- Digital Extremes CEO Steve Sinclair disagrees with the view that live service games are “make or break” at release
- He suggests years-long development cycles shouldn’t go to waste just because of operating costs
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Digital Extremes CEO Steve Sinclair believes that many live service game makers discard their games too quickly, taking an unnecessary all-or-nothing approach.
Sinclair shared his thoughts with Video Games Chronicle, suggesting that games that struggle at launch aren’t automatically lost causes, and years-long development cycles shouldn’t go to waste just because of operating costs post-launch.
“They think the release is make or break, and it’s not. They have a financial way to be persistent, and they never do it. It comes out, doesn’t work and they throw it away,” he said.
“Isn’t that a shame when you put so many years of your life into iterating on those systems or building technology or building the start of a community, and because the operating costs are high, you get terrified when you see the numbers drop and you leave.”
11 years of progress
Sinclair’s comments come from a position of much experience with the live service model, as Digital Extreme’s Warframe has been going strong for over 11 years. It’s an MMO live service title with over 70 million players worldwide, combining third-person shooter gameplay with open-world areas, procedurally generated areas and, of course, multiplayer.
Since first launching on PC in March 2013, Warframe has expanded across all major modern consoles and most recently arrived on iOS this February.
The mobile version was developed with Nitro Games as the same full game known on other platforms, opening up the live service game to an even larger potential audience.
Furthermore, crossplay functionality allows iOS users to engage with pre-established players on other platforms.
The iOS version of Warframe has generated $1.13 million to date, according to AppMagic estimates, with an Android version on the way.
Short timeframes
And yet, many other high-profile studios have closed down their live service games after much shorter attempts at making the model work. Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers was shut down less than three years after launch, while EA’s dodgeball-esque Knockout City was knocked out in two.
Smilegate’s Xbox-exclusive CrossfireX lasted for 15 months.
“We’ve seen this with amazing releases that I think have massive potential, and I think they eject too soon,” Sinclair summarised.
