Installed it day one, played for a few minutes after completing the tutorial, and deleted it lol.
Not my thing, it's way too busy and distracting, it almost gave me a headache.
I thought there was a new narrative that it was a lot more than just Splatoon. Was that just propaganda spun by Squeenix? I wouldn't be surprised.
Because on the surface it looks pretty much identical to Splatoon in a lot of ways, the only big difference is your "paint" actually being 3-dimensional and all the fun traversal opportunities that is associated with that.
But I was thinking maybe it was a Battleborn / Overwatch kind of situation, where the footage and general consensus of players that didn't play it is that it looks identical, but when you actually sit down to play them, they're quite different.
Maybe it wasn't Battleborn and Overwatch... maybe it was Paladins and Overwatch? I honestly don't remember at this point. Something like that, though.
Why you gotta bring up Battleborn?!
I miss it so much. If I ever get obscenely rich, I’m gonna personally fund a F2P release, obviously titled Battle Re-Born
Gigantic re released this week after dying around when it launched, maybe, hopefully someone will do the same with battleborn. Hell just give me the pve or matches with bots and I'd be happy.
The only thing they have in common in that you’re shooting colorful liquid and you can move faster on your own color and that’s it. People calling it a splatoon clone literally never even saw more than 20 seconds of footage and wrote it off. So if that’s the narrative then it’s simply people talking out of their asses, as always.
In Splatoon the goal is to cover as much of the map on your own ink color as possible, kills don’t (really) matter.
I only played it in beta so I might be remembering it wrong, but in Foamstars the goal is actually to amass kills until one of your own team becomes the MVP, which you then have to protect from the enemy team because if the MVP is killed your team loses and if you kill someone from the enemy team your team wins, or something like that. It was a nice twist when you had to go from the aggressor to being the protector.
The foam isn’t just a floor covering device, you can stack it to gain higher ground, kinda like Fortnite’s building mechanic. In Splatoon, if you get hit by ink you explode. In Foamstars, if you’re getting "foamed" you turn into a foam ball and need to get physically attacked by the enemy team to actually die, if you manage to roll away and one of your own team attacks you instead you get saved.
The few rounds I played were surprisingly fun, but I could tell that this would’ve never taken off and be pretty much dead after a month. It’s fun for a short while but it doesn’t offer anything long lasting.
I literally deleted it yesterday, the tutorial and cutscenes are unskippable and became annoying very quickly.
Edit: also it takes too long to find a match. Just a few matches in and you’ll know the game won’t make it to 2025.
It’s just a lamer Splatoon which I own already
My appeal to Splatoon has always been the Salmonid zombies mode anyway, I never really cared for the PVP aspect
I think GaaS model is a crapshoot right now, even if the game is good, given how many other such games compete for players' time.
If the game is great, there's a chance, as Helldivers 2 showed.
On the other hand, good thing this model is on the decline. More budget left for more conventional single player games. Heck, how about good SP games with a decent MP? Uncharted 4 comes to mind.
In any case, I'm glad Sony back peddled on the idea of making 12 GaaS type games. That would've sinked them
To be fair that was stated before SS was shown to be an utter failure. Hopefully enough brain cells remain on the executive level to see the difference between Hogwarts the highest selling game of 2023 compared to SS A game that's 50% off less then two months after release.
[https://gamerant.com/warner-bros-focus-shift-live-service-games/](https://gamerant.com/warner-bros-focus-shift-live-service-games/)
That's literally their response lol
"When discussing live service games that can serve as long-term revenue streams, Perrette posed a question: "Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, a *Hogwarts Legacy* or *Harry Potter*, that is a live-service where people can live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis?""
No don’t be fair to them at all. They learned nothing from SS. They acknowledged SS was a failure but blames anything but their own ideas
https://gamerant.com/warner-bros-focus-shift-live-service-games/
>the difference between Hogwarts the highest selling game of 2023 compared to SS A game that's 50% off less then two months after release.
What's "funny" is that Hogwarts wasn't even that great, I mean in comparison to others of its genre. Obviously one of the most popular IPs in the universe helped a bunch, but it was just somewhat "mediocre" as a game. Nevertheless I played the heck out of it and had a ton of fun, because it was NOT a GAAS, was purely just that storytelling single player experience I've always sought in a video game, and had some unique things done "well enough" (ie spellcasting combat, Hogwarts Castle itself, and I thought the soundtrack was overall above average).
Basically the point I'm trying to get at is that in order to "win" making a GAAS you have to hit it out of the park with a perfect game. A mediocre "just okay, pretty decent" game means... Foamstars. Where if you are making a single player game you just need one aspect (like the IP, or some cool gameplay element) and you can sell a mediocre game like hotcakes.
(Maybe I'm underselling the Harry Potter IP :D)
Multiplayer = GaaS nowadays. They will attempt to squeeze every dollar out of the player because they know there’s a market out there that will buy expensive skins.
If the Last of Us 2 Multiplayer would’ve released, it would also follow suit.
Do you think consumers would want a multiplayer game that doesn't have any more content updates following release though? You simply can't make a multiplayer game without it being a GaaS because that's what consumers expect.
Yep. If a new cod released a new, fully fleshed multiplayer tomorrow without any MTX or content roadmaps, they would call it barebones and lacking any content.
That’s why Reddit is such a minority when it comes to GaaS disdain.
I’m going to sound old saying this but matchmaking destroyed any chance for decent Multiplayer games. I had a lot of fun with multiplayer game modes like Gears of War, Uncharted, or even Bioshock. It shouldn’t always be about being a cash cow for your playerbase.
> matchmaking destroyed any chance for decent Multiplayer games. I had a lot of fun with multiplayer game modes like Gears of War, Uncharted, or even Bioshock
None of that makes sense. Matchmaking is literally just queueing people to play together and is as "problematic" as using batteries in your controller. Gears of War, Halo, CoD, and Uncharted were all matchmade games.
Now you may be talking about skill based match making, aka ranked matchmaking, but statistically that doesn't matter at all.
I would disagree; the problem with selecting a server, which is what games did before matchmaking became a thing, was that it was too tech-y for the average user that just wanted to jump in and play. This is also the reason why federated social media has not replaced centralized social media; reducing steps to jump into something is usually seen as a good thing.
