Older Live Service Titles Take Up Over 60% of Overall Playtime, Report Says

Well, they are free games for the most part, so somewhat understandable, but clearly terrible for the industry.

In fact, I’d be tempted to call this an entirely different industry that has stolen gamers and potential gamers away, and stranded them in their carefully curated and sanitised social hangout spaces, where they can chat with their friends and “compete”, in very loose terms.

That's because most modern games are soulless and boring. Made for the shareholders not the gamers. I went back to ps1/2 and 3 months ago and I'm loving every second. Ps5 is a dust collector nowadays

Isn't this obvious though? The whole point of live service games is that they hook you for as long as possible, and if you are one of the earlier ones, you've got them already. The amount of time these types of games expect from players means at most you will be swapping between two or three live services and unless a new one does something incredibly different, why would you move on from the one you've invested the most in?

That's why when companies plan to launch multiple live service games it makes no sense since they are diluting their games by dividing the time players invest into multiple titles, which results in people being more fine with dropping a game after a certain amount of time. When that happens the funding slows down which in turn means less content, which results in more players dropping and the cycle continues until the game dies. It's like the MMOs from the early 2000s, you invest in the big ones and the rest tumble.

And that’s why the companies chase the live service money.

@MrGilly69 I've gone back to my PS3 recently and am absolutely loving it.

I'd wager most of that play time is taken up by kids as they usually stick to live service games to play with their friends or what's popular at school. Whilst the majority of single player games are played more by adults who have limited time becuase of work or other commitments. And then there's JRPG's which even bigger ones are still niche and even though most take 50+ hours to complete there's not many playing them to make a difference on these charts.

But overall it's quite disheartening to see and such a drastic change from the PS1/PS2/PS3 gens when live service games weren't really a thing outside of Call of Duty/Fifa and even then they weren't monetized like they are now, when multiplayer was just an option and not the main focus.

Now people can see why Sony/Microsoft chase live service games.

@__jamiie so many games I missed on ps3 due being hooked on call of duty back then. My childhood through ps1 though is where my time is mostly

This is a great little article, thanks!
The estimate that 60 per cent of live service gaming is going to older titles tells me a few things.

Firstly, it would seem that the "window" for when to release a live service game is difficult to get right. But the games are getting older, so with the right timing you might migrate an audience from one title to a new one that offers 'a newer and better experience'.

Secondly, and in fact to the contrary, it might show us that live services have a unique sticking power which has been evident with Rocket League, Counterstrike, Fortnite and Siege.

@MrGilly69 I built up quite a decent PS3 library when it was considered current gen but I've discovered and bought tons more games for it since. It feels like having a brand new system due to all of the hidden gems I collected after watching Metal Jesus Rocks on YouTube.

I hadn't realised how stale gaming has become until I plugged it back in after something like 8 years. I did struggle to get used to the DS3 again initially though.

@UltimateOtaku91 I wish this were completely true, but in my own family and friend group that game, I am the only one who plays new releases or mostly single player. And I fear that sentiment is more widespread than we think. My sibling plays exclusively Fornite and my friends rotate between Fortnite, Rocket League, and now Helldivers 2. They will play new Sony 1st party releases, and the occasional Ubisoft game.

Casual gamers. Sigh.

It is even more disheartening because it looks like a large chunk of that 23% of playtime on games released in the past three years is on Call of Duty and FIFA (EA Sports FC 24).

I play GTA the majority of the time because with a limited time to finish some games, I just want to enjoy gaming and that's why I continue playing it online. I have continued playing other games for new releases or some in my backlog but once I'm done, I go right back to GTA online.

Companies will chase this type of game because of how lucrative a lot of these older titles are, but it's a bit of a trap, because this gold rush is unsustainable. Existing games already command the attention and wallets of an ingrained majority of Playstation owners, so with every successful live service game, there's less and less room for newer titles to make it big. Doesn't mean they can't (Helldivers 2 is making that VERY clear), but more and more resources are being poured into a type of game that has less and less to offer newcomers to the market.

Meanwhile, single player games may be less lucrative per title, but there's an ever cycling appetite for new ones. Companies just need to learn to control their budgets a bit.

@thefourfoldroot1 this is a pretty negative take but I understand your view. Profit-wise, you are forgetting about microtransactions, season passes, & memberships to live-service games. The publishers make more from live-service games than those who make a single-player game.

I only see it as a negative for the industry because fewer new IP will be released annually. But if I am enjoying my live-service game, I don't have an issue with this as long as the new content is good.

