Space Marine 2: Community Update – Devs Avoiding ‘Full Live Service’ Game
In a recent Community Update, the Space Marine 2 Devs are not wanting it to become “a full live service game.” But what does that mean?
Live Service Games have gotten a lot of bad press lately. There’s been some historic flops recently, games shutting down, and even studios shuttering. And there’s good reasons for that. Personally, I blame an already crowded market of games as a service/live service games. It can be incredibly difficult to step into that market and if your game doesn’t stand out it’s not going to succeed.
Space Marine 2 – ‘Not A Full Live Service Game’
So it’s not really shocking that Space Marine 2 is attempting to avoid some of those pitfalls. On the Focus message boards, the devs have released a Community Update. There’s lots of good info in there to read. But first I want to talk about that Live Service Elephant in the room and FOMO (fear of missing out). Here’s the quote everyone’s talking about:
via Space Marine II message boards
“We have noted that the Community Events have received cold feedback since we introduced them as an additional way to unlock cosmetic items. We saw that many of you mentioned FOMO generated by the events. Rest assured, we are not looking to transform Space Marine 2 into a full live service game. The items available through events WILL be available later, for everyone. We want Community Events to be a way to unlock the items in advance, for the most dedicated players, and not to be a source of frustration and stress for everyone. “
Space Marine 2 certainly has some Live Service elements for sure. There’s multiplayer for one. There’s cosmetic “skins” you can purchase/unlock. And there’s the season pass as well. But it’s also a game that doesn’t bury the new playable content behind a paywall a la “seasons” or “episodes” — so far it’s just been additional cosmetics.
I don’t really want to split hairs here. Space Marine 2 certainly doesn’t have all the same Live Service elements as something like a Call of Duty, Fortnite, or Destiny 2. What it does have is a fantastic core single player campaign (which you can play as a co-op game, too). But what really sets this one apart is that you pay once for the game and you’re good. If you want to purchase the season pass for the cosmetics, you can — but you don’t have to if you just want to play new missions.
New Content For Free
Space Marine 2’s Devs aren’t sitting on their laurels either. In February they released the following content:
- The Datavault, with new cosmetic rewards
- The Biovore
- New PvP Map “Tomb”
- Salamanders Champion Pack
- Raven Guard Cosmetic Pack including its Successor Chapters
- FOV Slider
- Perks rework
There were more changes, but those were the big ones. Aside from the cosmetics, everything added was free. Also, there has been a few hotfixes that launched, too. There’s also more goodies coming in the future.
There’s also one more thing that I am also really excited about: Horde Mode.
I’m not the only person looking forward to this mode either! Overall, I think the game has a lot of stuff coming down the pipe. I also appreciate that I don’t have to play this game 24/7 in order to keep up. I can hop on with my friends, slay out for a bit, and stop. It’s not a second job. It’s a quick bug-slaying escape. And that’s one of the things I really like about Space Marine 2.
Is Space Marine 2 A Success?
I’ve also seen that there’s been a lot of doom and gloom about the player counts. And yes, the 24-hour peak is much lower than the all-time peak by an order of magnitude. But I have to ask, is that really that bad?
Sure, the most hardcore players are still going strong. The casual gamers will come back on their own to check stuff out when there’s new stuff. But does a game have to be “super sticky” for it to be a success? That’s player count not “subscriptions” — this isn’t a live service game where you have to pay a fee to keep playing. The devs already got paid for the purchase.
Space Marine 2 feels like an old school couch co-op sort of release. But I also think the devs view it’s success like the old school console releases of yore. They sold a couple million copies (some where between 2.75 to 6.23 million based on estimates). And they are still cranking out releases and following their road map. I think this game will have some long legs to it and people are going to continue to play it. That seems like a success story to me.
Let’s hope more game companies take note of Space Marine 2 being a “not” live service game.
