Do people care when live service games die?

Big Games Machine’s trends analysis examines issues affecting the sector, analysing the peaks, valleys and other factors affecting the market.?

We’re only just over a month into 2025, and we’ve already had our first live service casualty: MultiVersus.?

Admittedly, a live service game biting the dust is unlikely to surprise anyone anymore. The list of such titles that have shut down over the past few years is significant, including Bioware’s Anthem, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad and, most recently, the spectacular failure of PlayStation’s Concord.?

However, unlike the titles above, which were widely panned by audiences and critics alike, MultiVersus was different: it was generally well-received by reviewers and gamers. Although on the surface, the game looks like a rip-off of Super Smash Bros. with added Warner Brothers IP, the game sits at a respectable 75 on Metacritic. Eurogamer’s Henry Stockdale awarded it four stars and called it “a very pleasant surprise” with “real-depth.”

Despite the fact that the game still has an active player base and the fact that Warner Brothers Games is still feeling the repercussions of the failure of its open-world online shooter Suicide Squad, MultiVersus's shutdown hasn’t had the media blowback one might expect.?

According to our analysis of game media coverage, the shutdown announcement has generated 77 news stories, which is in line with other live service games that have met a similar fate. The only shutdown that really made waves was Concord's, which generated an enormous 615 news stories (around eight times that of MultiVersus).?

Concord: the outlier in the trend

It’s understandable why Concord saw significantly more discussion in the media. Most live service titles are in the market for a while before they meet their end, but Sony’s flop was pulled from stores just 12 days after launch. Not only that, but the launch was so disappointing that it resulted in the entire closure of its developer, FireWalk Studios.

One can only imagine that the shutdown was just as big a surprise for Sony. The game had an expansive marketing campaign, including a major spotlight at a State of Play stream earlier in the year. An entire episode of Amazon Prime’s Secret Level was also created based on the game, which still aired despite the game having already been cancelled by the time the show was released.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that Concord is somewhat different from many live service titles in that it was an entirely online experience with no single-player options. Conversely, while online was the focus of titles like MultiVersus, Suicide Squad, Anthem and many others, these titles have offline modes that allow them to be played for years to come.

Outside of the media, Concord faced a similar downturn in discussion regarding online searches, with the game’s all-time spike in searches being around its shutdown. If viewed by that measurement, another title has dominated the debate regarding video game closures.?

The source of debate

While not receiving nearly as much coverage in the week of its closure, 2014’s The Crew sparked a wider debate that lasted beyond the game’s shutdown. In November last year, publisher Ubisoft was sued for allegedly misleading players after it announced its decision to end support for The Crew, a situation which went on to spark a petition about the long-term preservation of online games.?

However, this past week, the UK government announced that it would not address the concerns around games going offline, dampening any hope that these games will remain in circulation once developer support has ceased. With the response from the UK government, it will be interesting to see whether The Crew remains relevant in the year ahead.?

In terms of searches, The Crew shares similarities with the highly controversial The Day Before, which also saw ongoing activity beyond the game’s shutdown in January 2024.?

While The Crew was part of the wider discussion around live service games being rendered unplayable, The Day Before suffered heated criticism from the industry due to its substandard quality. Even as developers Fntastic announced a new game at the end of 2024, the association with The Day Before has stuck with the brand – keeping the title relevant but not for the best reasons.???

Do people care?

Ultimately, these trends and coverage numbers aim to answer the fundamental question: Do people actually care about games being shut down? On the surface, the answer is ‘yes’.?

Shutting down a live-service game can anger the player base, especially when factors such as subscriptions and promises of future content are involved. Players can be incredibly passionate about a game. We’ve even seen titles unable to shut down due to a loyal contingent remaining online to prevent the servers from being closed.?

However, looking beyond this, we can see the harsh reality that discussions quickly fade once a game has ended and is no longer in the public consciousness. We only need to look at the latest example in MultiVersus to see how quickly live service titles, regardless of their quality, drop off people’s radars once they’re taken offline.

While the game’s cancellation is still fresh, and media and players continue to discuss it, MultiVersus has failed to capture much attention since its post-beta relaunch in June 2024.?

That’s right. For those who may have forgotten, MultiVersus was already taken offline once before, with the beta pulled in 2023 after a considerable player drop. The game saw a tremendous spike in player counts after it was officially rereleased last year, but this popularity was short-lived. While the game’s shutdown will undoubtedly cause another spike in searches, it's clear that the title always failed to grab players' attention in the long term.?

With the sheer volume of games released and the onslaught of new announcements vying for people’s attention, a game that has been sunsetted will be a relatively brief memory for most. From this analysis, it’s also clear that the long-term impact of shutting down a live service game is relatively short – unless it is part of an ongoing discussion. Despite the initial uproar, attention shifts to the next big thing, making the decision to end a game’s life a relatively logical one.?

What do you think? Please comment below or contact us directly to hear more about our sector analysis. ?