In the modern day, games can broadly be split into two categories. There are self-contained, single-player experiences, and then there are expansive online playgrounds that run seasonal events, have timed objectives, and develop over the course of their lives with major updates.God of War,Assassin’s Creed, and Citizen Sleeper might vary in size and runtime, but they each aim to be self-contained experiences. Meanwhile you haveFortnite,Apex Legends, andFinal Fantasy 14which are intended to be played on a loop with evolving developments to a neverending story, as well as repeated activities for you to come back. But now a lot of live-service games are reaching the end of their life cycle naturally, challenging what we know about these two distinct groups - so what does that mean for the future?
Valve has announced CS:GO 2 recently, hot on the heels ofWarzone 2andOverwatch 2. It promises a swathe of updates that wouldn’t have been possible in the current edition of the game. All of these games have come to the conclusion that the existing framework could no longer support the vision and ambition, and so they had to shed that skin to rise anew. It’s what we expect from a single-player game - it launches, maybe has a few updates, then onto the next one. The deal is we’re meant to be able to rely on live-service games to stick around, but now we can’t.
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The waters have already been muddied. I mentioned Assassin’s Creed asan example of a self-contained game, butit is attempting to move into the live-service mouldin the future.GTA 5andRed Dead Redemption 2are both regarded as two of the finest single-player games ever, but both house separate live-service experiences too.Skyrimis not an everlasting live-service game that constantly throws updates or new quests at us, yet ten years later we’re still playing, and in ten years time we’ll all be playingElden Ringtoo.FIFAbehaveslike a live-service game, with an in-game store, weekly and seasonal events, and a major emphasis on online competition, but it releases at full price annually as a single-player game might.
Then there’sDestiny. Before this recent trend, Bungie pulled the plug on Destiny and made the direct sequel Destiny 2, but that was because of the desire for a fresh start. Since then, Destiny 2 has gone free to play, although the fact it wipes older story packs to make way for new expansions each time means the drawbridge has been raised. Playing Destiny 2 is like getting into reading comic books -you just have to make peace with the fact you start in the middle and go from there.
This change in how the medium works is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when the games themselves are free so it’s not actually the same as being asked to buy a new game, as with single-player offerings. But Destiny 2 aside, the results have not been great. Overwatch 2 seemed primarily to be an overhaul to the cosmetics system, replacing the outdated loot box system with a battle pass that makes it practically impossible to buy your choice of cosmetic without investing real money. Meanwhile, Warzone 2.0 has enjoyed a lukewarm reception at best. There’s significantly more anticipation for CS:GO 2 (which is actually the fifth mainlineCounter-Strikegame), so players will welcome it with open arms, but it’s clear the divide no longer exists as it once did.
While the idea of a live-service sequel to an existing live-service game is not entirely new, three of the biggest ones pulling the trigger inside six months feels significant. While CS:GO players have been asking for a full-blown sequel for a while, we have to hope this doesn’t encourage live-service games to adopt this pattern - while it may be natural for live-service games to eventually outgrow their framework, we want as much wrung out of games as possible, with fresh events and experiences used to keep players coming back, not sequels that offer little innovation but may generate short-term buzz.
Fans are happy that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 2 will soon be in our hands, and it’s hard to feel too critical of that. However, CS:GO 2 has been a long time coming, and if live-service games become too reliant on sequels to keep fans invested and fix any issues with the game, they will lose a core part of their appeal.