Most live service games are not for me as I like to run around messing about while going for an objective and in liver service games that gets you killed quickly so I spend a lot of time waiting. I didn't enjoy waiting back when games ran on cassettes and I still don't enjoy waiting now. That's the perk or the current consoles. You don't have to wait if you are playing single player games. Hopefully we will continue to get quality single player games for years to come and let people play Fortnite etc until they are on their deathbeds if they wish.

See? This is why I keep saying.. DO NOT TURN SINGLEPLAYER GAMES IN LIVE SERVICE GAMES. It. does. not. work.
Really wonder how long it'll take before these knuckleheads finally get it through their thick skulls that people play Live Service that were either optional (in the case of GTA Online) or actually brand new and not tied to an already existing franchise (like Fortnite)

Maybe I'm sounding a bit hot headed here, but I'm personally extremely offended by companies that turn a beloved single player mascot like Crash bandicoot into a live service type of game.. Nobody will remember Crash Team Rumble in ten years time, nobody. Meanwhile, Crash 4 It's About Time will still be talked about years from now (if mostly because of how difficult it is, but still!)

@MrGilly69 Same here, though I still use my PS5.... to play ps4 games that is. So much fun to be had

Multiplayer games are the most played?! GTFO!!

It's no surprise really but that doesn't mean other games aren't being played and I doubt many have more than 1 or 2 live services in rotation, then inbetween play other games. What it does show, is how difficult it will be for new live service games to make a dent in the market, if you're invested heavily in one of these, then why would you change?

This shouldn't Be a surprise at all. These games are literally designed to never end. It doesn't mean they are the most revered or of quality. They simply have existed persistently by designs money siphoning schemes.

I’m now wondering how much of this is actually playtime, as opposed to idling around or waiting in lobbies.

The only games on that list i play is the legendary grand theft auto 5 word up son

Also cannot believe that Fall Guys is still so popular.

@__jamiie I've not watched Metal Jesus on the tube in a long time. His game collections were mental back then be so much more so now. Lol.

@Stevemalkpus You sound like a stereotypical PC gamer that shakes their fist at the sight of a game that isn't something they like.

I'll catch some backchat for this but in the case of GTA 5 Rockstar got the balance right. Quality single player experience which had replay value. Lost count of the amount of times I replayed it. Then an online they could tap into and make all of that cash the others were milking.

As long as they don't dilute the single player side of GTA 6 or worse integrate the two. I'd be happy with that.

@__jamiie PS2 and PS3 games fills most of my library. Great era, where games were not as long as last week before payday and were way simpler e.g. lot of fun.

I must say I'm avoiding games, where BEFORE release they anounce DLCs, "roadmaps", battle passes and any other post-release content. I like to have games "complete" on release, play them, enjoy them, finish them and remember them.

@thefourfoldroot1 if games are ultimately made to be fun, and players are having a good time with these games, then I don't see the problem. Just because they aren't games that you enjoy doesn't mean that they aren't games, and belong in a sperate industry.

@MrGilly69 I played Syphon Filter on my PS4 and i have to be honest i will bever ever go back. And yes PS1 is my favorite console of all time. Legend of Dragoon, Koudelka, Final Fantasy 7/8/9, Legend of Legaia 1 and 2, Breath of Fire 4, Parasite Eve 2, Kartia, Dino Crisis 1/2, Resident Evil 1,2,3, Twisted Metal World Tour, Metal Gear Solid, Syphon Filter 1/2/3 and so much more but man the controls aged like milk... Fantastic memories though and now you know why i would to see old game come to the new generation of consoles.

This is why i constantly say all the arguing done online about who has the better exclusives doesn’t really matter cause they only sell a fraction to the consoles user base. Hence i think we will see them all on PC sooner and sooner in the future to expand there reach. GTA6 and hopefully a few others will shake this list up some in the future. Otherwise this is just gen is just a last gen refresh to last gen games and that will be a big waste for a lot of us that expects more and doesn’t want to play Fortnite at any frame rate or ray tracing improvements.

It is so fun to see again Hogwarts, the unworthy for a award game, here too

@HonestHick And wait till next gen. And the gen after. That's the problem for the console business as a whole. There's no point selling new gens of hardware if most of the market is just buying it for a prettier build of the same old game. Eventually they're happy enough with what they have which is why PS4 is ahead of PS5 right now. Fortnite is still Fortnite on a PS4.

