Today I am bearing the simple news that I’ve beaten a game. Spider-Man 2 to be exact. “Uh, why the fuck is that news exactly” some may rightfully ask. And my reply is because I realized I may not have actually beaten a game in years. The gaming industry has slowly but surely moved into a GaaS (games as a service) format. Even if you’re unfamiliar with that corporate ass lingo, you’ve noticed the effects. Battle passes, constant updates and balance changes, always online, in-game currencies losing value, all of these aforementioned features are part of the GaaS model. At first I didn’t really feel their presence that much. But over time things piled up and I realized I barely even see the ending of a title anymore, because there is no ending in sight by design.
While this may seem like a trivial realization, the GaaS atmosphere has infested a lot of people's minds judging from the recent discourse around Palworld. The monster animal taming giant took the world and amassed a huge amount of players and sales in record time. Now that hype is finally cooling off as players have reached the end of the current available content. Thus a growing portion of the playerbase is starting to take breaks or put the game down altogether and their numbers are falling. Some instantly took this to say “Palworld is over, shit’s dead” and similar statements to which a dev from the company responded by saying "This emerging 'Palworld has lost X% of its player base' discourse is lazy, but it's probably also a good time to step in and reassure those of you capable of reading past a headline that it is fine to take breaks from games," the Pocketpair developer wrote. "You don't need to feel bad about that." I think that’s a great piece of advice. Coming from my Genshin Impact-addicted ass, there’s something satisfying about completing what a game has to offer, cherishing your time, and moving on to a new conquest to keep things fresh.
Even giants need breaks.
It may sound crazy as a goal but my New Year’s resolution this year was to play more games that can be completed. Lately I started to worry that I’ve fallen out of love with most game genres and series, but perhaps it was more that I’ve fallen out of love with games that don’t respect my time and money. Not every live service focused game offers a bad experience either, I’m just saying that when that’s all you play, shit can start to come across as an additional job you need to finish every day. Have you noticed the shift to GaaS style releases? When’s the last time you beat a game and moved on? Will Palworld rise again after some new updates down the road? And if it’s not fun, why bother? Boot up your system of choice, grab a controller, and remember the joys of gaming in the comments below!
