The Problem With Live Service Games

[@TheActMan]

Join my clan “THE ACT CLAN“ now and become a Mafia Boss. Download The Grand Mafia for free and use my special code TGMActMan to obtain unique rewards: tgmkol.onelink.me/GJPv/TheActMan And don’t forget to participate in the H5 Faction Competition to win a PS5, Gift Cards and more: tgm.yottagames.com/en_us/activity/page/guild?c=tam #thegrandmafia

[@doophin4793]

hi

[@clashfraser6663]

Hi

[@chancebishop6213]

Hi actman

[@houstilicious]

YOOOOO

[@ObsidianAnimation2112]

Clan

[@itsyaboiguzma]

I can't believe Act Man and his team got the comment section working as soon as the video went up. What a God of a developer.

[@TheActMan]

Just doing my job, sir

[@WespectRamen]

@@TheActMan all hail the Acting Male

[@jack_corvinus]

@@TheActMan good soldiers follow orders

[@rear5118]

What a G.O.A.T. for not putting the comment section in the battle pass

[@counterfeit4450]

@@rear5118 this shit is definitely getting pay walled next video. Don’t hold your breath.

[@DismayingHades6]

"it's not because it's the right thing to do, it's because they're getting sued" always straight facts

[@DismayingHades6]

thank you senpai!

[@adamc117]

Sounds like black ops 3

[@DismayingHades6]

Holy cow I've never had a comment with over 1k likes ty everyone

[@Naptosis]

@@DismayingHades6 well done. Don't forget to put it on your résumé!

[@DismayingHades6]

@@Naptosis if i don't get a promotion ima be pissed off

[@trautsj]

I love how Act Man literally just made an entire gaming video around the fact he got a new vacuum cleaner. I can respect that.

[@Fregler]

Watcher retention.

[@thomasrinear8629]

Now it can be a tax writeoff

[@thoriseriankorealathlen6062]

Don't worry he only has to pay for the "DLC" to fix it. 10/10 remindes me of CIV V

[@The_whales]

Act man got the new vaccum cleaner dlc

[@alexbenton6306]

Tbf getting a new vacuum cleaner is hella sweet

[@durrellbennett947]

BIG fact! No matter how broken the game is, the store ALWAYS works.

[@christianmccollough5005]

Unless it's Project Playtime. Though I suppose the glitched store bring up a bundle double the price of what you click without fail could be considered a double win in their pockets until people catch on.

[@dragonflyBMX]

You just described Apex Legends.

[@williamyoung9401]

How can we learn any facts when the Thumbs-Down numbers have been disabled across the board?

[@caquita402]

You would think thats how it works but half the time the stores dont work either, and in the case of microsoft the stores always work worse than the games

[@justaguyonyoutube4592]

@@dragonflyBMX Except it ain’t broken, only my heart is for how boring and generic it became :( I used to like it so much!

[@OnurTheXbot]

The “Fix it later” mentality has devoured AAA games

[@GcubePlayer8]

This would have been a perfect opportunity to spell mentality or devoured wrong and when someone points it out just say that you’ll fix it later

[@britishguy54dx]

Scratch that, it’s devoured ALL games. Indie games aren’t immune to this crap.

[@OnurTheXbot]

@@britishguy54dx No, NOOOOO, not the indie’s

[@bearerofbadnews1375]

Sometimes they don’t even get a chance to “fix it later” and they just pull the plug. And remove from the steam store “say hi Babylons Fall.”

[@henrik1743]

Gaming since 2015 or even earlier is just sad

[@lukasswestt]

“Because that’s where we can put midrolls in” Gets a midroll. This is why I love The Act Man

[@TheActMan]

I couldn't resist, mate

[@MumboJumboZXC]

@@TheActMan a true pirate

[@TheReeceG21]

@@TheActMan Its just good business.

[@hardchuck1911]

@@TheActMan comedy gold

[@Dustin-xl6nt]

Low-key, I've never been okay with an add mid video till just then. That was such a great way to get a point across

[@piyerus1153]

The smart move used to be "never pre-order games. Wait until release to see if it sucks or not". Now that's being pushed forward to "Wait a year or two after release before you buy a game, to see if they fix it to be playable, or if the game dies and wouldn't have been worth putting time into to begin with".

[@Chris-jt4pl]

exactly. was just saying this the other day

[@AcerSense]

Glad i did not pre order anything until the game launches. Then i decide to buy it or not

[@dragonmaster3030]

Main reason I don't buy online only games, once it's dead it's dead, plug gets pulled, all your time wasted, any money spent wasteful. At least in a single player game when a game loses its community or popularity the game stays, it will always be their, always playable, even if it has online functions only those will be shutdown

[@HaraldQuake]

But then you miss out on all time limited stuff and the fact that a game is new and hyped.. For me it's good to see a game grow over time.. Up to a certain point...

[@UNSCPILOT]

I've gone far enough to start emulating old games or just returning to games I've already enjoyed because almost nothing new interests me at all, the only game I'm hesitantly looking forward to is Kerbal Space Program 2

[@nugg3tz347]

“I’m a human being, I have a limited time on this planet. I’m not going to spend it eating garbage.” A beautiful quote I will remember for all life decisions.

[@MundaneThingsBackwards]

...Anyway, here's an ad sponsored by Grand Mafia World Planet City! Be sure to click the link, folks!

[@Ender11037]

Annnnd yet McDonald's exists. /s

[@skyeunknown8076]

@@MundaneThingsBackwards yeah dude is such a hypocrite

[@djpendellmusic]

It’s crazy how we are now in a place where teams upon teams of people with massive budgets make a insanely worse product than a small indie studio.

[@insomniagobrrr5542]

Indie devs actually give a shit

[@EngieMak]

Limitation breeds creativity

[@ghostplasma5590]

When you give it more thought it is not. Try to make a game as big as Cyberpunk for example as an indie developer. I guarantee it will be 1828281 times worse than what we got. I think it's unfair to compare games that are a few times bigger in size and complexity and just praose indie developers becouse their smaller game is better.

[@ghostplasma5590]

What would be more fair is to compare a small game made by a studio and a small game made by an indie developer. But then it won't fit people's argument so why would you right?

[@aubreyhuff46]

@@ghostplasma5590 Depends.

[@dono1483]

This reminds me of the lightbulb problem I learned about in school. It is scientifically possible to make a lightbulb that lasts for a lifetime, however these lightbulbs would cause a negative economic impact for the producers, so they instead produce inferior lightbulbs. It is a similar case for games, it’s not about making the best game anymore, it’s about player retention and milking the customers out of their time and money.

[@mryellow6918]

except its much eaiser to make it a good game and milk money, its just they dont, because they cant see more than 1 years into the future on their earnings, just want a quick buck

[@tincanstantheman]

The lightbulb problem isn't actually real though, someone invents a lifetime lightbulb and then they make all the money, yes they go out of business in years, they still made tons of money among the way. They haven't actually invented the perfect lightbulb, and if they could they would.

[@mryellow6918]

@@tincanstantheman well I mean it is. It's like the sole reason cars exist as they do today

[@tincanstantheman]

@@mryellow6918 it's not my friend, would you buy a lightbulb that never goes out? If you answered yes, would you still buy it for $500? What about those lightbulbs that change colors? Do you want those too? A lightbulb that never goes out would make tons of money and companies know this, yet we as consumers want more than just a working lightbulb. Just like how a cat getting us from A to B isn't enough, we need comfort, ease, safety e.t.c. your getting stuck on this idea that we could have this ideal and near perfect car, lightbulb, e.t.c, but the reality is they can't invent a car with near infinite milage or a lightbulb that never breaks and if they did they would make tons of money and people would still want a car that self drives and makes coffee or whatever other future invention.

[@Thanatos2k]

Lightbulb problem doesn't exist. If every company makes disposable light bulbs, you could come into the industry and offer your lifetime bulbs and everyone would buy them. Then you simply stop production and keep your profits once the market has purchased enough.

[@NateTheGreat368]

Live service games are honestly not that bad of a concept but most game devs who try it are completely incompetent and use it as an excuse to release the game unfinished and pack it with microtransactions more expensive than full priced games, as well as drip feed the bare minimum amount of (sometimes reused) content.