@djlard Oh man, "roadmaps" Nothing says "Don't buy this game for the next 2 years after release" like a roadmap that tells you the whole game isn't actually going to be available until 2 years from now. Why do I want to pay full price, spend 50-200 hours playing it, and then get the additional content in chapter 2 that I'd have to replay to see? Or the DLC that comes out after I'm long since done the game and unlikely to go back to it?

@Shepherd_Tallon In some ways your own list doesn't totally contradict @MrGilly69 's point. You've kind of found a niche that's "current" that kind of agrees. A few highlights, MK8 is a 10 year old game remastered/added on as a service, Dragon's Crown is a 10 year old Vita game, Rebirth is a serialized reimagining of a PS1 game from the 90's, Dragon's Dogma 2, which I haven't yet played myself, but according to Rob's review and convo is more or less an an enhanced and re-imagined redo of the original 10 year old game, FFXVI is the most PS3 throwback game I've played since the PS3, which isn't a bad thing, but highlights the point, and Stellar Blade seems to continue that.

You've stumbled into the niche of "current" games that are either old games, current reiterations of old games, or new games that are very much nods to old games. Not much on that list is really part of the "modern gaming" scene, or really the big part of mainstream gaming. It's stuff for the niche that hates modern gaming.

@thefourfoldroot1 Very well said, and echoes exactly what I said on the PXB version of the story. Fortnite and the big services are more of a social media app than a video game. And is as unmovable as Facebook and TwXer for all the same reasons. If everyone's on it, and everyone's invested in it, why would anyone leave it for a different one? I think in some ways the industry has misread the signals. It's not "games as a service" that makes the money. It's games as a social media network that does. And like with real social media, there's only really room for 2-3. Gameplay is ancillary to the social hangout space. People laughed at Second Live and imvu but that's what all these games are. Mostly people are looking for time wasters. Just like mobile gaming, but with more social elements. Or the time waster Animal Crossing New Horizons that seemed to live basically due to it's twitter social component outside the game.

@AinsleyE When they're launching multiple, they're not expecting them to all be hits, they're saturating the market like buying lottery tickets in bulk to increase the chances that one of them is the winner. If they launch 10, 9 were expected to catastrophically fail from the moment they started the studios.

@__jamiie If you have a PS4 controller, you should use that instead. There's only one game that I've played on the PS3 that doesn't work very well with the DS4.

Back in the day it (for PC anyway) it was games like Unreal Tournament and Quake 3, which were live service titles before that buzzword became a thing due to the modding community releasing maps and mods regularly.

Point being, while Fortnite its not for me (its a pretty good game tbf, well the no build side is anyway), if kids are enjoying these games then what's the problem?

There's always going to be a market for big SP games.

Online games have always been a time sink due to their competitive nature one way or another so its no surprise to see them sitting tall for engagement.

If you went back 15-20 year when I was mostly on PC my highest engagement games would have been:

UT/UT2k4
SA:MP or whatever it was called back then (The unofficial precursor for GTA: Online)
PES Launcher to play PES games in a competitive league
CoD2

All multiplayer, live service games before when the work was done by the modders rather than devs .

The only reason its such a big thing on console since PS4 is because the online services were basic back then and developers didn't bother/didn't think they'd get away with selling/drip feeding content every month or two.

It was always on the cards when you think about it, it just took the right technology to allow it for console gaming.

Single player games arent going anywhere unless EVERYONE stops buying them.

@UltimateOtaku91 I agree

I have a feeling this trend will ultimately leed to a new boutique style console. It would come from some company that can support and sustain it but if Handeled correctly would fill the need for the "mature" gamer. It would be no diffrent then the way Apple positiond them selfs sure it was a smaller market but it was one people didn't mind spending the money on.
If the console was positioned in a way that enticed devs to come and exclusively make games for there system with out fear of having to every develop any kind of live service or free to play game it could be interesting to see if that affected things a larger scale

Well that shows how out of touch I am with the rest of human kind lol...

Well Foamstars I had better ideas in mind before the game came out. It's as barren of a core of modes/maps then I expect.

If Fall Guys is just Wipeout the obstacle course tv show the game in a way. It makes sense with the appeal right? Besides the cosmetics, the family friendly characters.

GTA has world/gameplay or cosmetic changes.

Fortnite also map changes or more cosmetics and crossovers so licensing plays a part there.

With Rocket League if Konami pushed GTI Club more it's soccer mode (or gold ball soccer mode) or tomato mode/bomb modes besides time trial or races could be a hit but nope and that was in the PSP title not the PS3 one I think. The PS3 maybe 360 Live Arcade title Rocket Powered Hypercars (same devs as Rocket League) to Rocket League and the music/updates and more they get is big for a reason. From TopGear car soccer to GTI Club to Rocket League maybe even outside those with car soccer it's not that hard to make a thing.

