Creating a game with a large, highly engaged online player base and an active community is, for many companies, right at the top of their wishlist. When they’re really well managed, these games are a license to print money, to the extent that a single game can become a primary commercial driver of a pretty large company.
Games like Fortnite, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto V, and Final Fantasy XIV, to name but a few, have become central to the ongoing success of the publishers who created and operate them. Their importance rests on the fact that while many popular franchises can rely on a huge launch for each new instalment, these games never actually stop being played and making money. It’s no wonder that executives around the industry get dollar signs in their eyes when anyone starts talking about service-based games with high engagement.
There are, of course, downsides. Turning a development project that once had a clear end-point into an open-ended process is easier said than done, for a start, and relatively few development teams have turned out to be adept at it.