[@ramenbomberdeluxe4958]

Literally this, I am SO TIRED of seeing companies rush games out by practically whipping their employees across the back like the impatient little greed monsters the CEO's ultimately are...all because they cant just give the time and budget for the poor developers to finish the game on release.

[@WrangleMcDangle]

you cannot trust a company to not cut corners

[@bandawin18]

The Avengers game is a prime example

[@qu1253]

@@ramenbomberdeluxe4958 I'm more tired of seeing gamers consistently reward the practice with ludicrous profits. Reminder that COD:MW2 2022 made $800 million.

[@MrToren01]

the best example of a live service game is Monster Hunter: Worlds, no other company has been able to make one to how we as gamers expect a live service to be besides maybe Warframe.

[@HerculesMays]

Honestly, one of the things I hate the *MOST* about a lot of live-service games, is the intense pressure they put you under to log on every day, and do certain tasks that *they* want you to...it feels so much more like a job than anything resembling the gaming of old. When I play a video game, I want to relax, go at my own pace, not worry about battle passes and just do my own thing. I love playing Majora's mask just to bathe in the atmosphere of places like Zora's domain and explore the world. To me, the "gamer-retention" strategies of modern gaming just kills the experience.

[@pong9000]

I saw that first time last week, when my son - visiting - installed a game on my PC to meet some kind of daily grind quota. I had introduced him to games, God help us, but never with that business model.

[@ArDeeMee]

I mean… I just deinstalled a farming mobile game because I finally bought Stardew Valley. =.= Yes, this includes all levels of gaming. The ticking clock in the back of your mind is ever present, battle/season passes you have to BUY and then grind daily to get even a chance of getting a skin because it’s the highest tier. It’s insane.

[@HerculesMays]

@@ArDeeMee Yeah, Stardew Valley would be so much more enjoyable than a mobile farming game. And I really do hate that ticking clock where gaming becomes an obligation instead of a joy. I used to play Realm of the Mad God a lot, but the increased pressure to do *insane* amounts of grinding time-limited events to get rare/good items just burned me out of what I used to love playing. Sad to see it sucking the fun out of so many games

[@Frank-x1g]

I am playing so many old games on Easy. At times I just stop and look around at the world the developers built. Have seen some really cool stuff I missed before.

[@guilhermebasso9219]

Yeah, even if I like a game, I dont do the tasks.

[@gagefisher4785]

You really hit the nail on the head about sticking to a singular game because of FOMO. It became so tiresome that now I hardly engage with seasonal content at all. For a lot of us, FOMO has had the opposite affect. It drove us away from the game, or seek out others, rather than making us obsess over it and treat it like a second job.

[@Gamesforus1]

Shit like this made me question if I even liked video games anymore. I still do, but I find it hard to enjoy anything because they're made to demand so much attention.

[@thenoobgamer95]

@@Gamesforus1 You're okay. You ain't gotta worry about a siiiiingle thing my dude. The only thing that has changed is the era and the fact that the corpo cunts have finally noticed that video games are very lucrative and... well, i guess it's different for every game genre. Some of the best games are still out there and are still being created buuuuut they're few and far between in the case of ''TrIpLe AAA'' games nowadays. But it's a good thing that indie games are still being consistent on that front.

[@JTeam45]

@@Gamesforus1 I've had the same issue like... do I even like games these days? I hardly feel like playing them unless they're single player games anymore.

[@TheActMan]

Yup, this is why it's so hard for me to commit to any multi-player games long term

[@seanm.7584]

Yup, they are also unknowingly (or knowingly) killing the casual gamer fan base. As a guy working two jobs and going to school part time, I don’t have the patience to stay up to date on “cool EXCLUSIVE LIMITED TIME content” let alone play the games enough to get it. It practically demands me to open my wallet at that point, to which I say, “F-- off.”

[@HGRAP1]

Live service games would be great if publishers/developers actually released a FULL AND COMPLETE game and updated it. The problem is that publishers see it as a way of breaking down a full game into pieces they can drip feed consumers… and if sales aren’t looking good, they can save money.

[@joshuakim5240]

That might honestly be the worst part about this. Live service games have the potential to be the best games out there, by releasing an awesome finished product and just making it more awesome over time. Except...well...the industry standard instead became "release half-baked, unfinished products early and make it complete later via live-service" which is just disheartening to see. Remember back in the early 2000s when Diablo 2 was a finished game, released with an expansion, and had live-service ladder competition that was so timeless that it's still around today? How sad it is to see how live-service went from that peerless quality to broken unfinished messes that rarely last over 1 year.

[@evacody1249]

@@joshuakim5240 you don't remember someone just told you about it.

[@theonlyzanny]

respect for the Deep Rock clip

[@crispy_338]

Hello father

[@silverkingprime2121]

Did I heard Rock and Stone ?

[@HaroldMarina2010]

agreed and for rock and stone!

[@Arkonoid404]

If you don't rock and stone, you ain't coming home.

[@colepwyckoff]

ROCK AND STONE!!!

[@odinsplaygrounds]

The reason games were better before post-launch updates is what you stated as well, it forced the developers/publishers to create not release an unfinished mess, to make sure it was all good before sending to print. There was no easy "patch it later"-alternative. This whole mentality is completely gone now. Publishers can just force the game out despite how unfinished it is, thinking they can always fix it later and give some stupid promises with a road map they'll never live up to.

[@todesziege]

They also had to go through (on consoles) harsh quality testing from from the console manufacturers before they even were allowed to release.

[@KarlRock]

And we thought Halo couldn’t get any worse… Nek minute “LIVE SERVICE!”

[@thevinlanddragon]

Woah dude you were selected for a prize you better "hit him above". Whatever that means.

[@HamzahShoaib]

Assalam

[@coolcatvibes5491]

@@HamzahShoaib wa alaikum assalam

[@MrLeanscott]

Nek services

[@dom4591]

Free to play and live service killed Halo. Makes it feel like a dollar store game

[@SilverSpireZ]

Remember when you could walk into a game store, buy a game, and get a completed product entirely on the disc day one? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[@jacksonloram7887]

We took it all for granted. Remember when pre-order bonuses weren't blatantly pay-to-win?

[@Hk7762Tube]

Memmba when you just slapped a cartridge in to a thing and it did a thing and 10 seconds later *BOOM* , you are gaming bby!

[@Aggnog]

Too bad you don't remember the thousands of times this didn't happen. Where games had to release early and online patching was not as widespread or available to everyone. Publishers were just as bad 20years ago making games release in holiday seasons or due to budget. A ton of games are only playable now because of fixes made years later.

[@-pressxtostart-]

Yeah and lots of those games still have all the issues they launched with 🤷‍♂️

[@Mueslinator]

Yeah, I bought Hands of Necromancy on GOG about three days ago. Outside of the big pile of crud that AAA publishing has turned into, we actually still can buy a completed product without being beholden to the will and whim of EA et al. Or, to phrase it a bit differently. The demise of "the good old way of buying games" has been greatly exaggerated; You can still do it that way, if you want.

[@GointSmoker]

I think the problem is that the line between "Live Service" and "Early Access" has been blurred to the point where companies are just churning out half-finished products just to try and make money while promising to constantly improve. I don't want a game to NEED to constantly improve in order to be playable.

[@yarugatyger1603]

The problem is that they're satisfied with the unfinished product but not satisfied with their income and push out more unfinished content instead of bringing something finished out. Quantity over quality. Hate that mentality, ruins their reputation too hopefully.

[@glacie3001]

19:47 Act man out here casually predicting CoD MW3

[@jirden]

And how do you know that? Because you bought it. Stop doing that.

[@Ender11037]

Honey, the internet exists.

[@maverickloggins5470]

Hey Acting Male been following you for years now and I gotta say I’m loving all the Monty Python bits you’re using now, always loved them it’s great they’re still getting airtime in ways like this.

[@TheActMan]

GET ON WITH IT

[@craigthebrute6032]

You hit the nail on the head. The gaming industry is crumbling because of a change in perspective; games are now viewed, designed, and managed as monetary devices to suck up as much profit as possible, instead of passion projects that the creators were proud of, like it was previously.

[@FIDEL_CASHFLOW_]

By which metric is the industry crumbling?