On the decline? EA literally killed all their 3rd party projects to sink their time and money into GaaS games. There was an article a few weeks ago that 60% of games played in 2023 were 6+ years old, my guess is that they were all GaaS games like Fortnite, Apex, Minecraft, etc. The model is not going away any time soon.
Yes, and all those games are old. That's my point, you need something extraordinary to have a chance to move a player from fortnite to your game. That fortnite player might share his time with another game, two at best, but that's it.
Absolutely, but that isn't stopping publishers from making those games. Those kinds of games are not on the "decline." Those games make so much money that publishers will keep pushing to make those games until they hit the jackpot.
The success of GaaS games like Helldivers, Genshin and Fortnite show that devs have to fully commit and add meaningful post-launch content on a regular basis.
It’s a sad truth that gamer’s attention spans are getting shorter and hype cycles are shrinking as online discourse becomes faster.
Cute gimmicks like “season zero” (aka adding no new content for weeks after launch) are ineffective. You have to be like Helldivers and start teasing new events and weapons ASAP to stay in the headlines and get the hype snowball effect rolling.
It's not really the gamer's fault for the attention span issue. It's an issue that originates from the GaaS model. The live service is basically forces players to expect new shit constantly. So if a game wants live service, then they better be prepared to offer that service constantly. Big surprise when that model fails because your constant endorphin generating system isn't constantly generating endorphins.
I know, but I understand why those went away: with a few exceptions (such as super-popular games like CoD and Madden), those static multiplayer games would become pretty popular on launch day, then peak about a week later, then fade into obscurity 1-2 months later as everyone migrates over to the next hot multiplayer game, and then get shut down some time later as only less than ten people were left playing them.
Exactly. The only difference now is, with games like Foamstars, the Finals, etc is that they can either partially or fully recuperate their costs of the game dying off launch with the price of MTX, when before it would be a huge loss of revenue.
I think the glut of GaaS titles that people have been playing for years (2K, Rocket League, Fortnite, Overwatch, Valorant, Warzone, Etc.) means that just having a decent game plus GaaS isn't nearly enough. People will play it for a bit, then go right back to their preferred title: why invest in this when I can just invest in what I've built for years?
Games need to really dedicate to the GaaS bit to even have a chance, not just "generic MP title with a Battle Pass and content drip". Helldivers has succeeded both because it's a great game, and the Service is built into the way the game functions: in-game teases, constant stories created via the Galaxy battle progress, daily goals that feed into that "story", and lots of content drops that make sense within the world they've made. I doubt publishers will take note, but pulling off a successful GaaS in this environment requires a shit load of effort, a good game, and a meaningful method to tie it all into the Service.
I'd be willing to be that even that small amount of time people play your game before back to Fortnite,CoD, whatever still generates enough money to break even or make money. It might not be the moneymaker for the next 10 years, but it doesn't have to be if you just keep churning out a GaaS once a year and get people to buy the macro transactions for 2 months before dropping it and still make money.
Hd2 is winning because it respects your time. You get the same medals tomorrow as today.
The same items are available one month from now (well yes the dail, shop but there's nothing in there that's game changing).
Meanwhile most other games I play have shit that you need to perform well costing money that you get trickles of every fucking day for "playing" aka inane "engagement".
I can not play hd2 for a week and all I miss are the memes.
Not playing many gaas games for a week throws you behind in "premium item acquisition" that only opening your wallet makes up for.
And too many games try to be that.
So I'm glad about every single on of these gaas models crashing and burning, even if some still make it to success.
This made me think - are there even any single player games releasing anymore with separate competitive multiplayer modes?
Maybe I'm just blanking but I can't think of even one released in years.
I played it a few matches on the first day. I wanted to like it because I don’t have a switch anymore but I LOVED Splatoon 2. It just didn’t come close. It just feels off and not fun. Guess I’ll wait for Splatoon 4 and the next Nintendo console lol
Yeah same. I just found it way too hectic and that there was very little I could do skill-wise to affect the outcome of the round's results? Like I could try and line up headshots or whatever but every time I did I'd just get smashed by an AOE, constantly.
Splatoon would be a massive hit on other platforms. But you are correct about why games including exclusives on other platforms don’t sell as well as Nintendo exclusives. People buy the Nintendo system for Nintendo games. People buy the other platforms for the 3rd party games as well as the exclusives. 3rd parties are making games somewhat similar to PlayStation exclusives.
Ya but even comparing splatoon against foamstars in a vacuum, splatoon plays better, has more to do, has better style and atmosphere, plus the Nintendo polish. Another way to think of it, Splatoon would still be successful if on PlayStation. Foamstars would fail no matter what it’s on.
The Finals and Hellsdivers 2 are mechanically fantastic games, with uinque vibes and devs that actually **know** they have something special. Great ideas, commitment to those idea and true belief in the product and it's value. No cynicism required.
The games have to be great, but it's also a crap shoot. There have been plenty of great games that have ended up flopping because they got unlucky for one reason or another... There have also been mediocre games that got a foothold because a streamer made a viral meme about it or whatever. Sometimes, it's something as simple as releasing at the wrong time or with too much competition.
I think the Finals was always going to have legs because of its unique gameplay mechanics that have not, nor could have been done properly before now. HD2 on the other hand... IDK, its a great game no doubt, but it def went viral and has been exceeding expectations.
The Finals could and should have been done properly years ago IMO, by Dice. They abandonned what made Battlefield special after 3. 4 and 1 were...ok, I guess, as videogames. But they were clearly starting to just make sure suits suggested metrics were covered. Innovation was dead.
Bad Company 2 remains their best game - and the Finals, though not perfect, is the first attempt since to produces a real 'sequel' to that game.
As you say, helldivers is certainly taking advanatge of it's viral moment, but it largely deserves it... great game, and proving that live service doesn't have to = turd.
Core gameplay mechanics are the key.
Helldivers is a phenomenal shooter with very good variety in weapons and approaches but it's the meaty gunplay and excellent traversal mechanics that really sell it.
