For years, the gaming industry seemed to have found its golden goose: the live-service game. A model promising endless engagement, recurring revenue, and a perpetually evolving world, it quickly became the blueprint for everything from sprawling online shooters to narrative-driven adventures. This strategy, embraced with a fervor akin to a gold rush, was envisioned as the ultimate sustainable future, a consistent income stream in a notoriously volatile market.
Yet, as the dust settles on a tumultuous period for many major studios, a voice of seasoned experience offers a sobering perspective. Harold Ryan, a former CEO of Bungie, a studio synonymous with live-service success stories like Halo and Destiny, now suggests that the industry may have significantly overplayed its hand.
The Enthusiastic Pursuit of Perpetual Playtime
The allure of live-service is, from a business standpoint, entirely understandable. Instead of selling a game once, publishers could cultivate a continuous relationship with players, offering new content, events, and monetization opportunities over months, or even years. Developers, eager to secure long-term funding and retain talent, often followed suit, sometimes shoehorning live-service elements into genres where they simply didn’t fit, all in pursuit of that elusive “engagement metric.”
Harold Ryan, having been at the forefront of this trend during his 16-year tenure at Bungie until 2016, now offers an informed critique from a position of detached observation. Speaking recently to the industry press, Ryan articulated a crucial, if uncomfortable, truth: the live-service model is not universally appropriate. Not for all games, and perhaps more importantly, not for all consumers. This isn`t just an opinion; it`s an observation rooted in the most unambiguous form of consumer feedback: their spending habits and playtime allocations.
When Wallets Speak Louder Than Words
The past year has seen a growing graveyard of ambitious live-service titles. Projects backed by significant budgets and extensive marketing efforts have stumbled, failing to capture and retain the elusive player base necessary for long-term viability. While specific failures are too numerous to list exhaustively, the pattern is undeniable: players are becoming increasingly discerning. They are, as Ryan aptly puts it, “telling us it’s not appropriate for all consumers.”
This market correction isn’t merely about the quality of individual games; it’s about a fundamental mismatch between what some segments of the industry are producing and what a broad swathe of the audience actually wants. A handful of established giants continue to dominate the lion`s share of player engagement, leaving little room for newcomers to carve out a sustainable niche. This concentration of playtime reveals a simple economic reality: the market for perpetual engagement isn`t infinite, nor is it evenly distributed.
Intriguingly, some publishers are already adapting to this shift. The recent decision by 2K to price a forthcoming title like *Mafia: The Old Country* at a more modest $50, offering a linear, single-player experience, speaks volumes. It implicitly acknowledges that there is a significant, and perhaps underserved, audience yearning for games that respect their time and wallet, offering a complete narrative arc without demanding endless commitment or ongoing investment. It`s a quiet rebellion against the “always-on” mentality.
A Shift in Philosophy: From Business Model to Game Idea
Since departing Bungie, Ryan has founded ProbablyMonsters, a company designed to provide “early stage infrastructure” and support to developers. His current approach subtly reflects a growing understanding of market realities. While he hasn`t sworn off live-service entirely, stating he would pursue such a project if he found the “right game idea and the right audience,” he adamantly emphasizes that the business model should not be the primary driver of game creation.
“I think [for] sustainable careers, I think for the industry, it`s pretty clear that we can`t just pick a business model and say that`s a reason to make a game.”
This is a stark departure from a recent industry ethos that often prioritized monetization strategies over the fundamental gameplay loop. The consequences of this inverted approach are now plain to see, manifested in widespread layoffs, studio closures, and delayed projects across the industry. Even Bungie, the very architect of the modern live-service paradigm, has faced significant internal upheavals, including mass layoffs and organizational restructuring, highlighting that even pioneers are not immune to market shifts.
Towards a More Sustainable Horizon
Bungie`s next big project, *Marathon*, itself a live-service title, faces heightened scrutiny in this evolving landscape. Its indefinite delay, following the high-profile struggles of other live-service endeavors by its publisher, serves as another testament to the shifting tides. Despite these clear signals, some major players continue to publicly affirm their commitment to the live-service space, perhaps hoping to find the next elusive unicorn that defies the emerging trends.
Ryan’s reflections on the broader industry climate are insightful, recognizing that “the things that were working and reliable before aren`t quite as reliable.” His hope for the future is not for every game to be the next industry-defining phenomenon, but rather for developers to discover sustainable business models that genuinely satisfy players and allow studios to “pay the bills.” It’s a pragmatic outlook, acknowledging that not every creation can be the “number one most successful game,” but affirming that all can be successful in their own right.
The industry, it seems, is in the midst of a necessary re-evaluation. The universal application of the live-service model, once hailed as a panacea for all economic woes, is proving to be anything but. As Harold Ryan, a voice from the very heart of this evolution, suggests, the path forward lies not in blind adherence to a business trend, but in a pragmatic return to core principles: creating compelling games that truly resonate with an audience, whatever their preferred engagement model may be.
Callum Darby