[@r.d.9399]

I avoid games like that

[@DlcEnergy]

@@FIDEL_CASHFLOW_ Quality. If we start slicing brownies as soon as they're out the oven, sure we'll still have brownies, but they'll be all crumbled. We need to give them more time to solidify so we can make them more presentable. If we accept brownies sold in such poor conditions then what next? Are the next generation of bakers just gonna serve up the unbaked gloop? lel

[@prokingownage]

Yes sir, it’s no longer art, but a business. Unless you’re Fromsoft 🫡

[@thetoastnbutterpodcast64]

Yes, the 1990s, 2000s and early 2010s were truly the golden age of gaming. Before the 1990s and after the early 2010s gaming has been a complete money grab.

[@jar-jarnotbinks7685]

Imagine, walking into a store, buying a game disc, and not having to download 150gb of data when installing the first time. Ah, and 99% of the times, it just work.

[@pbjent]

Todd Howard "It just works" 99% of the time most of the time, ...probably, ...hopefully.

[@Ghostman223]

@@pbjent IT JUST WORKS kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4GxYaSeiN6Kr5o

[@12ealDealOfficial]

Popping in MW2 for the first time and realizing I can't even play the game for 24 hours.

[@John_shepard]

Games are too big nowadays to fit on discs so basically the discs are empty and just a “license” to download the actual game

[@NightFyreTV]

@@John_shepard sounds like an excuse to me. Back in the early days we had those very same file limits and managed to stretch the boundaries.

[@masterchief1135]

Hey act man just wanted to say I been going through depression and your videos really been cheering me up and I been needing that. Thank you for all the content and effort you put into them. Cheers all the way from Australia

[@deenanthekemoni5567]

You doing any better bro?

[@lukep757]

Stay strong man. Been there. It can get better. Eat well, go for a run, talk to people, and stay sober. That's the best basic advice I can give you to help.

[@jirden]

@@lukep757 replace "go for a run" with "join a kickboxing gym" and you just perfectly described what helped me overcome my post-divorce depression :)

[@RussianAiden]

I miss when most developers actually cared about the games they made, now there’s only a few developers that care about their games.

[@marcar9marcar972]

Oddly enough that’s the most true now more than ever. Indie devs.

[@RussianAiden]

@@marcar9marcar972 indie devs and maybe like 2 triple A devs

[@matteodelapaz1698]

@@marcar9marcar972 same with AA games despite their flaws

[@thegrayyernaut]

I've been enjoying gaming more ever since I stop paying attention to AAA titles. They really are the bad apples that spoil the gaming industry barrel. I wholeheartedly enjoy life more with indie games, and some AA games these days.

[@georgejones5019]

I've played some really creative and fun indie games I wouldn't have thought I'd enjoy if was for game pass. Indie devs are keeping the hobby afloat.

[@theotherjared9824]

I'll keep saying this because publishers refuse to listen: there is only 24 hours in a day. A human physically can't keep up with every single live service, so we cut our losses and commit to a few releases at most. That's why 90% of live services fail; they didn't make a good enough case for themselves and were ignored into obscurity.

[@lazyvoid7107]

Genshin impact gets a away with it

[@Theeight8b]

@@lazyvoid7107 Well, they actually do provide additional content for the players.

[@Lead1121]

I only play established MMO’s like RuneScape now because everything is live service and I have no time to dedicate to any of these new ones. I miss when games were just games. You get what you buy and play it to completion. Simple and useful for my time

[@historyman9436]

@@lazyvoid7107 Genshin Impact has the advantage that they actually delivered. Straight from launch. Oh, you want an Open World Game with a story? Yeah, we got that. Oh, you like Anime Girls? Yes, we have that! Levels? Got it Breath of the wild like gameplay? Yes. You dont even need to get a switch for it! You want expansions, events, new characters pretty much constantly, a variety of buffs? We got you homie.

[@BreakfastAtNoon]

"You're not meant to play them all, only ours"

[@Xderda]

We need more dev teams as passionate as the ones who gave us Deep Rock Galactic.

[@watchoutforwhoyoupissoff3046]

rock and stone!

[@sokolov49]

you mean 1 update per year with no endgame galactic?

[@hdb999]

@@watchoutforwhoyoupissoff3046 Did I hear a rock and stone?

[@hdb999]

@@sokolov49 Still more updates that Halo Infinite...

[@iamlucidess]

DRG is great but Warframe is a premium example of a live service game that works, and gets consistent updates with content drops. I don't see yong yea or other big youtubers complain about how high priced Platinum is, or how the game rarely respects your time, or it's too hard for new players, etc. Nobody complains. Not a lot of story progression, but theres so much to do, and so many guns to fire.

[@vincehanes8472]

When’s the update to the video

[@UNALLOYEDSLOP]

He’s going to publish the roadmap soon

[@goodstuff4987]

I was certain that live service was just a fancy way to say it's unfinished and we'll make it a glimmer of what we promised in two years

[@nigeltheoutlaw]

That's all any of them are. Profit now, lie about improvements later, then abandon the game once it doesn't turn a profit since there's zero consequences for openly lying to consumers anymore.

[@goodstuff4987]

@@nigeltheoutlaw nobody couldn't have said it any fucking better dude

[@4bidn1]

@@goodstuff4987 Nobody could have* "nobody couldnt have said it any better" is a double negative so you're basically saying "literally anyone could have said it better"

[@ivanbilobrk4696]

@@4bidn1 nobody gives a shit

[@Nameless2004]

@@4bidn1 grammar nazi

[@onejediboi]

7:28 i got an ad as soon as he said that

[@lt.reubenrozeyt5716]

Me too💀

[@KevinIsNice6984]

Me too 💀

[@godyne]

Me too 💀

[@Zybit1423]

Um, actually, that was the point, he put a mid-roll ad there 🤓

[@LulSpazzout916]

I did too😂😂

[@nick15684]

Yeah, the biggest problem with post-launch support is that it promotes laziness on behalf of the developer. It's what allows them to get away with releasing a broken game in the first place. They can just say "we'll fix it later" and that's why gaming is the way it is. Sony has proven time and time again that great singleplayer experiences with no multiplayer component can do really well. Not every game needs to be live service.

[@qu1253]

And now Sony is planning to move away from single player games and into live services. They want 12 (yes, 12) live service games released in the next 5 years.

[@lacasadelpop4593]

​@@qu1253 They've been saying time and time again they will not abandon single player games and they have been proven it: Gow Ragnarok, Spider-man 2, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, Wolverine, Sifu etc. They haven been investing on third party games as well like main line Final Fantasy titles and Silent Hill 2 Remake. Plus it's confirmed they are working with Fromsoftware to make another PS exclusive. They won't get rid of what is successful to them

[@chadmann2724]

I will mod Tarkov to be single player if i have to

[@phantomknight7211]

Not even that, if anyone doesn't complain then it's not getting fixed

[@abc4781]

@@qu1253 lol that doesn't mean that Sony is planning to move away from single player games, all that means is that they want more live service game's.

[@adenhickman5780]

Hey guys, I think the devs might have abandoned this video

[@addidaswguy]

I wish EVERY gamer would listen to this and fully take the information in. If people pushed back and stopped buying garbage, we'd get MUCH less garbage

[@Dexusaz]

Gamers never learn, just look at MW 2 for a very recent example. Nowadays, gamers are brainless consumers with no standards.

[@razorbackroar]

looking at you Nintendo

[@finnfin]

Because gaming for fun is still a niche hobby. It gains steam every now and then, but most are just addicts to the dopamine that games nowdays are enginerred to drip. High functioning addicts, but addicts nonetheless. I truly dont know what it takes to as a society to snap out of it, since we get every year more and more extreme examples of this, and still buy into it. They used to say video games make you violent, which is obviously not true. Like weed, it doesnt make you violent, it makes you content. Modern gaming is not a weapon, its a drug. Give me another reason why annual full price releases, despite all the outrage, still make the money they do. Dont get me wrong, there are great games out there. But the ones that pull in the adult money, are little more than another fix. Id compare it gambling, but even then theres the actual miniscule chance of winning the cash price. The kind of gaming im referring to, has the price of feeling good about yourself, which tells a very sad story if you think about it. There is no way to stop it on a societal viewpoint.

