Ever since the announcement of next generation hardware earlier this year, more and more games are becoming online only experiences. With games like Titanfall, Destiny, and The Division all requiring constant internet connections to play, the path has been paved for a trend that could see a much larger number of always connected games in the future. However, as enticing as some of the possibilities are for this generally unknown method (at least on consoles), there are also a lot of problems that could arise throughout these games life-spans. Server errors, local connection issues, and constant maintenance could literally render these games unplayable at times. Even worse, the fact that they are always online games will mean that they are eventually going to be no longer supported, basically making the game worthless. Even among the excitement and fervor that these games are building, gamers should be wary that they are taking a risk with their wallet when they purchase these online only games.
MAG ultimately promised more than it could deliver, but it still had a loyal following.
Even though the concept of always online games on consoles has only become popular in the recent months with the arrival of next-gen consoles, there already has been an experiment with this idea on the current generation of consoles. The PS3 first person shooter exclusive MAG promised intense 256 player battles that would comprise the core game. While the game did offer a brief offline training mode, the rest of the game remained an online experience. The game received mixed reviews upon release, and the long term player base remained relatively small. Coupled with the low player count and developer Zipper Interactive shutting down in early 2012, Sony has decided to pull the plug on the game, with the servers expected to close in early 2014. While the player base is still diminishing, I'm sure there are still an avid group of players that still enjoy the games large scale battles. Unfortunately, this hardcore following and any other players of the game will be locked out of the games online modes when Sony decides to shut down the servers, making the game essentially worthless. Not only will the dedicated fanbase lose their go-to online game, but they'll also be out of $60, or however much they spent on the game.
Sure, you might say, this kind of thing has happened before in the PC space. Large MMO's like Lego Universe and Star Wars Galaxies have met their eventual demise, with Galaxies having a subscription fee. Fans of any subscription based MMO are taking a risk when they choose to pay that monthly fee, but it seems as that method has faded away in recent years. A large number of MMO's have gone free to play in recent years, with a subscription fee still in place for only the most dedicated players. At least with this concept, if the game is disconnected, at least players aren't out of $60 and monthly subscription fees (save for microtransactions).
It could also be argued that there are a larger number of casual gamers on home consoles than on PC. They might not be aware that a certain game is online only, and will be very surprised and angered when they pop in a game like Titanfall or Destiny one day only to find out that they can't even play it any more. I'm not trying to say that a game like Titanfall or Destiny is destined to fail and will have its servers closed soon after launch, but eventually the day will come where they have to pull the plug on those games, and there still might be a fair amount of players latched onto said games.
SimCity underwent weeks of patches and scheduled maintenance in order for it to function normally.
Additionally, there is also the question of how developers of these games are going to address launch stability or game crashing patches. There have been a myriad of instances this console generation where a patch for a game will go live and can drastically alter a game's multiplayer component, usually for the worse. These patches can even break a game's multiplayer if severe enough, and while they usually last only for a brief period, they still affect a large number of people. Just as bad (or even worse) is when a game first launches and the servers are overloaded and additional ones are needed. This happened the first few days when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released, and subsequently, the PC launches of always online games like SimCity and Diablo 3 have caused uproars in the gaming community. At least with a single player option, gamers can enjoy that portion of the game while they wait for the multiplayer to be fixed. As we witnessed with Diablo 3 and SimCity, without that option to fall back on, things can get pretty nasty. Both games still have a bad reputation for their disastrous launches, and for SimCity at least, compromises had to be made for the game to run properly. Will always online console titles have features stripped in order to be playable?
There is also a major issue that is being addressed right now: subscription based MMO's imposing a monthly fee on top of an Xbox Live or PS Plus monthly fee. Even though gamers have dreamed about playing highly detailed MMO's that are usually available only on PC's, this issue has prevented a large majority of them from being released on consoles. With the new generation approaching, it seems as though this could be the starting point for console based MMO's with The Division and The Elder Scrolls Online coming next year. While it's unknown if The Division will have a subscription fee yet, The Elder Scrolls Online has announced that it will charge $15 a month. This alone has angered many PC gamers, as subscription based MMO's are slowly being phased out, but it's even more frustrating for console gamers who will have to pay for their online services monthly as well as a monthly payment for just one game. Fortunately, free to play MMO's should have no problem winning over console gamers, as they don't have to worry about this complication.
With all these possible roadblocks for online only titles coming to consoles soon, I'm certainly cautious about how they will be received and how they will perform when they are let out into the wild. And don't think for a minute that I'm not excited for any of these games; I am. Destiny, The Elder Scrolls Online, and The Division especially look like they will be exceptional titles, I'm just worried about the issues they could face on consoles because of their always online nature. Besides the obstacles I mentioned, there could be ones that I or no one else could conceive, leading to an ultimately flawed product that I'm not sure console gamers are ready to deal with.
What do you think of always connected titles coming to consoles? Let me know in the comments below.