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[Men_in_Boxes]

GAAS is a saturated market. It's impossible to break into such a competitive field. These are "forever games" or "black hole games" that lock players to single titles in perpetuity. We all know this, everyone knows this. There was a time (maybe the 3rd week of November in 2012) to greenlight a new Live Service title, but that has long passed. Let us look at the year that was, before we memory hole it forever...

Helldivers 2 (82)
Palworld (71)
The First Descendent (56)
Enshouded (78)
Path of Exile II (87)
Throne and Liberty (73)
Grey Zone Warfare (Steam Reviews: Mixed)
Once Human (75)
Marvel Rivals (76)

Now this list of 9 anomalous hits shows us two things.

First, the market is still saturated. These titles are an aberration and should not be considered when throwing out the phrase "saturated market". For if we consider it, then we are less likely to use such a fun term.

But more importantly, like Geordie LaForge rolling under the grapheme wall of market saturation, these titles only succeeded because they were built by the Engineers from Aliens - Angels, demigods. These 9 titles might average a 74 OpenCritic score, but their brilliance is so untouchable that they act as warning signs for any competent studio that dares take a crack at this iron curtain.

We advanced on your position in 2024, and the wheels of war will not stop in 2025. GAAS deniers, I am the flail of God. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.

 

[LectureMaster]

First 2025 thread right?

 

[IFireflyl]

Live service sucks donkey dick. You can take that to the bank.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

diablo 4 and overwatch 2... guess what happened, buddy?

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

diablo 4 and overwatch 2... guess what happened, buddy?

Overwatch 2 DAU one week before Marvel Rivals launch.

Overwatch 2 + Marvel Rivals DAU one week after Marvel Rivals launch.

 

[Shmunter]

Give me epic 10-15h experiences. Make Gaming Great Again - MGGA

 

[Chechack]

You are just listing many western gaas games
Asian Gaas have still been booming and growing.
Hate gaas as you want but the asian side have good gaas.
Yeah2 Genshin Impact is shit bla bla bla
In the end many gaas is free,for someone like me whos living in shitty 3rd world country and have no life no bitches loser in life with small purchasing power these asian gaas have helped fill my time instead of always constantly having suicidal thoughs.
Here's the thing,for someone who have loads of shitty free time,games like genshin/wuwa/honkai and many f2p gaas games have helped filled many of my free time.
Best part of it,its free,you are not forced to pay,your currency is "patience",as long as u know self restrain then you can still enjoy the game full package.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Overwatch 2 DAU one week before Marvel Rivals launch.

Overwatch 2 + Marvel Rivals DAU one week after Marvel Rivals launch.

I'm sure Blizzard is looking at it that way... even worse, im sure Phil is not nervous about revenue/growth for the next couple of quarters.

 

[DoubleClutch]

None of the best games ever made, single-player nor multi-player, have been games as a service.

“GAAS” is a moronic concept that probably some MBA dipshit came up with.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I'm sure Blizzard is looking at it that way... even worse, im sure Phil is not nervous about revenue/growth for the next couple of quarters.

Market growth isn't always friendly, but growth is growth.

That being said, we're about 8 years from the point when Overwatch allowed Blizzard to dive into pools of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck. I'm sure Blizzard will land on their feet.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Most of those games aren’t or weren’t hits, they came and went like farts in the wind.

Of course the GaaS market is saturated, lots of games nowadays are service games even if they aren’t full fledged.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Most of those games aren’t or weren’t hits, they came and went like farts in the wind.

 

[clarky]

None of the best games ever made, single-player nor multi-player, have been games as a service.

“GAAS” is a moronic concept that probably some MBA dipshit came up with.

Speak for yourself, some of my favourite most, played games from the last decade have been live service titles.

 

[hemo memo]

Speak for yourself, some of my favourite most, played games from the last decade have been live serive titles.

I'm sorry but this is sad.

 

[DoubleClutch]

Speak for yourself, some of my favourite most, played games from the last decade have been live serive titles.

No, you’re speaking for yourself. I’m speaking objectively. The best games ever made are not live service games.

 

[clarky]

I'm sorry but this is sad.

Why? Sad that someone enjoys playing different things than yourself ?

Counterstrike, POE, COD, Destiny The Hunt etc have provided me with countless hours of entertainment.

 

[clarky]

No, you’re speaking for yourself. I’m speaking objectively. The best games ever made are not live service games.

Of course im speaking for myself, i said as much. Where as you appear speaking from your arse.

 

[DoubleClutch]

Why? Sad that someone enjoys playing different things than yourself ?

Counterstrike, POE, COD, Destiny The Hunt etc have provided me with countless hours of entertainment.

The best Call of Duties are not live service.

 

[Griffon]

No genre is close to being saturated.

Quality is rare enough as it is.

 

[clarky]

The best Call of Duties are not live service.

Blackout, OG Verdansk and Resurgence are up there with the best COD experiences of all time imo.

Besides the majority of mainline COD entries can be classed as live service games, just they weren't called that back in the day. DLC maps and play list updates are not too far removed from what we have today.

 

[TrebleShot]

Its only in its next evolution,
Live service games are probably the future and the future is arguably now.

Some of these live service games are genuinely fun to play and offer so much more content than single player games that you could probably exclusively play one for a year and not see everything.

Some I have played this year that have been really good.

The First Descendant
Helldivers 2
Marvel Rivals
POE 2
Diablo 4
GT7
COD

There are also some I haven't extensively play but have tried and definitely see the appeal.

Genshin Impact
ZZZ
Fortnite

The idea of a live connected game with new content dropping fairly often is a workable model, I think the biggest thing is not making it overly aggressive and offering a reason for people to play and that should be fun gameplay.