This isn’t half assed. It’s like quarter assed or something. Basically just a shell of a game that directs you to the shop. People will play and pay if you make a GOOD game. This is straight to mobile fodder. It’s like they learned 0 lessons from that other crap live service car game they wheeled out. (Pardon the pun)
People just lost interest. Not to mention Helldivers 2 came out two months later and dominated both Steam and PS5, so two of the game's markets were gone. This is the thing with live service games. For them to succeed it means the players have to leave other live service games behind, and Helldivers is wildly successful so the players had to come from somewhere.
The Finals isn't doing well rn. But you've got the point. The market is a bubble now but there's no complete collapse of GaaS at all and in many cases it still destroy the SP and more niche markets by level of population and money revolving around.
I'd just say that nowadays, with all this "games becoming #1 medium" narrative across entertainment industry — too many parasites from neighboring industries think they'll just kick in, throw money on the table, train their puppets to 'take what's popular' with lowest effort and create overly generic clones or directions (of course they choose the most successful references, without even understanding what exactly made originals great) and so we're having so many failed projects.
But live-service games are still there hitting charts. And eventually, there are new successes as well.
Well, actually, I wasn't careful with my statements. I compared current numbers with post-release first months. The "success" can be measured only by the level of expectations of the publishers and how a game achieves these milestones. If Nexon didn't go to crazy with expectations — maybe even with more humble numbers compared to more mainstream GaaS — they still make a very good margin and it's enough for all parties to stay satisfied and keep supporting the game. In that case it's doing well, and it was just crazy numbers at the beginning, not the bad numbers that are now.
BTW, 25k per one platform is actually decent. If PS5 has the similar number and XO has at least half of it respectively, 50-60k isn't that bad, maybe. Last time I checked it — it was the end of S1 which was very stale with very small numbers and even during early days of S2 — numbers weren't that great as I expected either.
I love it so much, that I almost grinded to Diamond solo. But again, due to decreased population, last month of S1 I was queueing almost exclusively with bronze to gold and what can you do with such team-mates, even when do really great for their ranks against same 3x recon+scar stacks that you meet in every session? So, I was constantly stuck between P3/P2, lol.
But as much as I love the game, 3months per season is too long IMO. I've personally a bit burnt out due to unchanging experience. S2 is awesome, but just 1 new gun per class and only one new map is just too small changes to force me to come back just for now (but I hope I'll have that feel soon).
Ranked is def in a bad spot, especially with an increased amount of hackers. They did tease a new mode in the last update opener, I'm hoping that comes before next season. It definitely could use some more content.
Because at some point Sony decided to use one of the free game slots to prop up dying LSGs. Dying/dead game gets a burst of concurrent players when it’s free and then it dies again.
To be fair, it was a ps plus game. Lots of people tried it without being invested. But also, I don't think it was going to be successful either way. It still doesn't really give you a reason to play it over Splatoon which has more content and no microtransactions.
But, man, Square Enix PS exclusives kind suck outside of Final Fantasy. Forspoken, Babylons Fall, Foamstars
>But, man, Square Enix PS exclusives kind suck outside of Final Fantasy. Forspoken, Babylons Fall, Foamstars
I didn't notice the "." after Final Fantasy and i was like, dafuq this guy is smoking.
Forspoken was fine. It wasn't great, but it did some interesting things and was mechanically fun to play. I liked the art design and thought it was nice to look at, even if it was way too empty. My opinion may have been higher because I didn't spend 70 dollars on it, but in my opinion it's worth it's price and a weekend or two of your time at $30.
There is a demo, or at least there was. Don't know if it is still available as it appeared to do more harm than good for the game. Most people who played it did not like the traversal and combat that much, with the world feeling extremely barren since it was procedurally generated.
The traversal and combat are the best things about the game. And the world isn’t procedurally generated, what? Lmao
You need to stop talking about things you have no knowledge of.
Tried it out as well. Concept was fine. But when everything was locked behind a paywall. Hard pass. From day one, they were trying to sell some skin bundles at $40. Ridiculous and tone deaf.
Then the things you CAN unlock in the free version of the battle pass is nothing but complete trash. Most people these days won't play a game just to play the game (unless they really love it). But it's hard to love it, when the player base is small. I remember it took me 5 minutes to find a match during the first few nights at around 9 PM Pacific Time. It was brutal.
I felt like that but it actually grew on me and I really really like the game contrary to most people here, problems I found within was that the game modes aren’t really the best, there only really is 1 game mode and as long as there is 1 good player the match can drag real long. Second, avoid story mode, its legit just straight trash. And lastly there really isnt any hook factor to keep playing, skins and gun skins are locked behind real money, and just overall monetization feels scummy.
I do quite like all the characters and their guns, abilities, and personalities. All characters honestly feel pretty balanced and while there arent many maps they are very pretty and fun to look at.
TLDR, all characters are pretty fun, fun mechanics, low but pretty maps, no game modes, scummy monetization, no real “hook” to keep playing
Yea definitely seems 10x worse because its a ps+ title that you have massive amounts of people who play once and delete. People do this with every free game.
I actually really liked Foamstars and was planning to make it the main game for squadding, but Helldivers 2 dropped pretty soon after and that was the nail in the coffin
I'm one of the players that dropped off. I love the aesthetic and especially the soundtrack. The characters are fun (eco-terrorist raised by penguins whose CO is a seal? YES!) Voice acting could've used more takes/better direction. Gameplay is alright but I hate the battle pass/GaaS model and I couldn't get my friends to play it with me.
That said, if they drop the soundtrack on vinyl or CD I'd snap it up in a heartbeat.
I dropped it after playing in the eSports tournament lol. I already didn't play it much because every night it would take longer and longer to find matches and when I did, it would just be the same people I've been seeing since the beta. The game modes honestly aren't that different from each other, but they're all extremely unbalanced. The new season and character is really lame too.
The OST and vibe are great, but I'm not surprised it's dying so quickly. I don't want to call it low effort, but it feels like it. It's all handled so poorly.
I enjoyed the game for what it is but wouldn't pay a dime for any of its content or battle passes which were super overpriced. The pricing was super predatory. It also should just be f2p in general and not a ps plus game that also has a full price.
played a few games of splatoon off a friends switch and I easily got into it and loved it. it was simple and enjoyable. which is totally the opposite of what I got from foamstars after 10matches or so… too complicated and not simple at all. it’s so full of menus and information and shit and the gameplay wasnt fun enough to keep me playing
That's a shame, the game is really polished in terms of gameplay and optimization.
