• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Minecraft is technically the best-selling live service/GAAS product, yet it doesn't usually get discussed with the others

I realized that Minecraft achieved its status as 2nd best-selling videogame of all time
I still don't think the multiple variations of tetris counting as one game should allow it to be the best-selling videogame ever, but that's the official statistic, so, eh
by following the live service model.
Since its 1.0 was way back in 2011, there's no way minecraft would have sold so many copies if its content wasn't delivered the way it was.

Even if you're looking at "engagement" over sales, Minecraft is still up there with the highest numbers the industry sees with something like 140 million monthly users. Games like PUBG and Fortnite probably boast way more, but those are surprising numbers for a 10-year-old game

Yet it usually doesn't get mentioned when discussing the advantages/disadvantages (it's mostly disadvantages being discussed, really) of GAAS.
Why is that? (besides minecraft being older than the period when the 'gaas' and 'live service' terms were popularized)
 
Minecraft has scummy microtransactions and pay-wall content? No. It does not.
This.
Minecraft is not a service. It is just a game that gets new patches. You are not punished by the game for not spending more money buying packs or lootboxes. You don't get daily log in bonuses that require you to play everydayor fall behind.

People plan Minecraft how they want, because it doesn't have gated content.
 
Last edited:

Great Hair

Banned
iu
 
Probably because If you ignore the store for extra texture packs, skins etc then it's just the same Minecraft you played back when it was a java app. Only ever accessed the in-game store myself to try the RTX worlds which were free anyway.
 
Minecraft is not a service. It is just a game that gets new patches. You are not punished by the game for not spending more money buying packs or lootboxes. You don't get daily log in bonuses that require you to play everydayor fall behind.

People plan Minecraft how they want, because it doesn't have gated content.
Probably because If you ignore the store for extra texture packs, skins etc then it's just the same Minecraft you played back when it was a java app
To your points: Minecraft doesn't just get patches, it gets and will probably continue to get content updates. Enough content that people regularly go back to see what's new and learn the new mechanics and systems. The content game that released in 2011 is far from what is there today

But, to be fair to your main point, I did put 'technically' in the title because in my mind GAAS didn't necessarily mean having regular content tied to microtransactions and passes, it simply meant games designed to continually accept new content updates past its 1.0 release

However, today I learnt the 'service' part of GAAS specifically means a monetization-based service.
The push against it makes way more sense now
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom