Sony’s original plan was to launch nearly a dozen live-service games by March 2026. It later cut that number in half. Of the ones that eventually shipped, only Helldivers 2 turned out to be a runaway ...

The scale of the player drop suggests more than isolated missteps. Instead, it points to structural issues that continue to affect live service development. Many 2025 releases entered the market with ...

The live service game model has been a consistent concept in the gaming world since the early days of the MMO, when massive multiplayer experiences were able to use the spread of the internet to ...

Rick Warren is a Senior Features Editor from the United States who has been a massive gamer and comic book fan ever since he played Spider-Man on the PlayStation 1. He loves writing about everything ...

For more than a quarter-century, game makers have chased live-service games. Ultima Online, Everquest, and World of Warcraft turned game buyers into long-term subscribers, and in the wake of ...

Live-service games have redefined how people play, offering experiences that evolve long after launch. Unlike traditional games with fixed content, these titles provide continuous updates, seasonal ...

GameSpot may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and from purchases through links. According to Shawn Layden, a live-service game “isn’t really a game.