Josef Fares - co-founder of It Takes Two and Split Fiction developer Hazelight - is known as quite an outspoken guy in the gaming industry. He's not one to keep his cards close to his chest, and has recently spoken against ever making a live-service game.
"We will not have them, I do not believe in them," he told Eurogamer in a recent interview. "I think [live service] is not the right way to go. I hope more and more [developers] focus on their passion, and what they believe in. At the end of the day, we see clearly - and Hazelight is living proof - that when you trust in your vision and go with it, you can still reach a big audience. That's what I want people to focus on."
"I have an understanding that publishers have a lot of, you know, worries about the 'money issue'. But, I think also you have to understand that we are working with a piece of art here, so you have to respect the creativity as well. They have to meet in the middle. You can't also be too much focused on creativity. You can't just say 'give me $100m, I want to do what I want to do.' But, there has to be a balance. It can't just be towards the finance side. So, no, it will not happen with a Hazelight game, ever. I guarantee."
So, there you have it. We've seen a lot of pushback against live-service as a concept in recent years, as while some hits make it big like Marvel Rivals most recently, a lot of games will experience short bursts of success, only to then fall by the wayside, destined to be shut down in the years or even months after launch. It's likely that some studios will continue to push their live-service endeavours, but it's interesting to see how others have decided against the concept entirely.
