Games are Slowly Changing, Most Games in the Future to be “Games as a Service” and Drop Single-Play

Signle-Play Games are slowly disappearing 

Online games have recently been on the rise, first starting with FPS games such as Halo and now getting into open-world video games such as Sea of Thieves and Fallout 76. Single-Play games are getting less and less popular especially in, first-person shooters. Recent Battlefield games have been featuring shorter and less interesting single-play games with most gamers just playing the online mode. Call of Duty Black Ops IIII has dropped the campaign mode. Slowly, games are changing to games, as a service.

Why Would Developers use “Games as a Service?”

Games as a Service means, “ways to monetize video games either after their initial sale (Wikipedia).” This way of business isn’t very popular with games as this means games aren’t going to feature a campaign mode. With this business model, all developers have to do is release new weapons and maps every week or so but instead, feature microtransactions. Gamers keep coming back, so they buy microtransactions to get access to the latest features that were added to the game generating the company millions of Dollars. The best part for developers is the fact that gamers don’t have a problem with this model. GTA Online is a pay to win, but not only it doesn’t receive criticism but keeps selling.

If they want to do this for a single-play game, they will have to pay a lot of money to get voice actors, people to make new missions, a new and large area and most of the time they wouldn’t be able to monetize it. This will just be DLC, but games as a service make a lot more money. For an online game, developers have to release a few new items every week or so and then a few maps every two months. 

The “Games as a Service” Business Model is Getting More and More Popular 

Look at the latest games, Fallout 76 and Sea of Thieves. Both of these games are online only, and this is the first time that Bethesda is working on an online Fallout game. Fallout 76 will feature microtransactions, and the game is going to receive new updates for years to come. Fallout 76 is obviously going to use the Games as a Service, business model. Bethesda is likely experimenting to see if using this business model will make money. Even one of the most anticipated games of 2018, Red Dead Redemption 2 is likely going to feature microtransactions, and it will probably be similair to GTA Online. Seeing the success of GTA Online, it makes sense for Rockstar to do the same thing with Red Dead Redemption 2 online. 

Tags and Keywords:
Technology, Video Games, Single-Play Games Disappearing, Games as a Service, Future Games to be Online Only, Rare, Bethesda, Rockstar

Ali F
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