Roblox is a game engine so bigger than Dreams, Mario Maker or Project Spark ever were or are. Roblox and Minecraft have many fan creations going on constantly with users making content, playing content, videoing it.

Most of these make sense due to Youtubers, being free, easy enough to understand, creative titles or open gameplay/cosmetic selling possibilities. Not all as some are just free updates but I mean the creativity and simplicity.

I mean this is why AAA not doing hobby/sim/party games or other games going we want money but milking to us gamers and don't understand the audience at all. They are incredibly stupid. I don't like many casual games either but I can see the appeal still or some are worth it briefly.

At least with some of these not all of them. Sure Sims, Apex and others but I mean Sims 4 plays like PC. Sims 2 it was better console controls but nope that's gone. Even if it's a life sim, the humour is there and the expansions keep going but eh content quality for the price tags.

Older ones are free mostly or get free updates, or have tons of crossovers, events, cosmetics and map changes, something some are too stupid to do and have a lot more larger followings because of what they do.

Their themes, their gameplay, their settings. All appeal in many ways. Constant content that people would want of cosmetics, of changes to the maps/worlds or go wow I got to get on that.

Some of these are just sandboxes to make your own fun creating or playing.

Granted Minecraft updates suck and have the last few years, they are passable but not great because the functionality sucks then modders make them better of gameplay use cases or recipes or whatever but still. Still can mod it for 10 years/any version and over and over change mods out if the updates suck.

Minecraft is the only of these I play or haven't in a while but did for years. I make wikis based on mods for it still instead so I somewhat keep up with it.

@thefourfoldroot1 video games started as a social activity didn’t it? with pong and other co-op vs games

@UltimateOtaku91 Yup, legions of younger gamers coming of age dramatically affects this ranking. They're playing what their peers are playing and as soon as you're old enough for GTA V, well VI isn't here yet so... I think older generations are generally playing a wider variety of games and when you're as old as me, mostly solitary single player games (with the odd Helldivers 2 dance here and there).

Think Elder Scrolls Online is the only 'live service' game I play - ignoring always online Diablo 4 and GT7.
Yes, I've bought a few things from the ESO store and they release a new section of the map every year which I will buy, some are more fun than others.
I do miss the "buy it on a disc and play until the end" of the olden times (PS2 especially) so I'd say I'm more of a single player or couch co-op (BroForce!) player myself.

If a player buys Helldivers 2 for £40 (with zero in-game purchases) and spends 150 hours playing it.
The same person also buys Spiderman 2 for £70 and spends 35 hours playing that game.
It doesn't always mean "total game time" is making you more money.
I would like to see a report on profit not total game hours.

Give me a good single player game any day. Live service (mostly) sucks!

@__jamiie I have done the same. Don't regret it in the least. And the games are way cheaper and more fun IMHO

@IslandLogic I'd much rather use one of my DS4s. Isn't there an issue with the home button and pause not working properly though?

@Msw7089 This will make me sound very old now but I genuinely think this will be my last gen of gaming. The industry as a whole is heading in a direction that doesn't appeal to me and I have plenty of retro consoles to get my gaming fix.

Old man shakes fist at clouds.

@__jamiie plenty people of all ages think this generation sucks. the ps5 is the worst playstation to date.

@nomither6 I completely agree. Although usually on this site or Pure Xbox I get slammed for saying anything negative about the current gen.

I'm lucky enough to own a PS5, Xbox Series X and Switch and I've easily spent way more time and had way more fun with my Switch. I don't play at all in handheld mode either.

Going back to my PS3 has really been a revelation and so much fun.

@__jamiie same here , i love the ps3! (best playstation imo) and have been playing my ps3 and xbox360 these past couple of months. we took for granted the variety of games and the love & care that were put into them back then. i also gotta make sure to buy more hidden gems before the xbox360 store closes in july

also been hearing a lot of talk about the switch , i have one myself but dont use it, i need to change that. i’m gonna fire it up and check out the marketplace.

@__jamiie I'm sounding even older lol but I started with an Atari 2600 back in the late 70s and have been playing ever since. I haven't bought a PS5 yet but I may not and that's a first. I have fired up the PS2 and PS3 and having a blast. Bought a budget gaming PC and found some good games on GOG and Steam to the point that if I get a PS5 it may be my last as well. This current generation is largely underwhelming with a few exceptions

@__jamiie I'm pretty sure the pause button works, but the home button doesn't. I never understood why Sony never fixed that.

