GamerBraves Newsletter Vol. 80 – Why Are So Many Live Service Games Shutting Down?

2023 has only just started and it’s already seen the fall of several high-profile live service games. Within the last week alone we’ve seen the shutdown of several live service titles: Knockout City, Rumbleverse, CrossfireX, Echo VR, and Apex Legends Mobile, alongside the upcoming Battlefield Mobile being canceled, and that’s only the more prominent of the recent closures.

It says a lot that a large company like EA, who just over a year ago said that two-thirds of their revenue comes from live service games, is now shying away from the format with Battlefield Mobile. The game is based on a major IP and was never launched meaning it hasn’t had poor sales. On paper, it sounds like a pretty safe release so its cancelation implies that the publisher has become much more hesitant with the live service model.

Live services have often been seen as one of the most lucrative markets in the industry, some even going so far as to call it the future of gaming as a whole, yet they seem to be losing their sheen. That’s what we’ll be looking at today. Have things changed for live service games?

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