It is no exaggeration to say that the industry is saturated with live service games. FROM Fortnite and Call of Duty on World of Warcraft and Marvel Rivalsthese games cover the whole range of genres: first and third person shooters, classic and different heroes, ARPGs, MMORPGs, battle royales and of course gacha games. Although these games are drastically different, they all have at least one thing in common: they are incredibly addictive. As a long time MMO fan with a history of playing World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 14, Guild Wars 2and not only that, I am not immune to this fact.
Between seasonal updates and limited-time events, live service games are a time sink that just keeps going down. While one of these games would be enough to fill the schedule, each additional live service game one plays will make the problem worse until they find themselves in the daily stress that seems inevitable. As more and more games adopt live service models, FOMO continues to grow – and my free time just can't handle it.
A top rated and multi-award winning game that I couldn't get enough of
Despite many accolades and exceptional player reception, one game failed to capture me the way I had hoped until I finally gave up.
The unmissable Whirlpool, which are live service games
Battle Passes, seasons and limited time events, oh my!
A live service game is a game built for continuous, unlimited engagement through the development of new content. While most games these days receive post-launch support in the form of updates, bug fixes, and even DLC, that doesn't make them a live service. Unlike traditional games that have a defined lifespan, those with live services are content mills that will ideally continue to make money forever. If the game has regular updates, seasons, events, or similar content, it's probably a live service game.
Now let me walk you through one of my typical game days. I'll start by jumping into Hearthstone to clear the daily, weekly, and event quests (which have been pretty much constant for the past few months) so they aren't wasted. Then it's time to complete my daily challenges Overwatch 2 complete the current season's Battle Pass and progress through all the events (there's almost always at least one running at any given time). It's after that The AFK waywhere I run a loop of daily activities and possibly work on any new seasonal story or side quests that are available.
It's finally time to fire up an MMORPG or two. Final Fantasy 14 recently released content update 7.4 but World of Warcraft: Legion Remix it has been suffocating me since the beginning of last October. It finally ends on January 20th, only to be replaced World of Warcraft: Midnight A pre-expansion update that will surely take me even more time.
Then I have to divide the time I have left Dungeons and Dragons campaign preparation and home cooking, single player games, and “normal” activities like housework, eating, exercising, sleeping, and spending time with my loved ones. Additionally, I used to have even more games in this rotation last year; i played Fate: The Grand Order years until the beginning of 2025 and I was done with it only when Warcraft Rumble went into maintenance mode.
Honestly, I don't have time to do anything else. While I still love World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 and everyone else, at some point the content mill became so busy that it completely monopolized my schedule. Maybe it's that I have less time now than when I was younger, maybe the games are pumping out too much content, maybe it's both. All I know is that I'm relieved when games hit a content drought – which is the opposite of what's supposed to happen.
One look at my Steam Replay from 2025 illustrates this problem. Ignoring Fantasy Grounds (I play D&D twice a week for five hours each session plus prep time), you can see how little time I spend on single player games. Except for brief and unsuccessful attempts to get inside Cyberpunk 2077 and Convergence: The Story of League of Legendsstill an unfinished run Split Fiction with my partner and quickly dive into Hades to 100% achievements before continuing, these were the only single player games I completed this year:
- Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (180 hours)
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (70 hours)
- Deltarune Chapter 3 and 4 (12 hours)
- The Pale Beyond (12 hours)
I just came back now Hades 2 again after three months, now WoW: Legion Remix is coming to an end and Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles it's still waiting patiently in my Steam library. Worse, there are other live service games that I haven't had time to catch up on either Diablo 4 and Guild Wars 2. I want to get to them but these other live service games are up to my neck and I'm not sure if it's any good.
FOMO: The Real Problem with Live-Service Games
A poison that takes the fun out of playing
At its core, the real problem with live gaming is FOMO, or “Fear of Missing Out”. Live-service games run on FOMO; complete that Battle Pass or in-game event, or risk losing exclusive items, currency, progression, or more—perhaps forever. It is a dangerous weapon used indiscriminately by most live service games.
FOMO is a predatory disease whose main symptoms are addiction and burnout. The more you expose yourself to it, the more you feel compelled to keep grinding. After all, what if they need the new one Fortnite x Adventure The time of skin in the future? It's a cycle that repeats itself until playing these games turns from a hobby to a job.
Unfortunately, it probably won't get better anytime soon. One look Minecraft, Call of Dutyor Fortnite just see how profitable the live service games are and every corporation wants a piece of the pie. Even worse, I probably won't be changing course anytime soon either. Aside from literally writing about these games for a living, I still love them dearly. But like Sisyphus, I am bound to this hellish treadmill of my own making. I just have to remember that I control the speed at which the treadmill moves.
Anyway, I should start with the journals before I miss the chance to get some more pixels that I can't live without.
- Released
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November 23, 2004
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Content, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)
- Engine
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Unreal Engine
