TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 1,971
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
Another live service game is heading to the graveyard. Will the industry keep trying?
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This week: Tyler has been making plans for PCG's coverage of next week's Game Developers Conference, which should shed more light on the issues at play here.
Every time a game like Highguard craters, we collectively wonder why the games industry keeps chasing huge live service hits when so many of them utterly fail.
The obvious answer is that, well, sometimes you do end up with a Helldivers 2, and you make hundreds of millions of dollars and everyone thinks you're really smart. But clearly, those bets are enormously risky, and one of the reasons they're so risky is a reality of today's games biz that has been tormenting executives and investors for years now: At least when it comes to live service games, past hits do not seem to be a good indicator of future hits. Like, at all.
For the past month, I've been hearing grievances from headline-only readers about my statement that "Highguard didn't flop," and it serves me right for trying to be clever, but what I pointed out beneath that headline—which I meant as a rhetorical jab, not a flat denial of reality—is that very few new shooters achieve the kind of instant hit status that Highguard needed to in order to keep the studio afloat.
As indicated by the reporting that has happened since, studio leaders hoped they could repeat the success of Apex Legends, which many of Highguard's developers worked on. And if you're an investor hoping for a big live service hit, why wouldn't you back a project from people who previously made a big live service hit?
But it doesn't seem to work that way. Experience obviously matters in game development, as in any craft, but quality isn't really the issue here. Highguard is fine, or so I'm told, but they specifically needed a hit, and no one knows how to manufacture those.
Just the other day, Riot Games—one of the most successful developers in existence—laid off a big portion of the dev team for its fighting game, 2XKO, which was developed with input from some of the world's foremost experts in the genre, yet clearly hasn't attracted the audience Riot desired or expected.
Even Valve, working with Magic: The Gathering designer Richard Garfield and in full control of Steam, inarguably the center of PC gaming, couldn't sustain a card game. (Which perhaps explains why it's taking s...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
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Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
This week: Tyler has been making plans for PCG's coverage of next week's Game Developers Conference, which should shed more light on the issues at play here.
Every time a game like Highguard craters, we collectively wonder why the games industry keeps chasing huge live service hits when so many of them utterly fail.
The obvious answer is that, well, sometimes you do end up with a Helldivers 2, and you make hundreds of millions of dollars and everyone thinks you're really smart. But clearly, those bets are enormously risky, and one of the reasons they're so risky is a reality of today's games biz that has been tormenting executives and investors for years now: At least when it comes to live service games, past hits do not seem to be a good indicator of future hits. Like, at all.
For the past month, I've been hearing grievances from headline-only readers about my statement that "Highguard didn't flop," and it serves me right for trying to be clever, but what I pointed out beneath that headline—which I meant as a rhetorical jab, not a flat denial of reality—is that very few new shooters achieve the kind of instant hit status that Highguard needed to in order to keep the studio afloat.
As indicated by the reporting that has happened since, studio leaders hoped they could repeat the success of Apex Legends, which many of Highguard's developers worked on. And if you're an investor hoping for a big live service hit, why wouldn't you back a project from people who previously made a big live service hit?
But it doesn't seem to work that way. Experience obviously matters in game development, as in any craft, but quality isn't really the issue here. Highguard is fine, or so I'm told, but they specifically needed a hit, and no one knows how to manufacture those.
Just the other day, Riot Games—one of the most successful developers in existence—laid off a big portion of the dev team for its fighting game, 2XKO, which was developed with input from some of the world's foremost experts in the genre, yet clearly hasn't attracted the audience Riot desired or expected.
Even Valve, working with Magic: The Gathering designer Richard Garfield and in full control of Steam, inarguably the center of PC gaming, couldn't sustain a card game. (Which perhaps explains why it's taking s...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?