The year 2023 has taught us one thing: A studio known for single-player games cannot simply develop a service game like Destiny. This is a bitter lesson that some of the world’s most successful developers had to learn in 2023.
This is the problem: Service games that function for over 10 years are seen by many publishers as “the holy grail”: They guarantee overflowing, secure revenue over many years through microtransactions or DLCs.
That’s why studios that have only created single-player games so far are being forced to switch to “multiplayer service games”: Sony alone planned 12 new service games for their PlayStation 5.
Bungie is considered a prime example of a studio that successfully made this transition, having turned their “Halo” franchise into a service game with Destiny that has been running for years.
Yet it has become clear that exactly this model is a recipe for disaster. Bioware already suffered catastrophically with Anthem, failing to transform patterns that worked as single-player games for years into a service game. Square Enix also got a bloody nose with Marvel’s Avengers.
We will show you 3 more games from 2023 that fared even worse than Anthem and Marvel’s Avengers.
Do something like Fortnite, but with vampires
This is the studio: The “Arkane Studios” is a French development team that has impressed with games like Dishonored or Prey for Bethesda.
This was their flop: In 2023, they were supposed to create a service game with “Redfall”, but the vampire game in comic style failed miserably and is considered by many as one of the biggest flops of 2023.
A report from Bloomberg revealed that the development of Redfall was under a bad star from the very beginning, leading to team members leaving during development. The pressure from parent company Zenimax to incorporate microtransactions didn’t help either.
Do what you always do, but as an online game
This is the studio: The studio “Naughty Dog” is known for the series “The Last of Us” and Uncharted. They are regarded as one of the best studios delivering consistent quality – especially in storytelling and presentation, they are considered top-tier.
This was their flop: For many years, Naughty Dog was supposed to develop “The Last of Us Online” as a multiplayer service game.
But even that, despite 4 years of development time, did not come together.
The project seemingly came to an end after Sony allowed the Destiny studio Bungie to have a look at the game, and they saw numerous issues.
Ultimately, “The Last of Us Online” was canceled before even more money and time went down the drain.
Make one of those cool extraction shooters that everyone loves
This is the studio: The studio “Creative Assembly” has been around since 1987. They are mainly known for the strategy game series Total War, which is considered a milestone in the genre.
This was their flop: The studio wanted to develop Hyenas, a sci-fi shooter as a long-lasting title like Destiny, but this game was also under a bad star from the beginning.
Already during development, it became clear that the team had difficulties finding the right approach to Hyenas – and quickly here too, the project was shelved. Shortly after the beta, the development of Hyenas was canceled.
It is said that “the most expensive game Sega ever financed” was thrown in the bin. The game reportedly cost between 40 and 70 million US dollars (via escapistmagazine).
Ultimately, publisher Sega came to the realization that Creative Assembly should focus back on real-time strategy games.
And forever calls the formula of the infinite money cheat service game
This is what’s behind it: This is a pattern we see repeatedly: These “service” titles, whether called MMOs or not, are titles that promise high returns but also carry high risks.
Every publisher dreams of a successful service game that generates substantial profits each quarter and thus provides a stable factor in the hit-driven gaming business.
In the past, such titles have often started well from inexperienced studios, but then quickly faded because the developers ran out of content: This was the case for WildStar or Anthem.
The new generation of these titles, however, barely makes it to launch, but fizzles out during development. Yet even much experience with service titles is no guarantee. Established MMO studios like Blizzard or Daybreak had to cancel their upcoming MMOs like Titan or Everquest Next prematurely:
3 MMORPGs could have revolutionized the genre, but unfortunately, they never appeared
