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[TheDarkPhantom]

Quite possibly the greatest redemption arc in gaming history, that charismatic Irishman put in serious work to make the game live up to his initial, overzealous promises, well done Sean

 

[nkarafo]

It 100% is GaaS. The S in GaaS is not a dollar sign. They have a live service game that they're generating revenue from. How is that not GaaS?

But the game is mainly single player.

And it can be played offline. It's not dependent on some remote server, at least most of it.

 

[Majukun]

If Sony or Microsoft owned Hello Games, NMS wouldn’t have been supported as long as it has - and wouldn’t be the game it is today.

Leave them be.

if sony owned them, maybe the game day one wouldn't had been sold on a bunch of lies and need any post lunch support though

 

[nkarafo]

It’s pretty wild. I don’t get how they are making increasing levels of £££ from pure sales, which is I assume only new customers. So far as I can tell there was no micro transactions, no paid expansions. Just the game, as it is. Incredible really.

And the game is available on GOG so it also doesn't have any DRM.

 

[MaxwellParrish]

Yep it's not GaaS at all. It's more like following Nintendo business model with Animal crossing. They found a great formula and simply stick with it and are constantly improving it.

Not really...If they were following the Nintendo formula they would be at least at NMS4, with every iteration sold at full price

 

[Killjoy-NL]

THIS.................is how you do GAAS. It doesn't have to be a Fortnight knock off.

I don't get the hate for Fortnite.
I don't play that game either, but the hate some people have for it is ridiculous.

OT:

Gj, Hello Games. Surprised they still manage to have that much revenue in 2022.

 

[systemr123]

Why is this slowly becoming the new metric on this forum? I feel like people here didn't used to care about active player count of single player games* before.

*=Yes I know NMS can technically have multiplayer but it is also an experience that can be easily enjoyed solo and offline.

It’s a little thing joke called sarcasm

Little background info: it’s a play on MS nothing burger numbers to hide bad performance and make their products look like a success, while everyone knows the truth is the opposite.

They also use the term “players” for the amount of downloads of a game, even if they never start up the game more than once and play it for 1 minute. This is also what Netflix does nowadays: you watch 2 minutes of a show or movie and they count it as a complete view, even though you only watched a trailer size amount of media.

 

[Loomy]

But the game is mainly single player.

And it can be played offline. It's not dependent on some remote server, at least most of it.

I think we need to expand our definition/expectation of what a live service/GaaS game is. That way we don't end up with 10 fortnite and destiny clones.

 

[nkarafo]

I think we need to expand our definition/expectation of what a live service/GaaS game is. That way we don't end up with 10 fortnite and destiny clones.

For me it's simple. A GaaS needs to be a service in order to function. Without said service the game is no more. An offline game that doesn't need a server to fully function cannot be a service. Just because it gets many expansions and updates doesn't make it one. I can still play the game 24/7 in it's current form even if the developer closes shop. I can play it for ever, as long as i maintain a PC that can play it.

Yes, it has some multiplayer aspects. But those are optional and a small part of the game. It's no different than any single player game that also has an optional online multiplayer. Heck, games that simply have Denuvo in them are more GaaS than No Man's Sky ever was.

 

[Goalus]

For me it's simple. A GaaS needs to be a service in order to function. Without said service the game is no more. An offline game that doesn't need a server to fully function cannot be a service. Just because it gets many expansions and updates doesn't make it one. I can still play the game 24/7 in it's current form even if the developer closes shop. I can play it for ever, as long as i maintain a PC that can play it.

Yes, it has some multiplayer aspects. But those are optional and a small part of the game. It's no different than any single player game that also has an optional online multiplayer. Heck, games that simply have Denuvo in them are more GaaS than No Man's Sky ever was.

In NMS's case the service is the ongoing support in the form of updates.

 

[StueyDuck]

They should have spent $400 mil on loading screens though

 

[nkarafo]

In NMS's case the service is the ongoing support in the form of updates.

This does not count as GaaS though.

 

[Goalus]

This does not count as GaaS though.

Says who?
It is literally a game as a service. Not a product that is finalized at a certain point in time, but that evolves over multiple years so that its users are essentially consumers of a service.

They should have spent $400 mil on loading screens though

I'd rather have them put two clowns in spandex costumes from the Marvel universe into the game.

 

[StueyDuck]

I'd rather have them put two clowns in spandex costumes from the Marvel universe into the game.

just checking. This is console wars right?

Just confused how comparing two space games = spiderman 2?

