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(+) Yeah! (+)

The game isn't live service. Players are concerned that it will turn into a live service game. You're just wrong. Live service is a real term used by companies when they make games. Releasing an early access game doesn't make it live service.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Palworld/comments/1afl5kr/please_dont_go_liveservice/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1623730/discussions/0/4361242944243713599/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/01/24/palworld-reveals-a-roadmap-with-pvp-raids-new-pals-bosses-gear/?sh=27dedf631f02

While its not a live service, new megahit Palworld is an Early Access game, and as fun as it may be, is very obviously not fully finished.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_as_a_service

With all the negative press surrounding live service games these days, Pocket Pair are trying to sell it as early access to dupe the rubes who can't see it for what it truly is. I'm not so easily fooled it's live service through and through

MeatiestMeatus posted...

With all the negative press surrounding live service games these days, Pocket Pair are trying to sell it as early access to dupe the rubes who can't see it for what it truly is. I'm not so easily fooled it's live service through and through

Then they are doing a terrible job. They have a million dollar a week server cost and forgot to include any monetization in the game.

They will have to invent a new name for a live service game that has no live service and no additional monetization.

SinisterSlay posted...

They will have to invent a new name for a live service game that has live service as was already explained

They already have a name for that: Palworld

MeatiestMeatus posted...

That's why I call it live service lite. They're adding more to the game in the future. That's not early access. Early access is just that: early access to a game that's largely complete but needs quality of life fixes.

Again, was Hades a live service before they finished adding all the areas and weapons?

Early access very often involves adding new content, not just QoL/bugfixes. Factorio didn't even have a win condition when it first launched as an Early Access game, and even after it came to Steam (which happened about 6 months after the win condition was added), it went through several pretty substantial content updates (enough to justify raising the price) before 1.0 launched 4.5 years later. Early access just means "it's not done yet, we just want feedback and an income source while we finish it." Exactly what "finishing it" means varies from game to game and dev to dev.

MeatiestMeatus posted...

Suicide Squad is offering a lot of free updates. No Man's Sky offers a lot of free updates once you've paid for the main game.

I can't speak to how Suicide Squad is structure because I haven't really paid any attention beyond knowing that it's at least trying to mimic the live service looter shooter model, but NMS is not a live service, they just keep having ideas to add to the game. Again, the important distinction is that they'll stop when they stop having ideas, not when it stops being profitable to keep players engaged with the game. Live services are characterized by that push to keep players engaged long-term, not simply by receiving additional content updates.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e225b47b.jpg

Also important to remember that some games get updates or new features much later in their life simply because a Dev was bored, or while clearing tech debt, they upgraded their own engine to closer to what they are currently using, or they want to test some new feature in an old game first.

You cats can bury your heads in the sand over Palworld being live service if that's what you choose to do.

Me? I choose to be informed on the matter

MeatiestMeatus posted...

You cats can bury your heads in the sand over Palworld being live service if that's what you choose to do.

Me? I choose to be informed on the matter

I think you've proved the opposite

Nah go back and read what I posted until it clicks or remain misinformed. Your choice

So what happens when new content stops being developed for Palworld? Does it stop being a live service, or does it persist as a live service that isn't live or servicing anymore?

what the fuck

how is palworld not a live service game? lol

adjl posted...

So what happens when new content stops being developed for Palworld? Does it stop being a live service, or does it persist as a live service that isn't live or servicing anymore?

what happens to Fortnite when it eventually dies?

DirtBasedSoap posted...

what the fuck

how is palworld not a live service game? lol

Idk what the point of this argument is but a live service game is centered around microtransactions, they use psychological tricks like making the game progress extremely slow and flash an in-game shop where you can progress 20 hours of grinding for $50. The point of a live service game is to be engaging, but not "fun". They only need to keep people engaged. Suicide Squad, Apex Legends, Fortnite, all self identify as live service. They either go off or become completely obsolete if their manipulative formula is not viral, because ultimately they're not trying to be art or fun. They either manipulate successfully or don't. They're an investor's wet dream and a game studio's failure to maintain creative control.

They create gamers who think that they're too old to enjoy games anymore, meanwhile they recently put 3000 hours into Runescape and nothing else.

Plaworld is a game you can play offline and it has no microtransactions. You can't just call every slop game a live-service game. If you think this is a live service game, then so is Risk of Rain, Valheim, Smash Bros.

DirtBasedSoap posted...

what happens to Fortnite when it eventually dies?

It dies. The servers are taken down and you lose the ability to play it. It's still a live service, just a dead one.

By comparison, Palworld will persist in the state created by its final update. You'll be able to continue to play it as normal, if perhaps without multiplayer. It just won't get any more new content. At that point, there will be no basis to even consider calling it a "live service," despite nothing about the core gameplay structure or relationship with the players having changed. Therefore, there never was a basis to call it one.