Live service games received a breath of life in the form of Helldivers 2 from Arrowhead games. The genre has had ups and downs over the years, with many studios taking a crack and trying to get a game off the ground, to varying degrees of success. In an interview with the daily telegraph, FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki talked about the possibility of entering the live service market, letting on that he would be keen to give it a go some day.
Miyazaki Would Like to Make a Live Service Game similar to Helldivers 2
The most popular live service games tend to be battle royales, such as Fortnite, PUBG and Call of Duty Warzone.
Live services don’t need to be battle royales; they just tend to thrive in that format. When asked about FromSoftware making a live service game, Miyazaki had this to say:
there’s always the possibility, these games are definitely fun. And we’re interested in the patterns they are taking. If we did it, it might be a bit different! But we’re definitely interested and there’s definitely that possibility in the future. We’d love to take a crack at them some day.
This would certainly be a different direction for FromSoftware to take, considering its history of making challenging and unique, mostly single-player games. Many FromSoftware games feature multiplayer elements, but this would be a whole new ballgame for the company to dive into.
A FromSoftware Live Service Game Would Be Unique
What could a FromSoftware live service title look like? As mentioned above, live services seem to thrive as battle royale games, they’re easier to develop, less lore intensive for developers and players, and they’re super easy to get into.
You don’t need to understand the geopolitical goings on in Modern Warfare 3 to jump into Verdansk to blast some bad guys. But great big sweeping epics are what FromSoftware does best, and Hidetaka Miyazaki knows this, in his comments he said that his take would be different.
FromSoftware could take a leaf from Arrowheads book and look at making a live service with a large on-going narrative that takes the lore of say, Elden Ring and work it into an exciting co-op experience.
Elden Ring is known for its deep lore and difficult yet rewarding combat, which is something that could very easily be lost in a big live service type game, especially a battle royale, but there is one FromSoftware franchise that is perfect for live service, the Armoured Core franchise, in these games players take control of a mech and fight against different factions.
The latest installment had plenty of customization, mission variety and an extremely fun combat system that allowed the player to go up against hundreds of easy to destroy minions in epic cinematic battles, with difficult bosses that put players skill to the test.
But what do you think about FromSoftware potentially creating a live service title? Let us know in the comments!