@__jamiie I don't think you have to be old to dislike the gaming industry realizing they can turn your living room into a coin-op. We liked consoles as kids because they weren't expensive coin-ops we weren't allowed to beg for money for either like at the mall.

It's not actually just games. It's modern media in general. If you figure radio and cinema were new in the 1920's, television music recording was new in the 1950's (at least mainstream, swing vinyls were around in the late 40s but very uncommon), games were new in the 1970's, died, reborn in the mid 80's, everything was a new exciting frontier through the end of the 20th century.

Now look at all of it? Cinema is stale, numbers are down (but revenue up!), films remake the same ideas and now the same films. Marvel, Marvel, Marvel (which was also new in the 1920s....) Television is stale, "reality" television, infotainment, now remaking old shows (or making games into shows), Marvel, Marvel, Marvel. Nobody watches TV like it used to be. Numbers are down (but revenue is up!) Music recording is stale. The same manufactured hits and mass market same-sounding music made for the same mass market radio conglomerate. Radio....is dead, two giant companies consolidated the whole thing (in the US) and all play the same music on repeat. And now games are stale, the same formula games manufactured for the same audience with the same ideas, or remaking the same games. Marvel, Marvel Marvel. Numbers are down (but revenue is up!)

It's not just games. The entirety of media is stale, with declining numbers to show for it, but it doesn't matter because other than games it's manufactured for the least possible cost to appeal to as many people as possible not by being great but by being inoffensive and familiar. Games is just the only one to spend itself under the table while doing so while a few titles rake in the cash. Curiously all media seems to be in a state of selling worse things to fewer people for more money and thus making more money.

I know I'm a broken record around here, but that's why I love my PSVR2. Sure it's all indie games but every one of them feels fresh and unique and new like we've gone back to the PS1, GBA, golden age PC eras. It's still a frontier with weird ideas, niche markets, throwing everything out to see what sticks. No golden goose, cash cows to milk, trends to follow, or formulas to market for maximum manufactured revenue.

TBH for me Switch is a step down from 3DS. 3DS was filled with tons of crazy weird and new gaming moments. Switch....feels like Nintendo's settled into mostly formulaic gaming like everyone else, plus bad ports of formulaic games that play better on PS/XB/PC. I think BotW, Mario Odyssey, and Astral Chain were my only "wow, this is different!" moments on Switch. Ok, ToTk, but different in a way I didn't actually find fun, lol. The handful of other different experiences, SMTV, MH Stores 2, etc. All of them felt like cool games that were really meant for other hardware. And now are coming to other hardware. So I guess that's the good part of PS5/XS, it gets the better version of the better Switch games?

We may be over-celebrating the PS360 though. Nearly half the list of games we're complaining about above are PS360 games still.... The problem really began then.

@NEStalgia I'm completely with you on PSVR2 and Astral Chain.

@NEStalgia the ps360 era was the last big innovation in gaming that may be ruined now because later generations milked and soiled what 7th generation brought . i dont think its fair to blame what were all pioneering and new ideas from 7th gen because later generations found a way to ruin it or exploit it.

@nomither6 True enough. It's a shame, half of what went wrong was the difficulty and cost developing for PS3 is why publishers revolted and used Sonys struggle to pressure them into x86 and just making consoles commodity mini PCs for ports rather than unique beasts.

@NEStalgia that’s interesting , i’ve heard that before about how sony used to make “pure” consoles , and that consoles weren’t always just “cheaper” PCs .

@nomither6 Yeah, to some extent it's just the general direction of technology leading to this, considering even Nintendo ultimately went with a standard Android tablet more or less, but Nintendo and Sega built weird uses of tech that made the device unique, and Ken Kutaragi was very much a student of that design. But he went overboard on PS3 and went so unique that while the industry was standardizing on similar tools and porting to all platforms, PS3 was a one of a kind oddly to port anything to. Devs hated it and Sony was in poor graces with devs due to it. When they went around asking publishers and devs what they wanted in a PS4, and x1, the answer was universally x86 architecture for easy PC ports. Thus Cerny was brought in and here we are. Though only half way there, I think next gen Xbox goes true PC and PS probably does either with PS6 or 7.

Good and bad to it, but that's what we mostly all miss is the unique games that come from unique hardware. 3ds, and now vr have been the last bastions of that world. Now it's so commoditized and copy paste.