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- A live-service God of War title from Bluepoint Games has just been cancelled.
- Because the franchise has always been famous for its single-player content, this approach is shocking.
- A previous attempt at multiplayer already showed the IP wouldn’t be the best fit for live-service.
PlayStation’s struggle with its live service ambitions continues to be a problem for the gaming giant. Following failures like Concord and cancellations like Twisted Metal and The Last of Us Multiplayer, yet another project has been scrapped mid-development.
The latest cancellation comes in the form of Bluepoint Games’ live-service project, but this isn’t the most shocking part. Apparently, the team was working on a God of War live-service game, and at this point, I have to ask why anyone at PlayStation thought a God of War live-service adaptation would ever be a good idea to begin with.
Why it matters: Bluepoint Games wasted a whopping four years on the project, all because the higher-ups wanted to cash in on the God of War name.
Not Everything Needs To Be Turned Into A Live Service
I’m all for branching out and taking creative risks with existing franchises, but the last thing I want from God of War is a live-service spin-off that nickles and dimes its players for skins and battle passes.
This genre is extremely competitive, and if Concord has shown anything, it’s that the PlayStation’s name can only take you so far. In my opinion, the God of War name would not guarantee success for this project either.
It’s baffling that the concept was greenlit to begin with, considering how closely tied God of War’s success is to the narrative and characters. I just don’t see how the franchise would work in a multiplayer setting.
This brings us back to the industry’s needless obsession with GAAS (games as a service). Forcing such projects upon studios rarely leads to good things, and this game probably would have ended up in the live-service graveyard had it been released.
God of War Multiplayer Has Already Been Tried Before
My biggest problem with this news is the fact that PlayStation has already tried multiplayer for God of War. The last entry of the Greek era offered a multiplayer mode in 2013, but this mode was more of an add-on, a different style of gameplay to try after beating the main content.
Director Todd Papy previously stated that he intended to infuse the IP’s single-player DNA into a multiplayer mode with God of War Ascension, and the team largely succeeded with this goal. However, here lies the main problem.
The multiplayer mode, while certainly enjoyable, grew old quickly. Its charm came from the novelty of experiencing brutal and fast-paced combat in a multiplayer setting, but the initial burst of excitement only lasted so long. This is, of course, a huge problem for any live-service title.
Ultimately, the multiplayer mode ended up being a forgettable part of the IP’s worst-performing game. In my opinion, a similar experience wouldn’t be able to stand on its own today, and it would work much better as side-content for the main game akin to Ghost of Tsushima Legends.
PlayStation Must Get It Together
The good news, if there is any, seems to be that PlayStation has taken Concord’s failure to heart. Reports state that the recent cancellations were a direct result of Concord flopping, encouraging the gaming giant to test its first-party lineup more thoroughly.
This should also mean that PlayStation won’t greenlight future projects on a whim just because an IP is already profitable and has a big fan following.
While this is great for the future, it only drives home the point further that the initial live-service push was a huge misfire. The Japanese gaming titan was clearly out of touch a few years ago, and recent events have made it all too clear.
Instead of returning to IPs that would be a natural fit for the GAAS (games as a service) model, like Twisted Metal, Killzone, or Motorstorm, the company is hell-bent on milking the same few franchises over and over.
I think it’s about time franchises like SOCOM and Resistance are given a chance to shine on modern platforms. While we’re at it, a new All-Stars Battle Royale featuring the new faces of the company wouldn’t be such a bad idea either.
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[News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than three years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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