[@GAMEPRO24X]

@@Dexusaz wait till GTA6 comes out. oh your mad about GTA online shark cards and abandoning RD2online? watch all these people who bitched will be there day one for GTA 6 and GTA online 2

[@NepuSoggyMango]

They aren't to blame You are talking to a group that is willingly refusing to listen to you, they've gotten, more or less, close minded

[@danic_c]

I think one of the games that pioneered the live service format as we know it today was Team Fortress 2 and its updates. However, the reason it was good, and continues to be fun to play EVEN after the live service aspect has been almost completely abandoned for several years, is because the game that the live updates built upon was *already* a pretty rock solid experience on launch.

[@Artician]

What's funny is that microsoft wanted valve to pay for any updates shipped for the xbox 360 version of tf2 after 2009, and since valve refused to do that, it basically caused said version to be considered a playable alternate timeline.

[@colinmurphy962]

@@Artician Are we the alternate gaming timeline???

[@revenant2550]

I blame netflix

[@rebotsomat]

Yeah but lets not forget they helped start lootboxes

[@dearprudish]

@@rebotsomat TF2 started it, but CS:GO took loot boxes to the next level, and propelled them to the front of every triple A game.

[@paulaccuardi9071]

Does anyone else remember when they actually owned their games and didn’t require a service from the company in order to play them?

[@peytonshek9309]

@ESO

[@AffogatoAnime]

Yep

[@dwightd.eisenhower2031]

@@AffogatoAnime anime 🤮🤮

[@Puppetmaster2005]

I member. T.T

[@Sliider36]

remember? ive never really let go... im a retro collector. i have a room full of hundreds of games & consoles. some of us will never give in to this digital trash. remember? some of us are still gaming that way, both retro & current. physical forever.

[@blaniac6591]

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that every game we find ourselves going back to play for the 500th time almost all exclusively come from the days of DLC content. There isn’t a single live service game that I’ve even *thought* of playing more than once.

[@MoonWielder]

We want to seek fun games to enjoy ourselves, as they only seek out profit margins for themselves. The live service system really does seem to trap players into spending as much as possible for progression on one game and a sunk-cost fallacy for cosmetics.

[@jmurray1110]

It feels like only don’t had actual done anything Say what you want but GoW, Spider-Man these games have done things right they were full games on release single player exclusive and worked The sequels also when Miles is smaller but it’s still fun and doesn’t even have the DLC like the original (at this point any DLC is a turn off) and ragnarok while more expensive seems like it’s going to be an improvement on the original (cautious optimism seems wise) and given the head designer on 2018 is unlikely to sell DLC

[@ToothpikcOriginal]

I feel like Deep Rock Galactic is one of the only games that gets the battle pass idea correct. Everything is free and unlocked at a good pace, and anything you miss out on in a season just gets added to the normal loot pool in the game

[@Ferky116]

MUHSROM

[@Broken_valley]

ROOOOOOCK and STOOOOOONE (drill em and grill em)

[@KosherPorky]

Halo MCC is GOATed too with its progression

[@derrinerrow4369]

Rock and Stone, Brother!

[@breadtheloafening6260]

Where is Molly?

[@flackenstien]

There is a MAJOR difference between a good game getting regular continued support.. and a completely broken and unfinished game releasing with a cash shop and a vague promise to maybe improve it over time. There's also a difference between that and something like Minecraft or Warframe, where they genuinely were being made with direct support of player feedback and funding. They released with promises of nothing, and built into something amazing over time. Games failing to release what was promised just to pretend to be like Minecraft or Warframe is disgraceful.

[@Akash77133]

There need to be a video game recession just like in the 80s

[@redseagaming7832]

Now Minecraft has live service elements but guess what I just ignore them and play the game because deep down beneath that Bedrock Edition is the same Minecraft game I know and love

[@sovietsquirrel1315]

@@redseagaming7832 exactly, the game released finished they just enhanced it with more content.

[@starwatcherusa]

I think its important to remind ourselves that, just like film, this trend is almost exclusively happening in the AAA gaming space. There is still plenty of heart, passion, creativity and good will in the lower key AA and indie game scenes.

[@Spearra]

Case and point: "Madness: Project Nexus 2, Terraria, Voxel Turf". All of those games, everything is unlockable or earned in game and basically nowhere else. No DLC fuckery, just free updates. One time purchase, yet more gameplay to be had than most modern AAA games.

[@Theeight8b]

@@Spearra I'd added two more games for this list: Warframe and Deep Rock Galactic. Constant updates, that bring a lot of new stuff to play with.

[@Theeight8b]

​@@JL32506 Well, rotation of alerts and etc - is not new, i'm agree. But is seems they added a few more missions for Kahl and, well, Veilbreaker is a filler content, to keep players busy before next big update. And yeah, a couple of new toys for warframes and new cosmetics, that you can grab by doing daily\weekly - is always good.

[@botondkunos1774]

Gigabash rocks!

[@justanotherperson7774]

Not all hope is lost

[@Oolong_Bagged]

He put into words what we've all been slowing getting dragged across our faces for years. The passion has been just run ragged out of game developers by the people in charge of monetization. It's no longer about a good story, it's about selling you the next book.

[@giorgialadashvili4771]

And not even a well-written book. I don't know how, but modern games, often written by people with academic background in writing and literature, somehow turn out to be much inferior plot- and dialogue-wise than old games which were often written by laymen.

[@pierre-mariecaulliez6285]

@@giorgialadashvili4771 One word for you : controversy Like he said, they won't release something they might get sued over. Yelled at ? "boycotted" ? Perfect ! free press ! but nothing that will actually cost them a cent... Whatever story could be written, whichever feverdreams the writers could tell, it's gotta clear a regiment of lawyers before it's greenlit. And with so much grinding, you can expect the end result to have lost some of its edge.

[@joshjonson2368]

@@giorgialadashvili4771 this is what happens when those tumblr bloggers are given a job lol, they pour their mind diahorrea into fully fledged products

[@Scroolewse]

Watch "extra punctuation Live service games are dying" for some hopium

[@thomaswhitehead-rd7gc]

Deep Rock Galactic is a perfect example of a GOOD live service game, would love to see you cover it sometime!

[@mickethegoblin7167]

Kinda boring game

[@connormacleod4922]

@@mickethegoblin7167 Found the Leaf Lover.

[@reaperreaper5098]

Rock and stone!

[@spaghetti7929]

*Did I hear a rock and stone?!*

[@connormacleod4922]

@@spaghetti7929 ROCK! AND! STONE!

[@chayimweinstock443]

I’m glad that you cited Deep Rock Galactic as a positive example of a live service. That game is one in a million as far as games as a service goes.

[@watchoutforwhoyoupissoff3046]

rock and stone!

[@GooseAtron5000]

ROCK AND STONE!

[@thedogefox8939]

Did I hear a rock and stone?

[@powerlily2502]

C'mon lads! Rock and Stone!

[@kitnora]

Rock and stone

[@confusedindividual]

I said this nearly a decade ago: video games have to have a fun single-player experience. Sometimes, your friends aren’t available to play with you. Sometimes, you don’t want to deal with strangers. Sometimes, you’re a kid or a teenager who has no business using a credit card. Most sports and other physical recreation activities require some combination of multiple people, specialized equipment, dedicated facilities, and/or large space in order to do. Video games provide a virtual means of immersing oneself into a variety of different activities without ever having to set foot outside the house and it can all be done with a single computational device and a controller. Once you necessitate other elements that exist outside of that setting, you’ve shattered that niche.

[@thepizzaman2013]

"Greed can make a person sloppy, hotshot. Remember that." -From a Character in a Free to Play Game that was released back in 2013 and still standing strong with no live-service shenanigans.

[@paullucas9536]

Little Duck baby

[@thepizzaman2013]

@@paullucas9536 Hell yeah.

[@Brother_O4TS]

I love me a Warframe reference

[@whysoserious4274]

A free to play game done right.

[@hackergaming6372]

What game?

[@jessicasretrolunacy]

The biggest problem with "Modern Gaming" and the live service model is how much power has been taken away from the players. The corpos get to decide how long games are even available, and with all digital content we've lost the ability to fight back.

[@GreenDayRules92]

Act Man and Angry Joe being homies is something the internet needed, and I am here for it.