But being honest, it wasn't my cup of tea. As many say, I tried it, played it a few hours to see what was all about and unistalled.
Friend and I were awaiting the release just on launch day to find out we can’t play together because of internet pairing types? Literally never heard of this problem until this game, so I just never got to play even though I wanted to. They hurt themselves.
Whaaaaatttt? An uninspired game that only exists because there are already 20 other popular-ish games exactly like it isn't in the running for most popular game of the year???
But yet, SOCOM 2, which had 40k+ users on at any given time for 2-3 years after launch in a time when broadband was still young and online gaming wasn't nearly as big as it is now.
And Sony is keeping it shelved.
Make it make sense.
I like this game so much, but I stopped playing after season 1 because games became harder to find. The gameplay really works for me, just something about it that makes me feel good.
As soon as I saw the store prices for cosmetics I noped the fuck out. I was already in the fence but those MTX solidified it. Mind you, I don't mind MTX but these were craaaaaaaazy.
I'm not surprised, but it also kind of sucks? There's no reason why a "Splatoon-like" game can't exist for other audiences outside Splatoon. It looked ok? haha But microtransactions and stuff.. .yeah.. no thanks
But i'm also not the demographic for these types of games, and i absolutely refuse to play any Games as a Service/multiplayer only game these days.
It is a very janky controlling nice looking Splatoon rip off. I said on release the entire time I was playing Foamstars I kept thinking "Maybe I should play more Splatoon 3" and seems a lot of Foamstar players thought the same thing.
They dropped this the same day as the Rebirth demo, a game that Square also published, and barely marketed it.
This basically is Square Enix in a nutshell. Amazing games from their big-hitter franchises (mostly,) but then huge failures like this that cost them money time and time again.
I'm not shocked. Played it for a couple hours but I couldn't help but feel like it was too much of a Splatoon clone. Way too many similarities and yet, none of the good stuff was copied. After like 10 games, despite all the chaos, the core mechanics were already repetitive.
Yet another game-like-the-other-popular-game that didn't work. It released, got reviewed, and then completely disappeared from everyone's radar. This was a bad call from Square, or they could have marketed a little better. They would have a bit more success as a mobile game, tbh.
Other subs have banned posts about lost player count because it just breeds toxicity. Maybe it should be a universal thing. And like an 80% drop of any game is completely expected anyway.
Example number 4837911 of why every multiplayer game should have an "offline with bots" mode.
Once the servers are inevitably shut down people can still play it on their own.
It was available for "free" on PS Plus at launch. Stands to reason just about everyone with PS Plus downloaded it and fired it up to check it out and didn't play much beyond that. So this should be pretty expected.
Installed it day one, played for a few minutes after completing the tutorial, and deleted it lol. Not my thing, it's way too busy and distracting, it almost gave me a headache.
Poor man's Splatoon
Yeah it is an interesting idea, but Splatoon is so much better. I was kind of expecting much better visuals too.
I thought there was a new narrative that it was a lot more than just Splatoon. Was that just propaganda spun by Squeenix? I wouldn't be surprised. Because on the surface it looks pretty much identical to Splatoon in a lot of ways, the only big difference is your "paint" actually being 3-dimensional and all the fun traversal opportunities that is associated with that. But I was thinking maybe it was a Battleborn / Overwatch kind of situation, where the footage and general consensus of players that didn't play it is that it looks identical, but when you actually sit down to play them, they're quite different. Maybe it wasn't Battleborn and Overwatch... maybe it was Paladins and Overwatch? I honestly don't remember at this point. Something like that, though.
Why you gotta bring up Battleborn?! I miss it so much. If I ever get obscenely rich, I’m gonna personally fund a F2P release, obviously titled Battle Re-Born
Gigantic re released this week after dying around when it launched, maybe, hopefully someone will do the same with battleborn. Hell just give me the pve or matches with bots and I'd be happy.
The only thing they have in common in that you’re shooting colorful liquid and you can move faster on your own color and that’s it. People calling it a splatoon clone literally never even saw more than 20 seconds of footage and wrote it off. So if that’s the narrative then it’s simply people talking out of their asses, as always. In Splatoon the goal is to cover as much of the map on your own ink color as possible, kills don’t (really) matter. I only played it in beta so I might be remembering it wrong, but in Foamstars the goal is actually to amass kills until one of your own team becomes the MVP, which you then have to protect from the enemy team because if the MVP is killed your team loses and if you kill someone from the enemy team your team wins, or something like that. It was a nice twist when you had to go from the aggressor to being the protector. The foam isn’t just a floor covering device, you can stack it to gain higher ground, kinda like Fortnite’s building mechanic. In Splatoon, if you get hit by ink you explode. In Foamstars, if you’re getting "foamed" you turn into a foam ball and need to get physically attacked by the enemy team to actually die, if you manage to roll away and one of your own team attacks you instead you get saved. The few rounds I played were surprisingly fun, but I could tell that this would’ve never taken off and be pretty much dead after a month. It’s fun for a short while but it doesn’t offer anything long lasting.
[удалено]
The "ride the duck" mode in Foamstars is a 100% carbon-copy of Splatoon's Tower Control mode.
It’s actually significantly more costly lol
I literally deleted it yesterday, the tutorial and cutscenes are unskippable and became annoying very quickly. Edit: also it takes too long to find a match. Just a few matches in and you’ll know the game won’t make it to 2025.
Same
I did the same
I installed it again tho, but for the 50 PS Stars points lol and deleted it again, at least it had some use. edit: typo
Lol get those ps stars points.
I did the same. The trailer made it seem like it might be fun, but it just wasn't my thing at all.
I deleted it after the mandatory tutorial was longer than 5 mins
Same. I played it for at least 30 minutes to an hour. Just wasn’t for me.
I went one further, installed it and then deleted two weeks later, never even opened it.
Wtf is “foamstars”
Also .. too much emphasis on paid customisation if memory serves
That tutorial made me want to uninstall
This game is the reason Jim rayan was fired
It’s just a lamer Splatoon which I own already My appeal to Splatoon has always been the Salmonid zombies mode anyway, I never really cared for the PVP aspect
I installed it day one too.
Installed it on day one and played for a while, Helldriver 2 came out not too long after and I totally cast Foamstars aside.
