Of 10 Top played games on steam 7 are Live Service, 1 is Semi Live, 1 is a software
Of 10 Top played games on steam 7 are Live Service, 1 is Semi Live, 1 is a software
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This is why every publisher in the world is pushing for live service games. People say nobody wants them, but the numbers speak for themselves.
People like engaging with each other, that’s crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
It kind of makes sense to me that multiplayer games would have their player base more concentrated in a handful of games than single player. Single player games don’t depend on the player base, so the active players would be more spread out without affecting the user experience.
People love the feeling of unity that comes with big multiplayer games and the feeling of status that comes with climbing the ranks.
Not sure how many people participated in the online console shooter hayday, but the reason why a game like Halo 3 was such a big deal is because we had never experienced the prestige that came with earning a certain rank and gear. People were so envious of General and Brigadier ranked players and Recon armor.
It’s only got more addictive over the last 20 years.
Sure, okay. Now list the defunct GaaS, and the ones that make no money, for anybody.
Simply saying that people who get addicted to games get addicted to games that are designed to create addiction doesn’t mean… anything. At all. The longest running TV shows when I was younger were soap operas. Nobody thought a soap opera was on the level of “The Godfather”, but lots of people watched them EVERY SINGLE DAY. This thinking is so fked, it’s like RJ Reynolds corp trying to convince the world that smoking is healthy, just to keep smokers smoking and get more smokers, or Anheuser Busch pretending that the height of a good day is beers ‘n bros.
Addiction is not the measure of success in an artistic enterprise.
This list is always the same games at the top though. The top 4 have been around for quite some time. It actually tells me that it is incredibly difficult to break into the live service space. If Fortnite was a Steam game, there is no doubt the top 5 would include that too.
Companies keep trying to create their own version, but the players are not moving on from these games. If anything this doesn’t tell me that “this is why devs want to make more live service games”. This should tell them that to break through the established ones and create your own foothold is incredibly difficult. Yeah, if you succeed, you have hit the jackpot, but its pretty much investing a ton of money into a lottery ticket. To be a success you need people to stop playing some of these top games and play yours and over the years its been very clear that it is incredibly difficult to get players to do that long term.
Breaking into the live service game space is like hitting a lottery jackpot. It’s all about getting players to switch from established favorites which honestly seems like a herculean task!
Is this most played games at the same time or most played games overall? I guess considering you can take your time with singleplayer games it wouldnt be high up in the rankings. Also its just Steam not included other platforms so yeah.
Huh, didn’t know Naraka Bladepoint was that popular
Playing with or versus other human being is more fun and popular to most people and have MUCH more longevity than single-player one and done games that you can complete after 20-30 hours.
More breaking news at 11.
Wish we can see Battle.net for Call of Duty because that is the more popular platform on PC for it.
Its because multiplayer games and live service games hold their playerbase for a very long time, because its pretty much endless. Single player games have their big spike when they come out because its new for everyone and then drop of because most players have finished the game.
If the life cycle of a game is very long, its only natural for it to have a very high player count over its lifetime. No single player game ever can compete against a successful and long running multiplayer game. No Elden Ring, no Baldurs Gate 3, nothing.
And consequently the big developers will continue to do live services because the average brainwashed “player” likes to be scammed
“Multi-player games that get regularly updated get more players overall, more at 11. Back to you on the studio Jim”
Wow, I play… …. … … … one of those (Palworld) and, at one point, yonks ago, participated in GTA V a bit
Hell, even Palworld I played – had fun with – put hours into – and have largely gotten bored with and shelved until they nail some of the bugs and make the gameloop more engaging
I cant believe that Counter Strike and Dota , two games that I used to play when I was in HS 10 years ago are not only still being played but have the highest player count .
As a player who never played live service games, I want to thank everyone who does. You are the bread and butter of the game companies. Because of you, they have the money to make single player games for people like us.
Oh wow, games that are fun to play with friends and get updates over the years are the most played games, who could have guessed
This Tells me that you would need a good game and to get very lucky to make a successful live service game, if you want to get ppl to stop playing these and play yours instead.
Which one is semi live, and which one is the other one?
I had no idea Naraka bladepoint was doing that well, I was under the impression that game was DOA
Wallpaper Engine is fucking great btw. Very cheap! Got it for like $3 or $4 dollar a long time ago.
In the current Most Played list I’m seeing they would be at 10th place below Naraka.
Source SDK isn’t “just software” it’s used to play GTA RP and other modded games
Source SDK Base 2007 is what is used on steam when you join modded multiplayer GTA V servers via FiveM, which is the most common service for it. So realistically GTA V playerbase is larger than that list shows.
Which ones are the Semi and Not Live Services? Palworld is early access, Last Epoch has “continuing development” and microtransactions. Both have online modes. GTAV has a heavily monetized Online mode that might as well be its own game. Also, that Source thing is used by FiveM, a popular mod for GTA Online.
Yeah I’m not a fan of where gaming is heading but this is the reality we live in. I keep my ears open for noise of indie games developers or new IPs. There’s genuinely great stuff out there you just gotta work a bit harder to find it. Hi-Fi Rush for example.
I’m happy to see Last Epoch up on that list. I’ve been playing it since early access (fairly far back too, I think when lagon fight was as far as the story went?), it’s a great aarpg and I know they struggled with servers. I want to see them succeed with it.
And that 1 software on there is next to GTA V because the GTA V mod FiveM runs the Source SDK Base 2007 on your Steam profile when using it.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
The issue is not that live service games are automatically bad or don’t work well. They can be quite successful if the underlying game itself is good and doesn’t let the monetization scheme ruin the core experience.
FF14 is almost universally beloved and it’s a live service game. The difference is that it’s a really good game that keeps getting really good content, has a very generous free trial that is long enough to be a full game itself and it doesn’t have in-game monetization or P2W, just a subscription. If the failed live service games everyone makes fun of were more like FF14 maybe the concept wouldn’t get as much hate from the community.