It's no secret that 2024 hasn't been kind to live-service games, with recent months seeing games like XDefiant and Concord shut down—although not always without reason—so it's a bit refreshing to see the recently released Marvel Rivals hit what can only be described as a home run. Not only is the ga...
Considering the amount of gambling, exploitative practices, dark patterns, etc that exists in modern live-service games - saying that comes across as rather disingenuous.
It is good to hear this particular live-service game is bucking some of the recent trends, but I think it is safe to say these types of games, in general, have done damage to the industry and the wallets and minds of players. Enjoy yourselves, but be cautious and don’t let your guard down because these companies will screw you if they think they can. We have seen it so many times.
Beyond that, live service games are designed to delete themselves off the face of the earth when they stop making money rather than being a piece of the history of the medium we can revisit.