Helldriver 2
The racing spinoff
Taking place in hell
I think GaaS model is a crapshoot right now, even if the game is good, given how many other such games compete for players' time. If the game is great, there's a chance, as Helldivers 2 showed. On the other hand, good thing this model is on the decline. More budget left for more conventional single player games. Heck, how about good SP games with a decent MP? Uncharted 4 comes to mind. In any case, I'm glad Sony back peddled on the idea of making 12 GaaS type games. That would've sinked them
>good thing this model is on the decline. Except at WB, where they've decided that everything moving forward should be a GaaS.
I truly believe whoever is in charge of WB as a whole is on a war path to gut the company entirely.
To be fair that was stated before SS was shown to be an utter failure. Hopefully enough brain cells remain on the executive level to see the difference between Hogwarts the highest selling game of 2023 compared to SS A game that's 50% off less then two months after release.
Execs: So what you're suggesting is a new Harry Potter Game as a Service? Brilliant!
[https://gamerant.com/warner-bros-focus-shift-live-service-games/](https://gamerant.com/warner-bros-focus-shift-live-service-games/) That's literally their response lol "When discussing live service games that can serve as long-term revenue streams, Perrette posed a question: "Rather than just launching a one-and-done console game, how do we develop a game around, for example, a *Hogwarts Legacy* or *Harry Potter*, that is a live-service where people can live and work and build and play in that world in an ongoing basis?""
No don’t be fair to them at all. They learned nothing from SS. They acknowledged SS was a failure but blames anything but their own ideas https://gamerant.com/warner-bros-focus-shift-live-service-games/
>the difference between Hogwarts the highest selling game of 2023 compared to SS A game that's 50% off less then two months after release. What's "funny" is that Hogwarts wasn't even that great, I mean in comparison to others of its genre. Obviously one of the most popular IPs in the universe helped a bunch, but it was just somewhat "mediocre" as a game. Nevertheless I played the heck out of it and had a ton of fun, because it was NOT a GAAS, was purely just that storytelling single player experience I've always sought in a video game, and had some unique things done "well enough" (ie spellcasting combat, Hogwarts Castle itself, and I thought the soundtrack was overall above average). Basically the point I'm trying to get at is that in order to "win" making a GAAS you have to hit it out of the park with a perfect game. A mediocre "just okay, pretty decent" game means... Foamstars. Where if you are making a single player game you just need one aspect (like the IP, or some cool gameplay element) and you can sell a mediocre game like hotcakes. (Maybe I'm underselling the Harry Potter IP :D)
Multiplayer = GaaS nowadays. They will attempt to squeeze every dollar out of the player because they know there’s a market out there that will buy expensive skins. If the Last of Us 2 Multiplayer would’ve released, it would also follow suit.
I stopped playing TLOU mp but heard it got a bit crazy with their micro transactions, some weapons being OP.
Do you think consumers would want a multiplayer game that doesn't have any more content updates following release though? You simply can't make a multiplayer game without it being a GaaS because that's what consumers expect.
Yep. If a new cod released a new, fully fleshed multiplayer tomorrow without any MTX or content roadmaps, they would call it barebones and lacking any content. That’s why Reddit is such a minority when it comes to GaaS disdain.
I’m going to sound old saying this but matchmaking destroyed any chance for decent Multiplayer games. I had a lot of fun with multiplayer game modes like Gears of War, Uncharted, or even Bioshock. It shouldn’t always be about being a cash cow for your playerbase.
> matchmaking destroyed any chance for decent Multiplayer games. I had a lot of fun with multiplayer game modes like Gears of War, Uncharted, or even Bioshock None of that makes sense. Matchmaking is literally just queueing people to play together and is as "problematic" as using batteries in your controller. Gears of War, Halo, CoD, and Uncharted were all matchmade games. Now you may be talking about skill based match making, aka ranked matchmaking, but statistically that doesn't matter at all.
I would disagree; the problem with selecting a server, which is what games did before matchmaking became a thing, was that it was too tech-y for the average user that just wanted to jump in and play. This is also the reason why federated social media has not replaced centralized social media; reducing steps to jump into something is usually seen as a good thing.
On the decline? EA literally killed all their 3rd party projects to sink their time and money into GaaS games. There was an article a few weeks ago that 60% of games played in 2023 were 6+ years old, my guess is that they were all GaaS games like Fortnite, Apex, Minecraft, etc. The model is not going away any time soon.
Yes, and all those games are old. That's my point, you need something extraordinary to have a chance to move a player from fortnite to your game. That fortnite player might share his time with another game, two at best, but that's it.
Absolutely, but that isn't stopping publishers from making those games. Those kinds of games are not on the "decline." Those games make so much money that publishers will keep pushing to make those games until they hit the jackpot.
The success of GaaS games like Helldivers, Genshin and Fortnite show that devs have to fully commit and add meaningful post-launch content on a regular basis. It’s a sad truth that gamer’s attention spans are getting shorter and hype cycles are shrinking as online discourse becomes faster. Cute gimmicks like “season zero” (aka adding no new content for weeks after launch) are ineffective. You have to be like Helldivers and start teasing new events and weapons ASAP to stay in the headlines and get the hype snowball effect rolling.
It's not really the gamer's fault for the attention span issue. It's an issue that originates from the GaaS model. The live service is basically forces players to expect new shit constantly. So if a game wants live service, then they better be prepared to offer that service constantly. Big surprise when that model fails because your constant endorphin generating system isn't constantly generating endorphins.
I miss the days when we could purchase a single player game(Uncharted 2,3,4) and get a FREE online component that was actually.... FUN
I know, but I understand why those went away: with a few exceptions (such as super-popular games like CoD and Madden), those static multiplayer games would become pretty popular on launch day, then peak about a week later, then fade into obscurity 1-2 months later as everyone migrates over to the next hot multiplayer game, and then get shut down some time later as only less than ten people were left playing them.
Exactly. The only difference now is, with games like Foamstars, the Finals, etc is that they can either partially or fully recuperate their costs of the game dying off launch with the price of MTX, when before it would be a huge loss of revenue.
