Games-as-a-service are not going anywhere soon. And now we know why. According to a report by the DFC Intelligence, market worth for companies that employ such practices have grown significantly.
EA is now worth over $30 billion USD today compared to $4 billion in 2012. Activition Blizzard has grown to be worth up to $60 billion today from $10 billion in six years.
Both companies employ the use of games-as-a-service/live services, monetisation practices that occur multiple times within the games, think loot boxes and microtransactions. EA’s growing library of live services such as EA/Origin Access, games like The Sims 4 and the many Ultimate Team modes in various EA Sports titles are such examples.
Activision benefited well from this thanks to King and its many mobile games that employ such model. Blizzard, despite having no major releases last year, also contributed highly, their games having plenty of live services games like Hearthstone and Overwatch.
Investors are more keen towards games-as-a-service rather than full-on AAA product releases right now as the focus is now on ongoing revenue rather than sales numbers.