The landscape of the video games industry has changed so much in recent years, but no shift in the wind has been as influential as the live-service model.
There are a decent number of games that have been truly successful as a game-as-a-service (GaaS), with titles like Destiny 2, Warframe, Fortnite, Overwatch, Apex Legends, yearly Call of Duty titles, and some more coming to mind. But the list is short compared to the opposite end of the money-making spectrum.
Many have tried to follow the trend of continually updating an online game and adding content, but most have failed. And this is the graveyard of just a handful of them.
Anthem
Has a game ever been so hyped and failed to reach its promised heights so poorly? Anthem had everything going for it: a big-name studio and publisher (BioWare and EA), and addictive and fun gameplay featuring flying mech suits. But it was brought back to Earth very quickly.
After launching in February 2019, the rebirth project in an attempt to salvage the game’s hype, Anthem Next, was canned in February 2021.
LawBreakers
One of my own biggest personal sadnesses in gaming is the failure of LawBreakers, from Gears of War developer Cliffy B’s Boss Key Productions. The hero competitive shooter that featured anti-gravity and a unique roster of characters launched in August 2017 but sold poorly enough to see its servers shut down in September 2018.
Hyper Scape
Ubisoft’s attempt to enter the battle royale genre, Hyper Scape featured a futuristic setting and a map that closed off in sections, as opposed to a shrinking circle like most titles in the genre. The game underperformed in most aspects and was shut down in April 2022 after launching less than two years prior in August 2020.
Marvel’s Avengers
This is another big sadness of mine. Marvel‘s Avengers was a fun game, but it had no business being a live-service title. The game featured a great opening storyline centered around Ms. Marvel and the team reassembling, but the unnecessary co-op GaaS model did not keep players entertained for long, even with some of the most popular characters in the history of fiction anchoring it.
Marvel’s Avengers launched multiple seasons and additional heroes after dropping in September 2020 but only sold three million copies. Support for the game ended in September 2023.
Radical Heights
Hello again, Cliffy B! Boss Key pivoted to the battle royale genre to attempt to capitalize on the hype of games like Fortnite and PUBG. Radical Heights was released in April 2018 after being rushed to market, and the development studio was promptly dissolved in May 2018, to give you an idea of how it performed.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Worry not, Marvel. DC had its own stinker, too. The other comics company did the same thing, making a talented single-player game studio work on a GaaS, and the results were disastrous. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launched in February 2024 after multiple delays.
It launched its season four in August 2024 and it’s still technically alive, but its future is in serious doubt as the game flopped big-time when it comes to sales, helping Warner Bros. to a 41-percent drop in gaming revenue. In June, Warner Bros. said the game would finish releasing its currently announced roadmap, but anything coming after that is a question mark.
It turns out, players thought the makers of the Batman: Arkham franchise wanted more of that kind of game and not an open-world live-service title with battle passes and microtransactions galore. Oh, and nobody wanted to kill iconic heroes like Batman and Superman, either.
Concord
Perhaps the biggest disaster of them all, and the reason why we are gathered here today, Concord flopped so hard as a PS5 hero shooter way too late to the genre’s party that its servers shut down just two weeks after release in August 2024.
Concord was a decent game. It was well-made, polished, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it or its gameplay. But an unappealing character roster, a $40 price tag in a free-to-play world, and the lack of bringing anything new to the genre while also being several years late to the peak of its popularity quickly spelled its doom.
The game reportedly spent eight years in development, with a rumored development cost well into nine figures. Backed by Sony as a PS5 first-party title, the game never surpassed 700 players on Steam, and was the subject of ridicule once it launched.
But it’s always possible it could return as a free-to-play title, so stay tuned for that.
