Over 90% of Studios Surveyed Plan On Live Service Gaming

95% of game studios are developing live service games according to a report.
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Marvels Avengers Hulk
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According to a new report from Griffin Gaming Partners, there’s a big shift happening in the gaming industry. A staggering 95% of studios surveyed are developing or aiming to release a live service game. This data was gathered from 537 studios worldwide and clearly shows the industry’s growing focus on games requiring ongoing development and updates. It’s hard to see.

The report obtained by GamingIndustry.biz delves into the motivations behind this trend, with 66% of respondents agreeing that live services are crucial for the long-term success of a game. The traditional game development cycle, typically spanning two to three years, contrasts with the ever-evolving nature of live services, which often demand five-year production periods. However, they tend to reward studios with more money over their lifetime.

“Multi-year game development forms production processes and pipelines that are intended to deliver a few key milestones in what is essentially a waterfall process. Production in live services, however, is a constant state of planning & adjusting game parameters to enhance player experience while designing and deploying new features to add new player value,”

Griffin Gaming Partners Report

The report also claims that live service games are in a constant state of planning and adjusting game parameters. The studios continue designing and deploying new features to add value and keep players. According to the survey, there is a need for faster content releases among live service teams. As reported by these teams, the ideal production schedule involves weekly or biweekly updates for live operations and biweekly to monthly updates for game content. This stands in stark contrast to the traditionally slower pace of development cycles.

This kind of rush leads to games that aren’t good. We don’t want more of Marvel’s Avengers, Gotham Knights, or other games that will bomb at launch. Rushed development normally ensures that games won’t be as good on release.

If this report is an indicator of how things in the gaming industry as a whole are going, we may see a lot of games try to become live service soon.

Jorge A. Aguilar

Jorge A. Aguilar

Jorge A. Aguilar, also known as Aggy, is the current Assigning Editor.

He started his career as an esports, influencer, and streaming writer for Sportskeeda. He then moved to GFinity Esports to cover streaming, games, guides, and news before moving to the Social team where he ended his time as the Lead of Social Content.

He also worked a writer and editor for both Pro Game Guides and Dot Esports, and as a writer for PC Invasion, Attack of the Fanboy, and Android Police. Aggy is the former Managing Editor and Operations Overseer of N4G Unlocked and a former Gaming editor for WePC.

Throughout his time in the industry, he's trained over 100 writers, written thousands of articles on multiple sites, written more reviews than he cares to count, and edited tens of thousands of articles. He has also written some games published by Tales, some books, and a comic sold to Telus International.

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