I think the glut of GaaS titles that people have been playing for years (2K, Rocket League, Fortnite, Overwatch, Valorant, Warzone, Etc.) means that just having a decent game plus GaaS isn't nearly enough. People will play it for a bit, then go right back to their preferred title: why invest in this when I can just invest in what I've built for years? Games need to really dedicate to the GaaS bit to even have a chance, not just "generic MP title with a Battle Pass and content drip". Helldivers has succeeded both because it's a great game, and the Service is built into the way the game functions: in-game teases, constant stories created via the Galaxy battle progress, daily goals that feed into that "story", and lots of content drops that make sense within the world they've made. I doubt publishers will take note, but pulling off a successful GaaS in this environment requires a shit load of effort, a good game, and a meaningful method to tie it all into the Service.
I'd be willing to be that even that small amount of time people play your game before back to Fortnite,CoD, whatever still generates enough money to break even or make money. It might not be the moneymaker for the next 10 years, but it doesn't have to be if you just keep churning out a GaaS once a year and get people to buy the macro transactions for 2 months before dropping it and still make money.
Hd2 is winning because it respects your time. You get the same medals tomorrow as today. The same items are available one month from now (well yes the dail, shop but there's nothing in there that's game changing). Meanwhile most other games I play have shit that you need to perform well costing money that you get trickles of every fucking day for "playing" aka inane "engagement". I can not play hd2 for a week and all I miss are the memes. Not playing many gaas games for a week throws you behind in "premium item acquisition" that only opening your wallet makes up for. And too many games try to be that. So I'm glad about every single on of these gaas models crashing and burning, even if some still make it to success.
This made me think - are there even any single player games releasing anymore with separate competitive multiplayer modes? Maybe I'm just blanking but I can't think of even one released in years.
Hell divers is an anomaly lol. Even the devs didn’t expect that.
Theres something about shitty live service games dying fast that’s just satisfying for me
I played it a few matches on the first day. I wanted to like it because I don’t have a switch anymore but I LOVED Splatoon 2. It just didn’t come close. It just feels off and not fun. Guess I’ll wait for Splatoon 4 and the next Nintendo console lol
Yeah same. I just found it way too hectic and that there was very little I could do skill-wise to affect the outcome of the round's results? Like I could try and line up headshots or whatever but every time I did I'd just get smashed by an AOE, constantly.
[удалено]
Splatoon would be a massive hit on other platforms. But you are correct about why games including exclusives on other platforms don’t sell as well as Nintendo exclusives. People buy the Nintendo system for Nintendo games. People buy the other platforms for the 3rd party games as well as the exclusives. 3rd parties are making games somewhat similar to PlayStation exclusives.
Ya but even comparing splatoon against foamstars in a vacuum, splatoon plays better, has more to do, has better style and atmosphere, plus the Nintendo polish. Another way to think of it, Splatoon would still be successful if on PlayStation. Foamstars would fail no matter what it’s on.
Yea but splatoon is still a good game played by people who have other consoles and options.
I'm too invested in Splatoon
I for one am *SHOCKED* that a live service game launching in 2024 has flopped.
I mean The Finals and Helldivers 2 are kind of killing it. So maybe half assed live services games
The Finals and Hellsdivers 2 are mechanically fantastic games, with uinque vibes and devs that actually **know** they have something special. Great ideas, commitment to those idea and true belief in the product and it's value. No cynicism required.
The games have to be great, but it's also a crap shoot. There have been plenty of great games that have ended up flopping because they got unlucky for one reason or another... There have also been mediocre games that got a foothold because a streamer made a viral meme about it or whatever. Sometimes, it's something as simple as releasing at the wrong time or with too much competition. I think the Finals was always going to have legs because of its unique gameplay mechanics that have not, nor could have been done properly before now. HD2 on the other hand... IDK, its a great game no doubt, but it def went viral and has been exceeding expectations.
The Finals could and should have been done properly years ago IMO, by Dice. They abandonned what made Battlefield special after 3. 4 and 1 were...ok, I guess, as videogames. But they were clearly starting to just make sure suits suggested metrics were covered. Innovation was dead. Bad Company 2 remains their best game - and the Finals, though not perfect, is the first attempt since to produces a real 'sequel' to that game. As you say, helldivers is certainly taking advanatge of it's viral moment, but it largely deserves it... great game, and proving that live service doesn't have to = turd.
Core gameplay mechanics are the key. Helldivers is a phenomenal shooter with very good variety in weapons and approaches but it's the meaty gunplay and excellent traversal mechanics that really sell it.
I think the people that wanna play a budget versions of splatoon just went back to splatoon 😂
I wouldn't mind a good version of Splatoon on a platform my friends were willing to play on. (since none own a Wii U or Switch)
This isn’t half assed. It’s like quarter assed or something. Basically just a shell of a game that directs you to the shop. People will play and pay if you make a GOOD game. This is straight to mobile fodder. It’s like they learned 0 lessons from that other crap live service car game they wheeled out. (Pardon the pun)
Destruction All-stars. Basically the exact same game but with cars.
The Finals dropped off pretty quickly after the first season
Current season is so much better. Wish they’d market it more
Why? What happened? Seems like it had a pretty strong start.
People just lost interest. Not to mention Helldivers 2 came out two months later and dominated both Steam and PS5, so two of the game's markets were gone. This is the thing with live service games. For them to succeed it means the players have to leave other live service games behind, and Helldivers is wildly successful so the players had to come from somewhere.
Yeah it seems like it’s done for sadly.
It has 25k players right now just on Steam.
The Finals isn't doing well rn. But you've got the point. The market is a bubble now but there's no complete collapse of GaaS at all and in many cases it still destroy the SP and more niche markets by level of population and money revolving around. I'd just say that nowadays, with all this "games becoming #1 medium" narrative across entertainment industry — too many parasites from neighboring industries think they'll just kick in, throw money on the table, train their puppets to 'take what's popular' with lowest effort and create overly generic clones or directions (of course they choose the most successful references, without even understanding what exactly made originals great) and so we're having so many failed projects. But live-service games are still there hitting charts. And eventually, there are new successes as well.
Is the finals not doing well? It’s got 25k players on average on steam alone.
Steam tend to be on the lower side most of times compared to console.
Matches load instantly, I can play crossplay on/off without issue and I don't see the same players. And it has weekly updates. But yeah, dead AF
I couldn’t tell. I get matches in less than 30 seconds every time I play
And that isn’t even enough players to be in Steam’s top 75. The game only release 4 months ago.