 

[Goalus]

just checking. This is console wars right?

Just confused how comparing two space games = spiderman 2?

What was your comment that I replied to?

 

[StueyDuck]

What was your comment that I replied to?

You don't even know what you responded to... you just knew you had to be angry at spiderman?

I'm so confused right now. This is a thread about no man's sky selling well right?

 

[Goalus]

You don't even know what you responded to... you just knew you had to be angry at spiderman?

I'm so confused right now. This is a thread about no man's sky selling well right?

So you don't want to enlighten me what your comment was about? In case I mistook it, please do accept my apologies, but this thread is already filled with console warring. Therefore it's not that simple to isolate sincere posts.

 

[UnravelKatharsis]

Wish the would rework the animations. They're still jank. Get some mocap in there

The animations are very "sims" cartoonish. I can't imagine how dumb realistic versions of their animations would look.

 

[nkarafo]

Says who?
It is literally a game as a service. Not a product that is finalized at a certain point in time

Any game falls under that definition these days. They all get patches and updates until they get "finalized". Recently Quake Enhanced got a pretty great update with extra content, out of nowhere. Didn't know Quake is also a GaaS game.

its users are essentially consumers of a service

What happens when this "service" ends? Can you still play the game offline? Yes? Then how is it a service when i continue to use the product normally despite them not serving me anymore? Isn't a service supposed to be unusable when it stops? Is "GaaS" a temporary label that changes when a game stops being supported with patches and updates?

And what about the games that need to be online and depend on an actual service in order to function at all? Shouldn't they have a different definition so we can separate them? You are not implying all games are under the same blanket whether they need online servers or not?

Again, just because they support it, doesn't mean the game itself a service. It's not even monetized, which is a pretty important aspect of GaaS.

 

[StueyDuck]

So you don't want to enlighten me what your comment was about? In case I mistook it, please do accept my apologies, but this thread is already filled with console warring. Therefore it's not that simple to isolate sincere posts.

No man's sky is a space game... starfield is a space game... still with me?

One is an indie game with a troubled development and humbled budget but over many years has righted the ship and is now getting the profit the deserve from doing so. The other is a massive bloated, overly hyped AAA monstrosity that released in a poor state and had a whopping 400mil budget behind it.

One of the core pillars of gameplay in no man's sky is seamless space travel at least between planets. Again a darling indie on a small budget.

One of the core pillars of starfield is seamless menu navigation, open map, click destination, loading screen, space then open map, loading screen, land etc. Again on a massive $400 mil budget.

Now I'll repeat this part again, both are space games... so I'm having a jab at starfield for not being able to do what a small indie game could do way back in 2016 on a far smaller budget.

Now tell me why you brought up spiderman if it wasn't just because you wanted to console war?

 

[SHA]

ONE WORD "SF".

 

[Goalus]

Any game falls under that definition these days. They all get patches and updates until they get "finalized". Recently Quake Enhanced got a pretty great update with extra content, out of nowhere. Didn't know Quake is also a GaaS game.

Substantial updates for an otherwise finalized product after a very long time make it difficult to classify, yes.

What happens when this "service" ends? Can you still play the game offline? Yes?

Yes, unless it's a multiplayer game.

Then how is it a service when i continue to use the product normally despite them not serving me anymore?

Is access to the game part of the service? Or does the service constitute the content of the game that evolves over time? Both can be true, but doesn't have to in my opinion.

Isn't a service supposed to be unusable when it stops? Is "GaaS" a temporary label that changes when a game stops being supported with patches and updates?

According to my definition - yes, there is no service attached to it anymore.

And what about the games that need to be online and depend on an actual service in order to function at all? Shouldn't they have a different definition so we can separate them? You are not implying all games are under the same blanket whether they need online servers or not?

Yes, what about these games? Outriders for example? It's an online-only game that has a single-player and a multiplayer mode with no service attached to it. But access to the game depends on the publisher serving it. Nevertheless it was labeled "not GaaS" by the publisher. What about games on Google Stadia when it was still alive, access to all of them depended on a service, but are they all GaaS?

Again, just because they support it, doesn't mean the game itself a service. It's not even monetized, which is a pretty important aspect of GaaS.

It is monetized because you have to buy the game. In NMS's case you bought a bare-bones version at launch that was fleshed out over multiple years. You paid for the service in advance.

No man's sky is a space game... starfield is a space game... still with me?

