Reflection 6​

Game as a Service​
Most of the top games in the App Store and Google Play(such as Pokemon Go, Candy Crush,
Clash Royale) were published several years ago. The phenomenon reveals a trend called "Game
as a Service"(GaaS) in the game industry.​
In the past, games were products. Players pay a fixed amount of money to buy a game. But now,
more and more games, from casual mobile games to AAA games, are free to play.​
In this way, more players are able to try the game without burden. But GaaS is more challenging
for game developers at the same time. If the game design(espacially the initial part of the game)
is not good enough, it's easy to lose a player forever and get no money from him.​
And there is also an advantage from the designer's perspective. The game does not have to be
totally "finished" when publishing, a "MVP" is OK. Because the game can be updated
continuously after releasing. Compared to GaaS, GaaP strategy requires a game to be as perfect
as possible at the time of release. That usually means longer developing period. If the game
does not work as expected, it would be a huge failure. The risk of GaaS is lower, the game can be
"tested" by plenty of players in a shorter time period and be updated based on feedback. This
also makes games become more data-driven.
There is lots of work for game developers to do after launching the game. Release is the start of
real iteration.​
Future?​
What's the next trend after "Game as a Service"? Maybe one possible answer is "Game as a
platform". A good example is Roblox. As a platform, they not only provide game contents for
players to play, but also provide tools for players to make their own games for the platform. In
this way, the Roblox community could evolve itself and have longer life.​
References​
[1] Games as a Service: Everything You Need to Know in 2021 https://clevertap.com/blog/games-
as-a-service/​
[2] Beyond Games as a Service with Live Ops https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7755b0nY0I​