[@lazyvoid7107]

Joe? Ew no

[@Banch21]

@@lazyvoid7107 Joe Mama

[@wrenboy2726]

ANGRY Joe, the guy who starts all of his “angry” reviews by softly, sweet talking into the camera “hey you guys. ☺️ Thanks for watching we spent a lot of time on this one. Sorry it came out a day later than expected. 😋 Anyways just wanted to say thanks for the support and don’t forget to order some g-fuel 🤪 ok now off you go ad enjoy how angry I am 😌”

[@lazyvoid7107]

@@Banch21 I have my reasons kid

[@drauc]

Your videos are god tier. They always articulate thoughts I myself have had but have never been able to put into words. It's crazy how much I relate to basically all of your videos. Thanks for doing what you do, always excited to see any content you put out.

[@TheActMan]

Thank you, kind sir!

[@Wasattsi]

For real man. I agree with like 90% of his opinions, it’s wild.

[@sexylazercatwizard]

@@TheActMan thank you, kind stranger. Reddit karma updoot, wholesome chungus 100

[@jackokeefe6164]

Agreed, act man always seems to be spot on when it comes to his opinion on video games and gaming as a whole, act man along with jev are the two best content creators in my opinion

[@Valvadrix]

You know it's a problem when a game's main menu looks no different from a website.

[@jenjoe4359]

I genuinely thought it was a website at first

[@legendarybrando348]

Ya its because they got hulu to make the menu when it wasn't needed.

[@ToanIV]

Elden Ring and Dad of Boy def deserved being the best games of the year, not only are they massive games and fun at the same time whilst not being horridly hard on storage space, but the games came out COMPLETE!

[@therealMrA]

It’s truly incredible how small the file size of Elden Ring is. FromSoft really know what they’re doing

[@BackwoodSpiritAnimal]

The problem with a lot of live services is that they want all of your time. And there's dozens and counting services that have battle pass and unlockables that demand so many hours to get rewards. Because most games are revolved around obtaining that content reward, it doesn't end up making the game or the grind fun to play.

[@TheActMan]

Yeah it means if I want to progress in any game I gotta pick wisely and commit to only a couple games

[@Jaypickels]

​@@TheActMan dude fr it's too much sometimes. Like I only have time for some games. Going between Fortnite, cod, and other games, you can't have battlepasses for everything so you miss out

[@Sean-ch4hf]

Hello Destiny.

[@TSpoon823]

Meanwhile, I have 200+ hours in Elden Ring and don't even care. And I can't wait for DLC because I'm invested in the gameplay and story. Go figure. I'll put my time into what I care about.

[@kitkatrina1337]

@@TheActMan but your game of choice is surely The Grand Mafia, The free mobile MMORTS game where you can recruit different homies, grow your gang, take over the city and grow your sphere of influence, right?

[@asdf-pd1uj]

Deep Rock Galactic and Ghost Ship Games gets everything right about a Live-Service game. The devs listen to the community, and have an amazing theming to updates. In addition to an amazing game, it's so fresh and nice to see a game not rotten by corporate greed.

[@funklebunk7249]

Ironically the game is about corporate greed. I love it and take it as a jab at the current state of the industry.

[@joshuahales641]

rock and stone

[@stephanwyrsta376]

@@joshuahales641 to the bone

[@PureEvil616]

Not to mention that their "season pass" is the most consumer friendly model that ever existed. It's free, and if you don't unlock everything in a season, all of those things end up in the regular loot pool anyway, so you never fully lose anything. Not to mention the game is just so gorram fun. ROCK AND STONE, YEEEEEEAAAAAAH!!!

[@joeytheghost4211]

@@stephanwyrsta376 FOR KARL!

[@Poabis]

When it comes early access, Valhiem is the best example. What’s incredibly sad is that it was released playable and complete, developed by a 5 person team. And to this day they are still putting NEW things into the game. 5 person team can do a game better than AAA devs. It’s astounding.

[@Pumkin932]

Problem is, the good people over there making Valheim are getting roasted all the time on every post they make about how long its taking for the updates to come out. It's very likely it's the same people who dump obscene amounts of money on live service games and have zero tolerance for not constantly getting new content for them to buy and play. It's a good example of why a game like Valheim won't appear again for a very long time, if ever. When good developers get treated like garbage for actually wanting to make a good game, who else is going to even bother? Very sad.

[@Poabis]

@@Pumkin932 You make a very good point, it is unfortunate that there is such an extreme to each side, dev or consumer. Very sad indeed. Edit: You make a good point with the slow updates, when I think about it too, Valhiem had 3+ years in development, it had a good long time to develope. Apart from most AAA games, like CoD, which are pushed out basically every year, rushed out to hopefully make a profit. Halo Infinite however still baffles me, 5+ years in the oven, around $500,000,000, and it comes out missing a lot of basic features, bad connectivity issues, missing content, the list goes on. I don’t know, the games industry is all over the place it feels.

[@Thanatos2k]

Is it though? I don't play early access games until they release. Valheim is STILL in early access, yet everyone seems to have stopped playing it, or certainly talking about it. When it actually comes out and I buy it will anyone care anymore?

[@NoName-ll2mp]

Give Project Zomboid a try if you liked Valheim. Not because of the genre but because of what the game is. Most Intense Zombie-Surivial EVER!

[@Wasdf14]

Terraria is also a prime example of a small developer making a great game and continuing to support it. I didn’t put many hours into it, but I know there are some hardcore people out there who live and breathe it, and I’m sure they appreciated that.

[@ThePillowGamer]

20:04 Ever heard of the original Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare’s leveling system? It was exactly like you described. There’d be incredibly specific tasks like “kill this incredibly fast flying object with a slow rocket”…. Luckily there were stars to skip those challenges but still.

[@dontbememeist497]

Primo content. Well thought out humor, stellar production value, cohesive arguments and good points to make. The Act Man makes what he thinks is fun for the community, and what he wants to make. Cultivating an audience around that, and not around a super specific type of content is, in my opinion, the best way to do it. Absolute banger here, I'll never not watch an Act Man video.

[@TheActMan]

Thanks for the good vibes and quality comment 😎

[@splycerrr]

7:25 I see what you did there damn you

[@5FingerBallad]

This is what I love about Act Man, even though he has 10 min vids to make bank, and takes bags from shitty mobile games, he is TRANSPARENT that he is getting payed to advertise products that he does not support whole-heartingly and leaves a timecode to skip the add. He is making us aware of the real game behind KZbin, without lying that he actually thinks these are good products.

[@Polarbearsatemylunch]

"Because that's when you can put mid-rolls in" followed be an instantaneous ad and I couldn't even be mad

[@stanfordsan]

@@Polarbearsatemylunch I laughed so hard when that happened, I even got an Xbox live ad.

[@theonlyjoe_]

One thing to note as well is that player retention is a byproduct of a good game, you get player retention from making a good game instead of having to choose between one or the other.

[@robotgirlenjoyer91]

when gaming becomes more of a job than an entertainment to wind down, relax and just... have fun playing it.

[@nigeltheoutlaw]

That's what turned me off of Destiny 2. Constant FOMO and making you feel obligated to make it a daily thing. What is it, a naggy girlfriend? No thanks. Game isn't even that good.

[@oxsila]

@@nigeltheoutlaw I don't understand why you can't just buy each expansion and enjoy the 20-30 hours you get out of it? You don't have to play the crappy seasonal stuff. The expansions are great. Other games charge $70 for the same game length that Destiny expansions bring

[@nigeltheoutlaw]

@@oxsila I can, I'm just not going to. They should try respecting my time and just give me the fun instead of trying to milk ever more out of me. A I said, the game isn't even that good.

[@redseagaming7832]

Back when Jim Sterling was amazing I remember when he said the video game industry would rather make no money then some money every game has to be a Titanic movie success or we're not going to make it

[@oxsila]

@@nigeltheoutlaw The witch queen is the best campaign to date but ok

[@creecher1118]

I think my personal biggest gripe with the live service model is the lack of respect for the player's time. In any given month you could have multiple live service games release, all demanding your constant time and attention. Gotta get those daily log in bonuses and do your daily challenges! But you're also still playing last month's games, or even last year's. It just becomes way too much to keep up with. No thanks. I'll keep enjoying my single player games.

