GDC's annual State of the Game Industry survey reveals 1/3 of 'triple-A developers' are working on live service games

(Image credit: Netease)

We've expressed a certain creeping exhaustion with live service games more than once in these digital pages, and the catastrophic failure of Concord led to some predictions that the tide was finally turning against them. But maybe not, too. GDC's 2025 State of the Game Industry report says 33% of triple-A developers who responded to its annual survey are currently working on a live service game.

Across all respondents, 16% said they're working on a live service game, indicative of the fact that they tend to be bigger-budget affairs, made by larger studios and publishers that can afford to develop and maintain them. Interestingly, only 13% of all respondents said they'd be interested in making a live service game for their next release, while 42% said they would not. 29% said they didn't know, or that it wasn't applicable.

The GDC report describes the response as "mixed," which is perhaps a little generous given that close to half expressed a firm lack of interest in live service development. There's definitely some enthusiasm for it: Former Halo and Destiny producer Joe Tung, for instance, said in a 2024 interview that the free-to-play live service model "is so much better for developers and players," because "you can think long term in terms of what is best for the players." Tung's Theorycraft Games studio is currently working on Supervive, a 'MOBA battle royale meets hero shooter' that's currently in early access on Steam.

Some survey respondents said they also saw value in live service games, "not only on the financial side, but also in the player experience and community building." Others, though, "noted their concerns about declining player interest, creative stagnation, predatory practices and microtransactions, and the risk of developer burnout. One of the biggest issues mentioned was market saturation, with many developers noting how tough it is to break through and build a sustainable player base."

There's little doubt that live service game development can be risky and burdensome. Live service hits "can be a lucrative and sustaining business model," as the GDC report says, but the risks of failure are high and the fallout can be brutal: Rocksteady reportedly underwent multiple rounds of layoffs after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League failed to catch fire, and Concord developer Firewalk Studios was closed outright. Even when live service games are successful, the need to keep the wheels turning can be rough on developers: As we noted in 2019, shortly after reports of "brutal crunch" at Fortnite developer Epic Games came to light, "live service games have trained players to expect a constant stream of new content, and only constant work can deliver it."

GDC State of the Game Industry survey 2025 page - Developers are divided on live service games — (Image credit: GDC)

The survey results don't paint the final, definitive picture of the current state of live game development. 58% of respondents come from the US, while the UK, Canada, and Australia account for another 16%. Laine Nooney, associate professor of media, culture, and communications at NYU Steinhardt, pointed out on Bluesky that the survey has "no statistically significant respondents from China," and that only two non-Western nations accounted for more than 1% of the responses. The GDC survey itself states that some responses "may overly represent the experiences of developers in the West and may not always reflect the views of the global community at large." It's also notable that what exactly constitutes a "triple-A developer" isn't nailed down.

Still, it seems unlikely major studios will give up on the quest to become the next Fortnite (or Apex Legends, Warframe, Diablo 4, take your pick) anytime soon. The Concorde disaster reportedly has Sony backing off on its big live service plans, but Suicide Squad publisher Warner aims to go even bigger on free-to-play and live service games to avoid the "volatile" ups and downs of big-budget game releases. Coupled with the high percentage of developers currently grinding away on them, it's probably fair to say that live service games are going to be with us for a good while yet.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.