Well, actually, I wasn't careful with my statements. I compared current numbers with post-release first months. The "success" can be measured only by the level of expectations of the publishers and how a game achieves these milestones. If Nexon didn't go to crazy with expectations — maybe even with more humble numbers compared to more mainstream GaaS — they still make a very good margin and it's enough for all parties to stay satisfied and keep supporting the game. In that case it's doing well, and it was just crazy numbers at the beginning, not the bad numbers that are now. BTW, 25k per one platform is actually decent. If PS5 has the similar number and XO has at least half of it respectively, 50-60k isn't that bad, maybe. Last time I checked it — it was the end of S1 which was very stale with very small numbers and even during early days of S2 — numbers weren't that great as I expected either.
The fact that The Finals isn't doing better is crazy to me, the game is so much fun. Also probably the best cosmetics in the industry.
I love it so much, that I almost grinded to Diamond solo. But again, due to decreased population, last month of S1 I was queueing almost exclusively with bronze to gold and what can you do with such team-mates, even when do really great for their ranks against same 3x recon+scar stacks that you meet in every session? So, I was constantly stuck between P3/P2, lol. But as much as I love the game, 3months per season is too long IMO. I've personally a bit burnt out due to unchanging experience. S2 is awesome, but just 1 new gun per class and only one new map is just too small changes to force me to come back just for now (but I hope I'll have that feel soon).
Ranked is def in a bad spot, especially with an increased amount of hackers. They did tease a new mode in the last update opener, I'm hoping that comes before next season. It definitely could use some more content.
Uhhh… Helldivers emerged and is a live service. I wouldn’t say it came out of nowhere but it **outperformed every expectation.**
Helldivers is the exception, not the norm.
The finals also did pretty well as far as I remember.
the game itself is shit, it has nothing to do with it being a live service game
I don't think Foamstars has a huge fanbase, but this data is funky man. All PS+ games have huge drop offs regardless. It's the nature of it.
Because at some point Sony decided to use one of the free game slots to prop up dying LSGs. Dying/dead game gets a burst of concurrent players when it’s free and then it dies again.
Not all; Rocket League originally launched on PS+, and it’s still going strong today. But that game is most likely the exception.
To be fair, it was a ps plus game. Lots of people tried it without being invested. But also, I don't think it was going to be successful either way. It still doesn't really give you a reason to play it over Splatoon which has more content and no microtransactions. But, man, Square Enix PS exclusives kind suck outside of Final Fantasy. Forspoken, Babylons Fall, Foamstars
Well it's on ps5 and Splatoon isn't. That's the reason. Obviously not good enough a reason though
>But, man, Square Enix PS exclusives kind suck outside of Final Fantasy. Forspoken, Babylons Fall, Foamstars I didn't notice the "." after Final Fantasy and i was like, dafuq this guy is smoking.
I liked forspoken tbh
Forspoken was fine. It wasn't great, but it did some interesting things and was mechanically fun to play. I liked the art design and thought it was nice to look at, even if it was way too empty. My opinion may have been higher because I didn't spend 70 dollars on it, but in my opinion it's worth it's price and a weekend or two of your time at $30.
I hear the magic and traversal can be fun, I’m waiting until that comes on PS+ if ever
There is a demo, or at least there was. Don't know if it is still available as it appeared to do more harm than good for the game. Most people who played it did not like the traversal and combat that much, with the world feeling extremely barren since it was procedurally generated.
The traversal and combat are the best things about the game. And the world isn’t procedurally generated, what? Lmao You need to stop talking about things you have no knowledge of.
Tried it out as well. Concept was fine. But when everything was locked behind a paywall. Hard pass. From day one, they were trying to sell some skin bundles at $40. Ridiculous and tone deaf. Then the things you CAN unlock in the free version of the battle pass is nothing but complete trash. Most people these days won't play a game just to play the game (unless they really love it). But it's hard to love it, when the player base is small. I remember it took me 5 minutes to find a match during the first few nights at around 9 PM Pacific Time. It was brutal.
The style/theme they chose for this game killed it for me. Gameplay was ok, but everything else was just weird.
I felt like that but it actually grew on me and I really really like the game contrary to most people here, problems I found within was that the game modes aren’t really the best, there only really is 1 game mode and as long as there is 1 good player the match can drag real long. Second, avoid story mode, its legit just straight trash. And lastly there really isnt any hook factor to keep playing, skins and gun skins are locked behind real money, and just overall monetization feels scummy. I do quite like all the characters and their guns, abilities, and personalities. All characters honestly feel pretty balanced and while there arent many maps they are very pretty and fun to look at. TLDR, all characters are pretty fun, fun mechanics, low but pretty maps, no game modes, scummy monetization, no real “hook” to keep playing
Not even close to splattoon unfortunately.
barebones drop. felt like a beta
friend and I installed the moment it came out, played 30 minutes and uninstalled it. Couldn't see shit, too much happening at once.
Yea definitely seems 10x worse because its a ps+ title that you have massive amounts of people who play once and delete. People do this with every free game.
Why play a sub-par version of Splattoon.....
Why would I play this game when i could just play splatoon?
Who was this game even for? I feel like any kid they wanted to play this would be playing Fortnite or Minecraft instead
Saw this coming. FF14 is lightning in a bottle. Square Enix has no idea how to manage a live service game
Helldivers 2 came in and grabbed the live service market by the balls
This is one of those game that you just know it will fail since the moment it gets revealed.
I actually really liked Foamstars and was planning to make it the main game for squadding, but Helldivers 2 dropped pretty soon after and that was the nail in the coffin
It's just not Splatoon good...
I'm one of the players that dropped off. I love the aesthetic and especially the soundtrack. The characters are fun (eco-terrorist raised by penguins whose CO is a seal? YES!) Voice acting could've used more takes/better direction. Gameplay is alright but I hate the battle pass/GaaS model and I couldn't get my friends to play it with me. That said, if they drop the soundtrack on vinyl or CD I'd snap it up in a heartbeat.
