70% of developers concerned about sustainability of live-service games, new study suggests

For the survey, 600 developers were interviewed between February and March this year and defined live-service games as online games featuring frequent updates and in-app purchases.

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The survey further asked participants specifically what those concerns were, with sustainability coming out on top.

Players losing interest in live-service games was the biggest concern, followed by competition with other live-service games and rising user acquisition costs.

Image credit: Game Developer Collective / Game Developer A further point in the survey notes that paid DLC is on the rise, with 30 percent of surveyed developers exploring this for their next game - an increase of nine percent compared to their most recent releases.

It's clear, then, that while live-service games dominate playtime, developers are concerned about competing in the long-term with such mega hits.