95% of Game Developers Plan to Embrace Live Services According to Report

In a groundbreaking revelation, Griffin Gaming Partners has unveiled a staggering statistic – a whopping 95% of game developers are either currently engrossed in crafting or maintaining a live service game. The much-anticipated 2023 Game Development Report, crafted in collaboration with Rendered VC, delves into the pulse of the gaming industry by surveying 537 studios worldwide.

Among the intriguing findings, a resounding 66% of participants expressed their belief that integrating live services is an indispensable ingredient for securing long-term success for gaming titles. The survey defines live services as the heartbeat of a game, pulsating with regular updates planned meticulously to elevate the overall gaming experience.

Beneath the surface, the report discloses a dichotomy between traditional game development and the dynamic realm of live services. While the former typically spans two to three years, the latter is a marathon that stretches beyond the five-year mark. The survey encapsulates the essence of this dichotomy, stating, "Multi-year game development forms production processes and pipelines that are intended to deliver a few key milestones in what is essentially a waterfall process. Production in live services, however, is a constant state of planning & adjusting game parameters to enhance player experience while designing and deploying new features to add new player value."

Moreover, the report sheds light on the insatiable appetite for speed within live service teams. These forward-looking teams yearn for faster content releases to keep the player base engaged. As stated in the report, "Across the industry, live service teams reported their ideal production schedules as weekly to biweekly for live ops cadences and biweekly to monthly for game content updates. In the context of game development, which typically spans multiple years, live service production schedules are moving at breakneck speed."

In conclusion, Griffin Gaming Partners' 2023 Game Development Report, a collaboration with Rendered VC, peels back the curtain on the gaming industry's prevailing shift towards live services. With an overwhelming majority of developers actively immersed in this paradigm, the report signals a seismic transformation in the landscape of game development, where adaptability and continuous evolution have become the new norms."