Earlier today, the developer behind cooperative shooter game Back 4 Health–-released in 2021 on consoles and PC—announced that after releasing multiple updates and three expansions, it will continue. And the reaction to this has been mostly negative, with players assuming the game is dead and claiming the team is giving it up. But really, I’m fine with developers making games, supporting them a bit, and then moving on. Not everything needs to be a live service game like fortress or GTA Online. In fact, I kind of miss the early days when studios were allowed to go ahead and do something new.
Released in October 2021, Back 4 health Is one The remaining 4 people died-like zombie shooter Developed by Turtle Rock Studios, the team behind the first game The remaining 4 people died. And great, Back 4 Health not as good as its spiritual predecessors. But it wasn’t a shipwreck either. In fact, I fell in love with the game and have since come back a few times to replay it with friends for hours of fun. It also features three expansions, adding new content and fixing some bugs and balance issues.
Now, a year and a half later, the developers are move on to something “bigger, bolder, and better” and I’m eager to know what that is. Back 4 Health don’t turn off or get killed. It will remain playable on all platforms on which it is released. The game continues while the team behind it has to do something else. And this is how it used to work.
Let’s say before 2013, the game can be released, have a little support and then the developer can move on. Rarely do people blink at this. No one expects a developer to stick with a game for 5, 7 or 12 years. Of course, there are some exceptions, big MMORPGs like EverQuest II or hugely popular PC games like counterattack or The Sims. But it’s a rarity. For a long time, the games came out, people played and liked them, and the developers moved on. Maybe if a game is really good and sells well, it maybe get an expansion. But most of the time hit games never get more content or seasons and players are fine with that.
halo 3 there are several map packs and then Bungie continues, but the player continues to play the original version of the game until the Xbox 360 server goes down. nintendo 64 beat you didn’t get any major content updates after launch—it’s on the cartridge probably doesn’t help—but it continues to be popular. i miss playing Tony Hawk’s professional skater 3 for many years after it was released. These days, if a game stops getting support even a few years after launch, people call it “dead” or “mid” or harass the developers.
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Now, to be clear, online games shutting servers down after only a year or two is terrible and should be criticized. (I’m looks at Epic and its recent closure Rumbleverse.) But beyond that, I don’t think it’s necessary or healthy for the game industry to focus solely on service-oriented creation. fortresssand Rainbow six siegesS. Not every game—even multiplayer—needs to be updated over the years. This also means there will be fewer games that need to fill up in-game shops or cosmetic skins to help make up for the years of relentless development.
And it’s not like Turtle Rock comes out in 2021 and promises a decade of content for the game. The studio made a zombie shooter, released it, made some DLC, fixed the bugs and is now moving on. If you want to play Back 4 Health it’s still there. Turtle Rock doesn’t add a single major expansion that doesn’t matter.
Look, I like a good live service game. I play destiny 2 anytime. It’s great to have a game that grows and expands over time. However, not all of my games need to do this. Unexpected musical action platform Hi-Fi Rush it’s awesome, and if it never gets any DLC or expansions, it’s still going to be awesome. This constant hunger for content isn’t something we need right now, and it would really help if more people would agree that the game doesn’t go on forever. A developer resuming from a project should not automatically fail. Instead, it should just be a normal part of the industry. Like it used to be.
