There’s so much bloat in game development that can be trimmed out.

Smaller games, smaller teams, more focused design and creative direction.
 

ProtoByte

Weeb Underling
No.
Tacked on multiplayer or SP (COD notwithstanding) doesn't work these days because the resources are not there for it to be packaged into 1 purchase and the systems/fidelity these games now have to be at in either case is such that the designs for SP and MP cannot match.
 

rm082e

Member
As someone who spends 98% of my time playing single player games, no. I don't want any of that.

If it's like Diablo 4 where I can just play the game entirely on my own and ignore all the GaaS shit, that's not too bad. But if you force me interact with it, I'm out.
 

Generic

Member
In light of the EA CEO saying that DA: V could have done better with live service components, do you think this is viable?

For this experiment, let's put 'woke' to the side. Single player focused games like Dead Space remake also reportedly did poorly, despite being extremely faithful to their originals and being a well reviewed game in general.

Do you think the idea of adding live service components to extend the playbility to otherwise single player games can help them succeed more?
Single-player games need to have multiplayer mode again. It was a very common thing in the PS3/X360 era.
 
Yes it could, but is it likely? No.

Live service doesn’t have to mean shared world MP. It could be a seasonal rotation of challenges or content.

But in a lot of cases if a SP game is struggling, it’s not very good.
 
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I'd say no. The odds that a game built and released as single player having an engaging multi-player mode tacked on afterwards doesn't seem good.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
I'd say more Live service games to incorporate campaigns to make the games interesting myself. Been harping on Space Marine 2 for a bit and that's because it does this really well, imo.
 

CLW

Member
No we are in the early stages of the 2nd great video game CRASH the entire industry is probably going to be cut in 1/2 before the end of the 20s
 

Humdinger

Gold Member
They did something similar back about 20 years ago. Online multiplayer was all the rage (on consoles), and so all the SP games suddenly had MP modes. In many cases, gamers complained that the split focus (SP/MP) was siphoning time/attention/resources from the SP mode to the MP mode, and the former were suffering. Much of what made the MP component so attractive to developers/publishers was the chance to earn additional income with extra gear, levels, costumes, and so forth. It was an early, rudimentary version of what we see in more full-blown form in Live Service games.

To answer the question, yeah, sure it could. It could provide more revenue that would help the developer turn a profit. The question for me is whether that interferes with the quality of the SP game. We have so many examples where it has. Dev's always claim it won't affect the SP game, but it often does.
 
Adding live service to Veilguard would have been a disaster.

What they could have done is allow your friends to join as companions a la Baldurs Gate 3.
 

mitch1971

Member
In a way this already happens with dying light. That game is getting another free update in march. Ok, it might not be much - the odd weapon here, or a small community challenge there - but it's still periodic extras that get added. The game is years old at this point but each little dlc obviously brings people back to it. I would expect that even the devs didn't think they would be supporting the first dying light this long, but clearly it keeps the game in the lime light for a limited amount of times that the devs deam advantagous. Each release is a fun addition but most importantly an unexpected bonus.

Ubisoft does the same, although they have built the mechanics in from the start. I recently played FC5 and AC origins; both older games, but both have a continued feature that resets every week. It's not a major component of the game, and it's also not an important part of the game that causes FOMO. yet it's there for the people who enjoy dipping into the game every so often.

The slippery slop though is when gamers expect more. At least with a live service model there is a clear line between an ongoing periodic development cycle and an SP game with a pre-announced amount of DLC. If that line starts to blur I can't see people waiting more than a couple of weeks before they are pulling their hair out and threatening devs demanding their pound of flesh. I think you'll find many devs in straightjackets bouncing off padded walls.
 
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Bernardougf

Member
In light of the EA CEO saying that DA: V could have done better with live service components, do you think this is viable?

For this experiment, let's put 'woke' to the side. Single player focused games like Dead Space remake also reportedly did poorly, despite being extremely faithful to their originals and being a well reviewed game in general.

Do you think the idea of adding live service components to extend the playbility to otherwise single player games can help them succeed more?
You are much better as a Xbox shill than a gaas whore ...
 

Da1337Vinci

Member
Live services games can be games that are not big on social (pvp guilds) but can have community aspects and they definitely offer more varied monetization strategies than the usual one and done games.

Some games have thrived on this for example the new hit man.

Looking at the story of dead space hard to imagine how gaas could be fit in this and in addition must gaas games are light hearted.
 

Fess

Member
I think the opposite

Adding SP to risky GaaS lessens the chance of failure

If Concord had a strong SP component it may have helped get you into the world/lore more and enticed you to play the MP

Ditto with Marathon

Let’s go back to campaign first content that includes MP
Yeah no joke I would’ve played Concord if it had a single player campaign, always thought the gameplay looked interesting but MP for me is about as interesting as watching paint dry. The character design didn’t help but it wasn’t the reason I went slash ignore. I’ve played the two latest Call of Duty campaigns as well, enjoyed them both, but haven’t tried a second of MP.
 

nnytk

Member
I think Space Marine 2 is a good example of how trying to implement GaaS features in your AA game, might help marketing, but ultimately bogs down the experience for many. Including myself.

Maybe an even better example, RE4 Remake or the THPS 1+2 remake, neither of them pushes GaaS and were very, very well received and sold well afaik.

More games should focus on good singleplayer and maybe some coop content.

Not every game can or has to be the next Destiny or Fortnite. As much as investors want this to be a thing...
 
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Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Yeah i’m sure TLOU2 failed because it lacked a MP mode sony canceled years later
 

Felessan

Member
I vote no, because it doesn't work this way.
For gaas to be successfull it should be build from the ground up as gaas,just plastering something last-minute will not work. And given that gaas cost is huge, it will just increase losses

Adding SP to risky GaaS lessens the chance of failure
No.
Adding SP divert resources and increase TTM, and GaaS very sensible to both.

Everyone keeps trying to snatch Fortnites, CS:GO, Warzone, Helldivers 2 and Warframes lights without realizing these are lightning in a bottle experiences and every attempt at the same will see you hitting the ground.
There is a stable routine how to make a successful (not necessary runaway success, but at least not a failure) live service games, just look at how it's done in Asia. And Activision had no problem bringing Warzone into the market years after Fortnite dominate it. They just did it in a proper way - f2p, backing of known franchise/developer, some points that make it different from others.
Naraka did it too when like everyone thought that battle royale market is already oversaturated and there is no room for new games.

Actually what I found strange is a fixation to b2p model for live services in the west. Yes it looks like safer stream of money and less hate from forum dwellers. But it was already proven in previous iteration (MMO) that to be successfull with b2p model is much harder than f2p, some big projects were forced to switch f2p after failing hard at b2p and only then they found success (teso, swtor). Population is a key for live service games, no one wants to play a barren game with no community, and f2p is much easier to achieve numbers of stable community that will carry game for decades. Like most titles mentioned are f2p.
 
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