[@trippy0752]

Ikr? They turn something fun into a chore and God forbid you fall behind because if you do then you'll have to fit multiple days of tedious grind into one. It's so they can tempt you into paying for lost progress in whatever system they may have (usually battlepasses) and to force you to choose just one game to dedicate your time to over the rest, but instead of making it fun and thus worth spending time playing, they make it a choice of how much you're willing to lose out on and it's disgusting.

[@fumothfan9]

Idk minecraft still has a good solid playerbase as do older games like l4d2 and tf2. Not as many but enough to say damn they lasted long. But yeah new games have become cash AND time sinks.

[@nik3va522]

who askedwho asked

[@elmo1639]

👍 insightful take.

[@ShinobiDrip999]

Agreed

[@goodtimesgamingtm1316]

As soon as I see that progression in a game is designed to be as grindy as possible it instantly makes me go “oh wow I’d rather play anything else”

[@fumothfan9]

They do that to keep you in the game. Which in itself is the gambling but worse

[@RokushoTheRavager]

This is what I've never understood. All these soulless suit wearing business men think that if you make a game grindy enough, players will just spend money to skip it. I don't know man, maybe I'm different, but that shit don't work on me. If you waste my time and no matter how hard I try I feel like I'm not getting anywhere and making any progress or worse, I'm not enjoying myself or having fun, I'm not giving you money, I'm straight up un-installing the game and will likely never touch it again because you clearly don't respect my time and have now effectively pissed me off. As grindy and as repetitive as Destiny 2 may be, the core of the game and the gunplay is excellent, plus I have many ways to still "earn" stuff that typically requires real money. I don't mind paying for expansions of they're worth it and while the idea of battle passes is annoying, what Destiny 2 offers for $10 is worth it in my opinion since I enjoy the game enough to keep playing it, both solo and with my Dumbshit Inc. Playstation group. This btw is coming from a previous Destiny hater of about 4-6 years because it's an entirely different game now and there's a lot I enjoy about it.

[@4carhur1more]

Big time agree with this.

[@pyrelord8763]

i burst out laughing when a mid-roll ad started playing right in the middle of “thats when we can play a mid-roll”.

[@Gigan75pcp]

It’s very sad how with all this modern technology and internet that most videogames cannot compete against their predecessors. I understand that a business’s goal is to make a profit. Well, in the process of this greedy business practice, most videogame franchises are losing the heart that made them fun in the first place. What makes me happy is that people are starting to spread the awareness. Thank you Act Man.

[@evacody1249]

Well then I guess we should close down all MMOs and online play. Problem fixed.

[@evacody1249]

Expect no because you will piss people off who like MMOs and playing games online.

[@michaelwerkov3438]

It honestly kind of disturbs me that people need it laid out before they start to realize there is a problem. Maybe it's because the young dominate the market, and sadly it's been a decade now since they really started running these scams... a whole generation or more have grown up "blissfully unaware" of what it was like for developers to aim for a finished product that was enjoyable to the players. They've grown up with so much shit being shoved down their throats, they never knew there was an alternative.

[@michaelwerkov3438]

@@evacody1249 I mean, first off, let's be real for a second: mmo's and online-specific games are the epicenter of scam, fraud, lootboxes, microtransactions, etc. A lot of those games SHOULD fail and disappear. And a lot of those gamers supporting that should be funneled into a whole separate console and market, because their willingness to waste money and time incentivizes bad actors in the dev crowd. It only takes a handful of really stupid, really ignorant, really arrogant, and really over-funded whales to override hundreds of good-faith gamers.

[@Ashtonkessler]

@@michaelwerkov3438 he either is a bot, too stupid to see what is in front of him or he’s one of those dudes that defend billion dollar companies that laugh at the rest of the peasants falling for their bullshit scams

[@kozzywozzy]

I want to congratulate Act Man on his superb timing. The instant he finished talking about 10 minute videos and mid duration adds, I got an add.

[@Modie]

I mean, you can choose where ads are placed. Most people just don't do it, because it's more work and they don't edit their videos anyway to account for mid role ads.

[@UNSCPILOT]

Same, if possible he probably placed that intentionally to make his point

[@Wiseman108]

Really? I never get ad's thanks to Ad-Block Plus. I've been using it for years now, and sometimes I forget KZbin even has ads.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

you know ad blockers exist right

[@TheSuperappelflap]

@@Wiseman108 ublock origin is much better, adblock doesnt block a lot of ads from google, they get paid for it

[@keagancloete]

I absolutely couldn't agree more with this but what makes me sad and quite honestly lose hope is that the majority of people just either don't think about it or don't care. It's so damn frustrating...

[@chaosmagican]

I would assume the majority of gamers today don't even know what it means to play a game that has the first goal of being fun. With no ingame monetization at all

[@ashishshenoy3778]

most gamers dont give a fuck, honestly. They just come home from work and lay on the couch and swipe for more gems or whatever

[@Orcawhale1]

How does it feel to live long enough to see all your favorite franchises go down in flames?

[@blahblahgdp]

the classic "Dont play it, its not for u arguement" literally doesnt matter cause all these drones just burnt out enough to give a shit and throw money at whatever little thing gives them a little bit of dopamine.

[@shockmazta3116]

As a guy that plays really only SP games, and some MP with friends on occasion, I really don't care. If the game has such a shitty model *cough*haloinfinite*cough* I just won't play and will not feel bad for it. It's really easy to say "Meh, I hate that. Oh well." And then stop playing. It really is. Nothing we say can nor will change the industry, so why fight it?

[@HannyaHalo]

Somehow in 1 year I went from being excited to hearing the words live service to feeling nothing but dread.

[@barrymacdonald3439]

I'm dreading es6 because of this cause you know creation club will have half the games content drip fed to you at $10\€10 each and if you ad it all up you will see you will it will cost over a grand if you want all the bells and whistles it's a dark future and modding the game will be a night mare as well cause you know the game will update every week and mod creators will have to do updated every week to keep up. I hope I'm wrong but I see it happening.

[@Tommy-bd2wq]

sad thing is that there are alot of passionate developers out there that want to make kick ass games but their corporate owners wont let them

[@electronresonator8882]

then why don't you gamers unite and give them a new owner to make kick ass games?

[@Tommy-bd2wq]

@@electronresonator8882 What’re we gonna do? Raid their offices? lol

[@JoeyJoJoJr0]

So what stops them from leaving and going independent? Oh that's right, they won't get as much money and perks.

[@Tommy-bd2wq]

@@JoeyJoJoJr0 Exactly, in this economy and a industry as cut throat as the gaming industry, Developers can’t simply leave their jobs.

[@JoeyJoJoJr0]

@@Tommy-bd2wq Why would anyone stay at a company that pays sh|t, treats you like sh|t, and releases sh|t products?? At that point, you're just a spineless drone holding out to get that 401k. Everyone trashes these giant Corporations for their poor ethics, yet they're first in line to pre-order their overpriced products. It's clown world

[@anthonydolce5401]

This explains why nowadays I see so many games as similar and grey. When I play a solo experience game that’s no live service it feels so refreshing. Sad to see it phase out, but I acknowledge how good live service could be. It saved MCC and many other games

[@jaylenharris343]

Yes but most companies just use it as an excuse to play it safe and make shitty games that they'll "fix soon".

[@lexif.8609]

I would play Call of Duty instantly if Act Man Appeared on screen to give a thumbs up every time my team took the lead.

[@Mathadar]

Yes, finally I hear you saying what I have been hearing from mostly Ross Scott for years from his Game Dungeon series. Thank goodness. Please, let this resound throughout the game industry, given your subscribers, and influence. Please do keep the train a rolling, and spread word of the problems of live service games!

[@gendoslice5971]

amazing monologue my dude! really encapsulates the world of gaming we are in now. currently really into the 7 year old beta that is escape from tarkov, im already loving it, but the veterans are getting bored with it. the game im helping test today, will not be the game i eventually play upon its release, i just hope it has the same soul they intended to eventually breath life into at the beginning of its conceptualization.

[@Aqueox]

Tarkov is a fucking terrible game once you get past the honeymoon phase. Enjoy it while it lasts, you would have loved 2017-2020 Tarkov.

[@shudust]

i love your mentality towards greed and how it gets in the way of genuine, authentic, captivating game design and artistic expression overall.