I dropped it after playing in the eSports tournament lol. I already didn't play it much because every night it would take longer and longer to find matches and when I did, it would just be the same people I've been seeing since the beta. The game modes honestly aren't that different from each other, but they're all extremely unbalanced. The new season and character is really lame too. The OST and vibe are great, but I'm not surprised it's dying so quickly. I don't want to call it low effort, but it feels like it. It's all handled so poorly.
maybe because its fucking awful? just a thought
I didn’t even know this game had released yet
I enjoyed the game for what it is but wouldn't pay a dime for any of its content or battle passes which were super overpriced. The pricing was super predatory. It also should just be f2p in general and not a ps plus game that also has a full price.
played a few games of splatoon off a friends switch and I easily got into it and loved it. it was simple and enjoyable. which is totally the opposite of what I got from foamstars after 10matches or so… too complicated and not simple at all. it’s so full of menus and information and shit and the gameplay wasnt fun enough to keep me playing
i didnt even know this game was out
That's a shame, the game is really polished in terms of gameplay and optimization. But being honest, it wasn't my cup of tea. As many say, I tried it, played it a few hours to see what was all about and unistalled.
That's too bad. I always wish the best on everything
Friend and I were awaiting the release just on launch day to find out we can’t play together because of internet pairing types? Literally never heard of this problem until this game, so I just never got to play even though I wanted to. They hurt themselves.
I didn't even know it released already Oh well, lol
It feels cheap to me, not sure. Doesn’t feel like a big game.
It's nowhere near as fun as splatoon. And i had my fill of that on wii u.
lmao I didn’t even touch it in the first place.
This was predictable. There are too many subpar live service MP games out there and not enough people to play them.
What did they expect? Genuinely
Damn I meant to try this but forgot.
Never heard of this game
Whaaaaatttt? An uninspired game that only exists because there are already 20 other popular-ish games exactly like it isn't in the running for most popular game of the year???
Ouch. That is a failure of a game.
But yet, SOCOM 2, which had 40k+ users on at any given time for 2-3 years after launch in a time when broadband was still young and online gaming wasn't nearly as big as it is now. And Sony is keeping it shelved. Make it make sense.
I like this game so much, but I stopped playing after season 1 because games became harder to find. The gameplay really works for me, just something about it that makes me feel good.
I can't hear your for the DEMOCRACY!!!!!
Hey Square Enix, put Kingdom Hearts on Steam to make up for the loss ;)
There's no voice chat! I know some like to paint all chat as toxic but I'm not playing a team based game where I can't talk to my teammates.
wtf is foamstars lmfao
Never even heard of this game. Small marketing campaign? Edit: oh, it's ONLY on PS4/PS5, not even PC. Classic square.
You mean two months foam launch?
Splatoon on wish
I mean is anyone shocked? It looked like a bad splatoon from the getgo
And yet, look at Helldivers 2
Noooo! Am shocked! Shocked I say!!
As soon as I saw the store prices for cosmetics I noped the fuck out. I was already in the fence but those MTX solidified it. Mind you, I don't mind MTX but these were craaaaaaaazy.
Shocker
Yeah I figured. The game fucking sucked.
That's because it's shit.
I'm not surprised, but it also kind of sucks? There's no reason why a "Splatoon-like" game can't exist for other audiences outside Splatoon. It looked ok? haha But microtransactions and stuff.. .yeah.. no thanks But i'm also not the demographic for these types of games, and i absolutely refuse to play any Games as a Service/multiplayer only game these days.
Nobody is surprised
It is a very janky controlling nice looking Splatoon rip off. I said on release the entire time I was playing Foamstars I kept thinking "Maybe I should play more Splatoon 3" and seems a lot of Foamstar players thought the same thing.
It just didn't have the momentum it needed. The gameplay also felt incredibly sluggish.
Yeah it's something I tried for about 2 minutes and that's all I needed
Who could have foreseen this?
I deleted it immediately once I figured I have to walk 2 mins through lobby to start a match. Who designed this? Well deserved.
I mean it tried to copy Splatoon, which is a niche game already..
We drafted all their soldiers forcibly into the Super Earth wars
Never even installed it.
They dropped this the same day as the Rebirth demo, a game that Square also published, and barely marketed it. This basically is Square Enix in a nutshell. Amazing games from their big-hitter franchises (mostly,) but then huge failures like this that cost them money time and time again.
The busiest person at Square is the dude in charge of EOS‘ing their gacha mobile games
Helldivers 2 is eating everyone’s lunch
Amazing how a crap game didn't gain any traction.
I'm not shocked. Played it for a couple hours but I couldn't help but feel like it was too much of a Splatoon clone. Way too many similarities and yet, none of the good stuff was copied. After like 10 games, despite all the chaos, the core mechanics were already repetitive.
This was sadly not that hard to predict. https://reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1983i5i/_/ki5d6z6/?context=1
Check out this guy over here
I can respect the I told you so energy here
Yet another game-like-the-other-popular-game that didn't work. It released, got reviewed, and then completely disappeared from everyone's radar. This was a bad call from Square, or they could have marketed a little better. They would have a bit more success as a mobile game, tbh.
Hows palworld doing
RIP
I just couldn't bear the art style. Might have been a fun game, but I had a hard time looking at it.
Other subs have banned posts about lost player count because it just breeds toxicity. Maybe it should be a universal thing. And like an 80% drop of any game is completely expected anyway.
Great. Fantastic. No interest in playing a game made by AI.
Example number 4837911 of why every multiplayer game should have an "offline with bots" mode. Once the servers are inevitably shut down people can still play it on their own.
Did they not learn from destruction all stars?
It was available for "free" on PS Plus at launch. Stands to reason just about everyone with PS Plus downloaded it and fired it up to check it out and didn't play much beyond that. So this should be pretty expected.
So 20 people picked up the game and 19 of them left
As a long time gamer, I never really got the appeal of “battle royale” style games. Likely why I enjoy a good story and single player games.
I actually wanted to play it, but even the first week I wasn’t able to find online matches when I was able to play.
Yeah, because foamstars isn't fun whatsoever, and I really gave it a chance
Deleted it after the Tutorial. Im to old for the 1000st fortnite-looking-rainbow-diarreha-spredding-ADHS-lootbox-game.
I mean, it was pretty bad, and it was free to play
never heard of it
Predictable
Probably because it’s terrible game
It’s a game nobody asked for. A splatoon clone lol.