One is an indie game with a troubled development and humbled budget but over many years has righted the ship and is now getting the profit the deserve from doing so. The other is a massive bloated, overly hyped AAA monstrosity that released in a poor state and had a whopping 400mil budget behind it.

One of the core pillars of gameplay in no man's sky is seamless space travel at least between planets. Again a darling indie on a small budget.

One of the core pillars of starfield is seamless menu navigation, open map, click destination, loading screen, space then open map, loading screen, land etc. Again on a massive $400 mil budget.

Now I'll repeat this part again, both are space games... so I'm having a jab at starfield for not being able to do what a small indie game could do way back in 2016 on a far smaller budget.

Now tell me why you brought up spiderman if it wasn't just because you wanted to console war?

Got it. So I did indeed know what I was replying to. This thread is about NMS, but nevertheless you felt the need to take a jab at another game. In response to that I took a jab at yet another game in order to demonstrate (by exaggeration) what you were essentially doing. That's it.

 

[Fafalada]

Yep it's not GaaS at all.

It absolutely is.
GaaS isn't defined by monetization choices - it's defined by operating and maintaining a live-service, which NMS totally is.
Whether or not you can do so profitably (or how you generate profits) is orthogonal - ie. F2P was the quintessential monetization model for GaaS that started the hype back in 2004 when the likes of Kart Rider became a smash-hit, but subscription MMOs have been doing GaaS years prior - just - not all that successfully.

Whereas what people generally consider a GaaS game includes microtransactions, season/battle passes, paying for latest expansions, whatnot. You know, continued revenue, the thing that makes the suits come.

They are still generating continued revenue 7 years after the game released. They aren't doing the insane profit margins that Gacha traps get - but they also operate at a scale that's 100s of times smaller and cheaper to operate than those - so it works for them.
Suits care about growth more than simple recurrence, but more importantly they operate on different scales - 40M/year is low enough to be considered 'expendable' type of revenue to the larger companies - to the point some of them would shut down such a service without a second thought because they don't consider it worth the accounting/tracking efforts/costs (I wish I was kidding about this - but I've literally seen it happen).

 

[drotahorror]

Crazy, I was hooked on NMS hype in the beginning and bought the game at launch, never would have imagined it would keep them afloat years later after the failed promises.

Bring back Joe Danger. We need a Trials alternative.

 

[Tams]

Got it on the Switch. It 's not the best experience as there's a lot of asset loading that can take up to 30 seconds at times, and the universe is very empty without proper settlements.

Still good fun.

I might get it for PC as well.

 

[Tams]

Yep it's not GaaS at all. It's more like following Nintendo business model with Animal crossing. They found a great formula and simply stick with it and are constantly improving it.

It is a service though. The 'service' refers to ongoing support and updates.

It's just this is one of the rare ones where there's only a one-off entrance fee.

 

[XXL]

This game is absolutely insane on PSVR2. If you haven't played it, you have no idea.

 

[StueyDuck]

Got it. So I did indeed know what I was replying to. This thread is about NMS, but nevertheless you felt the need to take a jab at another game. In response to that I took a jab at yet another game in order to demonstrate (by exaggeration) what you were essentially doing. That's it.

Do tell me the correlation between Spiderman and NMS.

I have justified my answer, and im sure many here would see how two space exploration games are comparable, now what is your justification?

just to remind you, your jab was "2 marvel clowns in spandex"

so do tell me how that has a link to No Mans Sky.

Im giving you a chance here to prove you aren't just console warring. i'd recommend taking it

 

[Clear]

Says who?
It is literally a game as a service. Not a product that is finalized at a certain point in time, but that evolves over multiple years so that its users are essentially consumers of a service.

I disagree. Its sold as a standard retail game with ongoing free updates. That's not what is generally described as GaaS because under that model the updates are directly monetized via season passes etc and are what drives long-term profitability.

Very, very different imho as basically there's no argument to call NMS' model predatory in the sense that Hello aren't continually demanding more money from their buyers to keep up with the community.

You could fault them for basically launching an "early access" style product without labelling it as such, but beyond that...

 

[mckmas8808]

I don't get the hate for Fortnite.
I don't play that game either, but the hate some people have for it is ridiculous.

OT:

Gj, Hello Games. Surprised they still manage to have that much revenue in 2022.

Fortnite is cool. I just hate all the copy cats that lack original ideas.

 

[MirageMew2]

Big NMS fan, over 300 hours, love this for them.

And yes, it’s a GaaS. One of the best. Regular free expansions, timed expeditions with FOMO unlockables, online multiplayer missions etc all check those boxes for me.