[@mattxstarx]

wow, this video is really making me appreciate the design philosophy for the monster hunter series right now. sure they have been recently scrutinized for having added some paid dlc cosmetics, but in comparison for what you can get by just having fun and playing the game any way you want AND still get rewarded for it, it's pretty small in the grand scheme of things. plz never change capcom monster hunter team!

[@StevoStaple]

Monster hunter will always be amazing

[@yotosfuneral]

exactly. i just wish more game developers could be like them without making monetization the primary focus over player enjoyment

[@venomousasian6579]

@@yotosfuneral MH World is so THICC with content and grind, then they have a dlc which is BIGGER than the base game, so DAMN JUICY

[@yotosfuneral]

@@venomousasian6579 yes brooo. even the old ds monster hunters are packed full considering the device they are on. like monetization in games isn’t adherently bad no matter what. but when it becomes a higher priority than the actual game being good itself is when it’s a problem. but capcom is extremely generous with their cosmetics and everything essential to gameplay is free. which honestly makes me a lot more willing to spend money on a weapon skin here or there in rise. meanwhile blizzard will not be getting a single dime from me, charging me for skins i used to have for free all in the name of “well it’s free now so how else is our multi billion dollar company gonna pay for all of the content we didn’t add yet because we’re still working on it 🥺🥺🥺”

[@snorlaxRMO]

Great video. The live service business model has truly been a disaster for games/gamers in recent years. It turns out that diminishing the quality of what is being offered in the pursuit of squeezing every last bit of profit out of one's consumer base has consequences.

[@moderndemon84]

24:40 “They grow up loyal to the Republic, or they don’t grow up at all.”

[@CQBlitz0]

This is why I love Titanfall 2. It was a true AAA game. It was a finished product that needed some touch-ups over time and new content was added that benefitted gameplay and customization. As well as “pay for what you want”

[@PaletteBegonia]

Ahhhh Titanfall… :’) A better period within gaming for sureeee 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@alfredoamendez4299]

It is such a waste just how abandoned that game is... i tried playing multiplayer and... there's so few players, it needs more attention and love :(

[@bellman4336]

Yes, titanfall 2 was one of the good ones.

[@CQBlitz0]

@@alfredoamendez4299 yeah. It’s playerbase, albeit small, is super dedicated to keeping their game alive.

[@manny2696]

@@alfredoamendez4299 im down do download it again if you trying to spread the word. whats good brah. Titanfall 2 is my top 3

[@jdog340]

broadly speaking, game development used to be a passion project. but now it's just about bringing in as much money as possible with companies hiring people who straight up hate the IP. wonder how much longer this can last before people finally get sick of it

[@matt8104]

Yea, like hiring a chick to manage a company that makes one game, Halo

[@IYelloI]

@@matt8104…

[@scwibble1579]

Helldivers 2 now is one of the most amazing example of how to properly make a beautiful live service game by making the lore and content drops revolve around player actions while building the world out alongside it

[@larrylindgren9484]

They have said they want to be the new Blizzard. People forget Blizzard was once an amazing game making company. It wasn't released until it was done. If they can do that, they'll sell games and make money. But greed is powerful. Every great game company falls to the master, greed. It's sad to see Blizzard now. It was once a place people wanted to work at. It was a place that made great games. Now? Greed got them. Money above making a great game. It's sad because it wasn't always like this.

[@Prod.Nov4_defunctchannel]

It's insane to me how companies are so focused on results and not fun, when in fact a fun game brings the best results with even a generous monetization system.

[@PatriotArro]

I wish this were true. Games get the best reviews and a lot of accolades on sites like KZbin when they're fun, but in the end reviews and videos from people like Act Man don't make the bulk of a game's potential earnings. but crap mobile games that nickle and dime people into oblivion make a game like Elden Ring look like it was practically given out for free. The results speak for themselves. We just romanticize otherwise.

[@UN_Banished]

Remember when you just put a game disc into your console and the game was ready with all of the content 😂

[@jacksonloram7887]

Buying games at release is paying more money for the worst product - TotalBiscuit said something similar to that

[@cheke_hs]

Game updates aren’t inherently bad. There are old games that are still broken as hell because they could never get patched down the line. The problem is selling discs and using patches as an excuse to release an incomplete product.

[@HaroldMarina2010]

that reminds me of the ps3

[@ryant2568]

Games as a service in principle is a fantastic idea, the game keeps getting updates fixing bugs, and introducing new content to keep players engaged. The issue comes when publishers start trying to squeeze every last penny out of a customer with in-game purchases that are effectively required to keep playing the game that the customer already paid for.

[@ZackarySchejbalCODBO2RGM2]

Great examples of a good take on these: Fall Of Cybertron and Black Ops 2. Black Ops 2 was a game you bought at $60 and every say 3 months they released a new $15 DLC with 4 multiplayer maps and a zombies map (at times a new weapon like the Peacekeeper and in Zombies the Mark 2 Ray Gun). Launch 4-6 DLCs to keep them hooked. Fall Of Cybertron is an excellent example because of the community that even after years since the multiplayer servers died the community (the fanbase community) *ACTUALLY* put dedication into resurrecting the multiplayer servers of the game! And it did have like 4 $15 DLCs that gave you customization options. But the fact is they were only cosmetics that weren't necessary! And it was grindy of a game yes, but I managed to max level (even presteige) that game by grinding that cost nothing! If your game can last like how Fall of Cybertron did, you know it's a legendary game.

[@evacody1249]

So the people who keep the servers going should just work for free then?

[@ZackarySchejbalCODBO2RGM2]

@@evacody1249 You mean the Fall Of Cybertron servers?

[@Foxfire-xq5ij]

Except I liked being able to clone Pokémon in gold and silver and catching pokemon with the long range trainer glitch. And duplicating items is always a feature and not a bug and shouldn’t be patched out…..

[@vangboi05]

I really hope there's something like the crash back in the 80's. That's what the industry could use it with micro transactions, loot boxes and live services. Hopefully it will revitalize the gaming industry.

[@jairdinh7563]

I think deep rock is one of the only games that does a seasonal pass correctly all missed cosmetics go into the orignal lootpools its completely free and it has a genius way of unlocking cosmetics through the cosmetic tree. This games only monetization comes from the optional dlc packs that do not impact gameplay at all.

[@blob22201]

Deep Rock does pretty much everything right.

[@HaroldMarina2010]

Rock and stone brother! and yea in my opinion it does handle it really well

[@uvarighalvarado8677]

I haven't finished watching the video but I have to say, your audio levels are always on point! There are some youtubers I really like that sometimes their audio is a mess, I have to get maximum volume to be able to hear them when I'm doing something else like my elliptical bike training and suddenly I'm getting deaf because their volume levels is a mess. So whoever does your audio is doing an amazing job. Congrats.

[@Johny40Se7en]

That old quote of Hideo Kojima's "money hinders creativity" rings truer than ever nowadays doesn't it... This video is one of the best examples of art imitating life. Funny AF but sad too when you think about what the game industry has degraded into. Love the satire and sarcasm, and those digs with the Italian American gangster accent, molto bene 👍😆 22:50 "What the f*ck is this piece of sh*t?!" 🤭🤣

[@thatboymeak]

If you’re talking about 7 Days to Die on console, then yes that actually was a scam. It was ported to console by a company who quickly gave up on it and eventually lost the rights to the Ip, so while everyone was expecting the same experience as PC they actually got a version of the game that hadn’t been updated for arguably 5 years or more. Pretty sure it was more expensive on console too which just adds insult to injury.

[@forfuchsake2254]

Yeah the game was horrible on console

[@joshnykolaishen4657]

Your wrong my guy telltale went under and that was the publisher and they lost the rights had to buy the ip back and then hire a new team to port over I can get why y'all were upset with 7 days but there literally no more then 30 people working on it don't expect something revolutionary and amazing it's a indie game 🤦

[@forfuchsake2254]

@@joshnykolaishen4657 The thing is that we can actually still expect a bit more than that since the devs only add more and more content nobody but never really improve graphics, animations or performance.

[@joshnykolaishen4657]

@@forfuchsake2254 wdym they update pc graphics and stuff constantly and if your gunna say console it's cause they don't do console ports or anything that's why they hire another company or publisher like telltale to port

[@forfuchsake2254]

@@joshnykolaishen4657 I'm not talking about console and I played from alpha 14 to 19 and it still looks aweful and has terrible animations

[@gagelink2457]

Jesus this guy's humor is gold and he someone never over does it.

