There was a time when developers made games because they had something to say, or something fun to build. Today, too many AAA studios make games like they’re designing slot machines. They’re no longer crafting worlds or telling stories; they’re building systems to keep you hooked, distracted, and spending. Welcome to the age of the live service game.
On paper, live service models sound promising: ongoing updates, community-driven development, regular new content. In reality, most are thinly veiled habit-forming products built around psychological manipulation rather than innovation or artistry. And gamers are catching on.
With Bungie’s Marathon reboot falling flat, Sony canceling half its live service portfolio, and players flocking to tighter, more meaningful indie and AA experiences, it’s time to talk about how live services are draining the soul out of modern game design.
Built for Engagement, Not Enjoyment
Live service games are designed around one thing: daily retention. The core design loop isn’t “What’s fun?”, it’s “What keeps players coming back tomorrow?” That might sound like a small difference, but it changes everything. Compared to the food industry, it’s the “What tastes good and is nutritious?” to the former tobacco industry scientists’ “How do we get these people addicted to harmful foods?”
Instead of building narrative arcs, memorable moments, or challenging progression systems, developers design content pipelines: battle passes, login rewards, time-limited events, and other FOMO-driven mechanics. These games want you to feel like not playing is a mistake. Not following this model is why Sony’s one successful live service game, Helldivers 2, actually worked. It has battle passes that don’t expire and doesn’t punish players for not exclusively playing it.
The result of most live service projects, however? Games that feel like part-time jobs. Destiny 2, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, The Division 2, and countless others boil down to checklists. Fun becomes secondary to the grind, and “content” becomes a euphemism for “more things to do, less reason to care.”
Creativity Crushed by Content Calendars
Creative freedom doesn’t fit neatly into a seasonal roadmap. That’s why so many live service games feel identical—bland aesthetic choices (stolen if you’re Bungie), formulaic missions, with a predictable power creep. Developers can’t afford to take risks when quarterly metrics and monetization targets rule the roadmap.
Speaking of Bungie, their upcoming Marathon reboot is a textbook example. Once a beloved cult-classic shooter rich with strange lore and design experimentation, the new Marathon is now an extraction-based PvP experience focused on cosmetics and seasonal rewards. It’s not the game fans remember, and it looks like it was never meant to be. It’s a product engineered to “retain users,” not inspire players. This would be excusable to some degree if the game was good, but all signs point to it being a lazy skin to throw overtop of their monetization strategies. No one on their team has seemingly even done the research on the genre of game they’re creating, as none of the charm or appeal of an extraction shooter is present in Marathon.
Bungie is the same studio that once helped define the modern shooter genre. Now, they’re caught in a cycle of live service dependence that’s hollowed out their creative edge.
Sony’s Cold Feet Speak Volumes
In 2022, Sony announced its intent to push out ten live service games by 2026. In early 2024, they quietly pulled the plug on more than half of them. Internal reports revealed that studios like Naughty Dog were struggling under the weight of the live service mandate, leading to the indefinite delay of The Last of Us: Factions and internal tensions across PlayStation as a whole.
Even Helldivers 2, as mentioned above, feels like an exception that proves the rule. Its charm comes from tight gameplay and community responsiveness, not from some elaborate monetization plan. And yet Sony’s current leadership sees it as a model for future products without properly understanding why the game has succeeded to begin with.
The irony is thick. Sony built its brand on polished, narrative-driven single-player games. Now it’s chasing a business model that’s burning out developers, repelling players, and consistently failing to deliver long-term value, while ignoring their fanbase begging them to continue expanding on the IPs that made them fans in the first place.
Habit-Forming by Design
Let’s call live service games what they really are: engineered experiences meant to create behavioral loops. The psychological tricks are all there: variable rewards, daily goals, social pressure, limited-time offers. It’s not about rewarding skill or curiosity. It’s about keeping your dopamine on a leash.
What most gamers can easily point out as being a predatory, unsustainable model has now become the norm in AAA game design. Instead of building memorable moments, studios are obsessed with metrics. How many hours you play, how often you log in, how much you spend, etc. It’s the same model used by mobile gacha games, just with better graphics and bigger budgets. It’s a business model that is becoming ever-present in a lot of businesses that are growing to the point of over-intellectualization. It has simply become too hard for those in administrative roles to remain in touch with the customers and those who are developing the product.
And the worst part is that most of these games are abandoned before they even get going, so studios holding the rights of some of our most beloved IPs are in danger of losing everything, simply because of corporate greed. Anthem, Babylon’s Fall, Hyper Scape, and Redfall each launched with a promise of “ongoing content,” only to die within months. Concord lasted 2 weeks. “Live” service is becoming a joke. These games are barely alive when they launch.
The Antidote: Games That Respect You
While AAA studios obsess over live service blueprints, smaller developers are creating games that actually respect the player. You’re seeing a renaissance in AA and indie spaces with games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Baldur’s Gate, and the previously mentioned Helldivers 2, which is experiencing a resurgence at the moment. These are games that are fun, complete, and made with a clear creative voice with the player in mind.
Look at Hades, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, Dave the Diver, Deep Rock Galactic, or Pizza Tower. These aren’t games designed to keep you playing forever. They’re games designed to make you want to come back. That’s a massive difference.
Even among multiplayer-focused games, the standouts aren’t the ones shoving battle passes down your throat. They’re the ones that make community and gameplay the foundation. It’s a pretty simple trend that has emerged of late. Make a good game and the players will show up. Make an exploitative game and the gamers will sniff it out and kill your game before it releases.
Time to Sweep the Model Off the Table
The live service trend isn’t just tired, it’s damaging to the industry. It warps design goals, wastes developer talent, and builds hollow experiences that burn bright and fade fast. And the further we go down this path, the flames get duller and the wicks get shorter. Players are fed up, developers are exhausted, and the financial returns are getting worse with each release.
It’s time for AAA studios to clear the table and start over. I suggest they take a page out of AA developers’ books and start from there. The most exciting games in recent years didn’t come from content pipelines. They came from passion, focus, and originality. It was recently reported that Expedition 33 had a budget of Mirror’s Edge (2008). That means it was probably somewhere between $180 million – $380 million cheaper than Concord, which it outperformed in sales, critical review scores, and most importantly, audience review scores.
The more the industry chases engagement, the more it loses its soul. But the good news? Players are no longer buying it. They want games that challenge, delight, and surprise, not games that babysit them into a compulsion loop. And the devs that remember this will be the ones left standing.