Live service can and should exist alongside single player, rpg action etc. But I dont want to see it become the only type of game being made.

I think 2024 showed us that the main AAA studios are lost, they are trying to cover both bases without focusing on one thing or another leading to crap upon crap.

The best games last year were either indies or live service. Astro is semi live service and the other big game Black Myth is new.

 

[ManaByte]

XDefiant was for people who hate COD (it died)
Marvel Rivals is for people who hate OW2
POE2 is for people who hate Diablo IV

People need to come up with an original idea for a GaaS and not just build a clone for people who hate certain games.

 

[geary]

XDefiant was for people who hate COD (it died)
Marvel Rivals is for people who hate OW2
POE2 is for people who hate Diablo IV

People need to come up with an original idea for a GaaS and not just build a clone for people who hate certain games.

PoE 2 is for people who want a sequel to PoE 1

 

[clarky]

XDefiant was for people who hate COD (it died)
Marvel Rivals is for people who hate OW2
POE2 is for people who hate Diablo IV

People need to come up with an original idea for a GaaS and not just build a clone for people who hate certain games.

Surely that logic can be applied to any game that releases?

 

[GHG]

All that's happened if the few new games that have been successful have stolen players away from other GAAS titles.

This isn't the win you think it is.

 

[Hugare]

Much more useful than MC scores would be active players for those games, since they are GAAS

But it wouldnt be as good for your narrative now, would it?

Their all time peak, current active players, revenue generated, how long it took from all time peak to current active players etc.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

POE2 is for people who hate Diablo IV

Not true. PoE2 is for people who want a more complex ARPG experience than Diablo IV can offer.

 

[Felessan]

First, the market is still saturated. These titles are an aberration and should not be considered when throwing out the phrase "saturated market". For if we consider it, then we are less likely to use such a fun term.

Its means that western devs also start to grasp what it makes to do successfull gaas.
As in some research I saw several years it was stated that "west" lags "east" aproximately 5 years in terms of diversity and sophistication of live service games (study was made for top-level "gaming"-level phones to analyze trends across different markets).
Now west start catch up at least a bit.

You are just listing many western gaas games
Asian Gaas have still been booming and growing.
Hate gaas as you want but the asian side have good gaas.

Actually, people only see what they want to see.
Asian gaas is a hilarious example. Market "saturated" there way back to 2012 (Pazudora) then again in 2013 (MonStrike) and again in 2015 (FGO) - those earns respectable amount of money even to this day.
Didn't stop market to have several really huge games and many tens of big games now, from genshin to blue archive, gbf, uma mususme etc.
I would expect number of games earning up to 200-300 mil USD per year is up to hundred in Asian market.

That being said, we're about 8 years from the point when Overwatch allowed Blizzard to dive into pools of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck. I'm sure Blizzard will land on their feet.

I thought WoW as that cash cow

 

[Guilty_AI]

Still coping over concord i see

 

[Hrk69]

Thank god for PoE2. That shit is fucking hard

 

[W11d]

Some shitty games flopped and they call end of the world

 

[rodrigolfp]

I'm sure Blizzard is looking at it that way... even worse, im sure Phil is not nervous about revenue/growth for the next couple of quarters.

Are not the vast majority of Overwatch players on Battle.net launcher??

No, you’re speaking for yourself. I’m speaking objectively. The best games ever made are not live service games.

Stuff like WoW is.

 

[DeepSpace5D]

Not to mention the goat, Infinity Nikki. No but seriously, my wife already has over 150 hours in this game on PS5. It’s getting to the point where I can only get in some time with the console when she’s asleep.

 

[envyzeal]

There are no bad game genres, but there are too many bad games in every genre.

Just go out there and make a good game.

 

[rofif]

I don't play any of those games

 

[Radical_3d]

 

[Ribi]

Gameplay and IPs sell games.

Which means it's time for porn stars br

 

[Shadowstar39]

Its only in its next evolution,
Live service games are probably the future and the future is arguably now.

Some of these live service games are genuinely fun to play and offer so much more content than single player games that you could probably exclusively play one for a year and not see everything.

Some I have played this year that have been really good.

The First Descendant
Helldivers 2
Marvel Rivals
POE 2
Diablo 4
GT7
COD

There are also some I haven't extensively play but have tried and definitely see the appeal.

Genshin Impact
ZZZ
Fortnite

The idea of a live connected game with new content dropping fairly often is a workable model, I think the biggest thing is not making it overly aggressive and offering a reason for people to play and that should be fun gameplay.

Live service can and should exist alongside single player, rpg action etc. But I dont want to see it become the only type of game being made.

I think 2024 showed us that the main AAA studios are lost, they are trying to cover both bases without focusing on one thing or another leading to crap upon crap.

The best games last year were either indies or live service. Astro is semi live service and the other big game Black Myth is new.

Astrobot was single player old school, not gaas. Some notable games from last year ragons dogma 2, stalker 2, stellar blade, rise of ronin, astrobot, indiana jones, black myth wukong, unicorn overlord, ys x, dragon quest 3hd were all great single player non gaas games. Plus tons of indies and pc early access aa strategy games (games people around here ignore).

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Much more useful than MC scores would be active players for those games, since they are GAAS

But it wouldnt be as good for your narrative now, would it?

Their all time peak, current active players, revenue generated, how long it took from all time peak to current active players etc.

More irrelevant than you realize. Success is success and the 9 (10 with Infinity Nikki) examples listed in the OP means that a bunch of mediocre (74 Opencritic average) GAAS games broke into this (fake) saturated market with relative ease.

The fake narrative must be disassembled, brick by brick.

 

[grvg]

I hope 2025 is the year of total GaaS death.

I know it’s a long shot, but the end of fortnite and apex would bring me so much joy