[@whateverDude031294]

Right!? That opening bit was genius.

[@birdtj82]

NO, seriously. This guy is typical nerd bully look for online validation. He got into a fight with a youtuber recently , n he was threatening that guy to “Mu*der “ the dude etc its so disturbing. There are videos out there exposing him.He is closet bully childish yet intallorate ppl hold diff thought process/opinion. N he rages.

[@TSpoon823]

"I think just making good content should be the first and only goal because everything else will follow after that." Gold. Man if more people lived by that, we'd live in a different world.

[@4STR4STALeatherBelt]

This very subject has been on my mind a lot lately. It's actually driving me away from Gaming altogether to a large degree, which is something I never thought I'd say. Great vid Act Man, well balanced and fair while still getting very important criticism across.

[@liamwells2132]

It's a shame really isn't it? Practically every single game, and the gaming industry as a whole, have gone away from the casual and fun gameplay and design towards every game trying to be an esport or a game that requires a full time job level of grind to unlock/achieve anything. Like COD used to be my favourite franchise, especially the MW, WAW and BO1 era of games, where every game used to add more and more features, challenges to complete, different unlocks to aim for and so on and so forth, but now, features are removed (like where has theatre mode been for the last few games???) and the features that do remain are just a shell of what they were, that's if they even function as they should. It actually pisses me off to think about it, because one of my main hobbies have been borderline destroyed 😢

[@Messi-ce4mv]

@@liamwells2132 having a esports audience isn't the problem if your going to hate on a game that isnt a good reason. cod is made for casual players also when did grinding for stuff become a only hardcore gamer thing

[@liamwells2132]

@@Messi-ce4mvWell it was my mistake to use the word esport, because i was using that phrase as a metaphor for how a majority of games these days require you to sweat or tryhard as much as possible as opposed to being a casual experience, so that one was on me. However, having an esports audience is different to games trying to be an esport. Game's with an esports audience don't normally get that audience by trying to make the game an esport, they normally get that following by designing a fun and enjoyable game that, as one example, makes people want to pursue the mechanics of the game more in depth and try to perfect those mechanics leading to a deeper and more competitive mindset. Obviously there are exceptions to that though. However, when games try to be an esport from the get go, they usually don't include fun or enjoyable mechanics or gameplay to the broader audience, and there isn't anything inherently wrong with that, those games are made for specific audiences and they can do really well with that. But when it is a game franchise that has been casual from it's beginning , like COD has been, and for the last few entries decrease the amount of casual things to do in each entry, from extra gamemodes, challenges, class creation and features, it begins to lose what made it great. COD is no longer made for casual players due to these reasons, you have to use the best weapons, attachments, perks and abuse the movement system more than ever before just to be able to be proficient in the game, and when you do this match in, match out, it isn't enjoyable. As for the grinding thing, there isn't really a casual grinding experience in games anymore, with countless numbers of the best skins, weapons and items being locked behind high tiers of a battlepass, or in the case of Overwatch 2 for example, requiring an extreme amount of hours just to grind the one legendary skin, which is one of the largest parts of that game. Especially, when in a game franchise that is meant to be casual like COD, that prestiging whenever you want isn't a thing anymore, you can only prestige by being max level when the next season commences and if you don't play enough during that period you miss out on new weapons, challenges and skins. Compared to when you used to be able to load the game whenever you wanted and you would be the same level as when you last played, days, weeks or even years ago, without missing anything. Sorry for the long reply, but I hope that explains what i meant a bit better.

[@Messi-ce4mv]

@@liamwells2132 last few entries of cod are tailored to casual players Cold War easy zombies vanguard easy everything mw2 literally made for casual players abusing the moment system isn’t the devs fault especially when they took it away. Grinding for skins is really only there if you want it

[@liamwells2132]

@@Messi-ce4mv I disagree on the last few being tailored to casual players, mainly for the reasons I outlined. I would say both the devs and players fault's for the abused movement system, considering it is the devs that have designed the system that is being abused, but it's also the players fault's for choosing to abuse said system. However, since the game has been made in such a way that players are forced to use anything they can to one up the other players, it all comes full circle.

[@ceasargonzalez4991]

😂😂😂 Well played Act Man well played! "Why 10 minutes? Because that's where we can put Mid roll ads i.... *Ad plays* 7:30

[@d01nut3]

I think a large part of why live service games are so popular (despite the growing resentiment) is that as video games get bigger, it gets harder and harder to meet those deadlines, so whatever isn't the barebones necessities get's pushed down for later down the line. I don't like this system, but I understand why it's here.

[@meurer13daniel]

video games being more complex also leads to more issues. COD MW2 launched in a broken state not because IW is incompetent (maybe a little), but because the game needed to be ready at this month and there wasn't any room for a delay (cod must launch in november because holyday sales). Not enough time for development.

[@d01nut3]

Yeah, that's what I was trying to get across, if the suits could give games more time, I think live services could work.

[@graye2799]

16:50 the funny thing is though that that rarely ever happens. When the devs add a requested or popular feature, it normally increases player time. I can't think of a time where a game added a awesome feature that reduced play time.

[@montypython5521]

Seriously, I can't think of it as anything other than someone in the company wants to destroy the game every time I see it. No score board, disbanding lobbies, no slayer only playlist, I can't imagine what insane focus groups they had to have to reach the conclusion that that will lead to more player retention.

[@ImInForAWuppin]

@@montypython5521 Two words. Bottom. Fragger. Consider the absolute explosion of casuals over the last 5-10 years who have absolutely zero interest in getting better and only care about being rewarded regardless, people who don't want to see themselves doing poorly, play long enough with a group to get recognized as the weak link, or get fragged 10 times a minute. Those who are bad at the game don't have to feel so bad if they, and everyone around them, have a difficult time recognizing that they suck. It's the participation trophy mentality, because EA and friends can't have little Timmy feeling bad and quitting their game, can they? How would he buy battle pass levels if that happened!

[@rabituin1474]

@@ImInForAWuppin That "doesn't want to get better but still wants rewards" description basically sums me up (in some games at least). But the thing is, i wanna have a scoreboard and all that stuff. I'm trash, but that shouldn't hinder other peoples experience of the game

[@kendarr]

@@rabituin1474 I think most bad casuals would just feel bad with the scoreboard

[@electronresonator8882]

offline grinding mode, have you tried black spirit mobile?, you can just set where you hunt and go offline, your character will hunt for 3 hours in that spot, ...6 hours if you use special cash item

[@FlyingKing8]

Putting an ad at 7:30 was genius

[@TheImp8]

18:36 this right here is why I respect DOOM:Eternal’s battlepass. 1: Its not monetized. 2: The progression is just by simply playing either the story mode or the online mode, it isnt restricted. And 3: You can xp share with other players to make battlepass progression a lot easier to the point that if you just dont play for long enough, you can use your points accumulated from dedicated players

[@gumplesteen3888]

The Ship of Theseus certainly comes to mind with how frequent games are moved to live services and given constant updates. I bought Rainbow six siege back when it came out in 2015 and it feels like an entirely different game now. It is not the game I bought all those years ago which is a shame in some regard because I won't be able to find those same memories I did when I first started playing. Now I have to read countless bug reports and update news to find out why a person I loved playing is suddenly different. I think for the most part I miss games you could just buy and play without worry of some earthshattering change to it in the near or far future.

[@QrazyQuarian]

Regarding live service, I think it was said best in Fellowship of the Ring: "This isn't a mine... It's a tomb!" It was originally meant to bring riches, but all we receive from it is the death of once-immortal franchises.

[@jimbothegymbro7086]

the silver lining is indie devs can rise from the ashes like the majestic phoenixes they are

[@pogethedoge]

Can't wait for the new live service chess game. Apparently they're gonna be adding a new store. I can buy Queens now

[@niemand7811]

For that reason I wish myself back to when consoles were not online machines like they are today. Gaming was such an experience. You dug for the pearls and you kept them, still playing them today. No online scams, no unpolished games to make excuses for. Bad games got their bad rep and developers had to make it better next time. However not the Capcom way, mind you.