Games as a service

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Games as a service (also known as live-service games) is a business model designed to continuously monetize games after they are initially sold (or offered for free), typically through new updates, DLC, and microtransactions. A common practice in this model is allowing players to pre-purchase content with the promise that it will be released at a specified time, and will include all features advertised in the product's listing. Games as a service also typically has a premium currency, which players purchase with real-world currency to acquire in-game items.

Issues

While GaaS incentivizes developers to keep producing content for their game, the game often risks becoming completely unplayable once support is discontinued. There is very little legal recourse for the user to recoup the cost of purchasing the game or its in-game content. The End-User License Agreement (EULA) typically disclaims the publisher's obligation to refund or compensate users, as it clarifies that they are purchasing a license rather than actually owning the software.

Examples

Ubisoft

Main article: Ubisoft

XDefiant, developed by Ubisoft, is an example of a game as a service. On December 3rd, 2024, the game announced the shutdown of its servers on June 3rd, 2025. 49 days before the shutdown announcement, executive producer of XDefiant, Mark Rubin posted online that the game had no plans of shutting down after season 4, while the game was still in season 2, and they had recently discussed their plans internally for the second year of content. The shutdown post announced that the last 30 days of purchases would be fully refunded.

The shutdown of The Crew is one of the central issues of the Stop Killing Games campaign. Despite the game containing some code for an offline mode from the start, it was not made accessible to the user due to the game's digital-rights-management (DRM), leaving the game in a completely unplayable state.

EA

Main article: EA

In recent years, EA has garnered a reputation for being a company involved in these sorts of practices, and has received criticism for over-reliance on microtransactions and DLC.