Within the last few years of gaming, a buzz word going around the industry is the term “Games as a service”. An odd phrase with strange connotations, it’s worth exploring the advantages and disadvantages of this format and why, while it works for some games, it should not become the new default model for game development.
But what is games as a service? It refers to a business model where a game, which can either be free to play or bought, is continually updated with a combination of free and paid content. MMOs with their monthly subscriptions were amongst the earliest examples of this model but games as a service has since expanded to include microtransactions, DLC and season passes.
On one hand, this seems like a good thing. This model allows for the continual injection of new content (some of which is free) into the game. This gives players more content to play without having to spend any extra money. I have been playing Overwatch for close to two years now and I have not had to spend any extra money to access new content.
Another excellent example is Paradox Interactive, developer and publisher of games such as Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron and Crusader Kings, who mix free content updates with paid expansions. This allows more gameplay additions for both players who only play the base game and those who spend extra for the expansions.
However, this business model can be quite tricky. Games as a service requires a devoted playerbase who will continue to invest money in the game. This can be a problem if the base game fails from the very beginning with recent games such as Anthem and Fallout 76 facing player backlash and poor reception from the get go.
It is also hard to see how some games can benefit from being “games as a service”. My go to example here is Final Fantasy XV which saw numerous updates adding quests, addition of new gameplay mechanics and even a bizarre multiplayer mode. Excluding that, the game is a singleplayer experience with a clearly defined end and the only sources of revenue were some DLC released individually and in a season pass. I don’t quite understand how Square Enix decided this business model was ideal for the game and it’s hard for me to imagine it proving more successful than if they had simply released the game with a few DLC and called it quits.
There is also the issue that there are only so many video gamers in the world. Excluding a sudden spike in the number of people playing video games, the games as a service model will struggle as games fight tooth and nail to retain their playerbases as more and more competition is released. Eventually it will become too difficult to build a long term playerbase and the model will collapse. Many popular games using this model would survive this but they would become few and far between.
Ultimately, this model is fine and even beneficial for the odd game here and there but, should the industry begin to rely too much on games as a service, we will see an implosion which could end up damaging the entire video game industry. Let me know what your thoughts are on games as a service, if you play any games that use this model and what your thoughts are on the future of games as a service.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.