From The First Descendant to Zenless Zone Zero, this summer we're drowning in F2P slop

The live-service bubble has been bursting for a while. That much is clear. But with how long most triple-A (and even double-AA) video games take to make nowadays and how absurdly huge the possible wins are, it comes as no surprise it’s taking a bit of time to partially retreat from a model that’s grown increasingly risky in the last three years or so. This summer, a handful of free-to-play titles such as The First Descendant and Zenless Zone Zero are making a splash, but we’re still looking at the same big issue.

It’s been looking for a while like most players give live-service models and shiny MTX shenanigans a proper beating when they’re attached to premium releases, yet free-to-play games are either happily consumed or simply ignored because we’ve grown accustomed to them. At the end of the day, however, you’re more likely to spend money repeatedly on a product that’s given you so many hours of well-produced entertainment at no cost.

This has been proven time and again, and it’s one of the reasons why Overwatch was sacrificed in favor of a more esports-friendly and streamlined ‘sequel’ that’s ultimately alienated most of the player base the IP originally conjured up. That switcheroo didn’t really pay off for Blizzard and Activision, as the title’s recent developments have confirmed, but games that are F2P from the get-go get away with the same progression/unlock models all the time.