During the Christmas season here at TheGamer, we tend to publish a bunch of features that are full of bittersweet nostalgia, or hopeful anticipation of what awaits us in the world of video games next year. 2026 looks set to be one for the history books, if only because every other studio in the world will be hoping that Rockstar actually sticks to its guns and releases Grand Theft Auto 6 when it says it will.
My angle is a little different. Admittedly some nostalgia, but mostly just a bottomless party pit of moaning and despair. 2026 is the year I hope live service gaming dies.
This is a pipedream. A Hail Mary. They make way too much money to ever really fail, but only those who succeed. For every mammoth like Fortnite, there are a dozen ugly failures like Concord. In 2026, I want the industry to get a grip and start developing some good old fashioned video games.
Call Of Duty
We recently received news that Activision will be “moving away” from its rigid annual rotation of Call Of Duty Black Ops and Modern Warfare, and while I'm sure that doesn't mean more than a year between games, it fills me with hope that a studio (and series) I once loved can get back on track and start producing the amazing shooters it's known for.
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The live service model has eroded Call Of Duty as we know it. Beavis and Butthead skins abound, and the same old discarded trash resurfaces every year, the series resting entirely on its stockpiles of video games that came out over a decade ago. I was just talking about the original Black Ops campaign with a colleague, and we both said that sometimes, at random moments, we hear Reznov charge through the prison, “Spear the winged beast!” It was a good meal.
My fondness for the early Call Of Duty games and their campaigns runs deep. Call Of Duty: Finest Hour was my first exposure to an FPS game with a good campaign, and Call Of Duty 2 was also a blast. While Modern Warfare 2019 was a brief return to that greatness, the series has faltered at every turn since then, with a hyper-focus on live service gubbins to keep the board happy.
Battlefield 6
The live service model will also benefit Battlefield 6. I love this game; it's number two on my Game Of The Year list with over 400 hours played. However, its latest update has broken everything in the game in a way that suggests the patch was rushed out the door, battered by a studio that had managed to resurrect some of its reputation after the disaster that was Battlefield 2042 with a stellar BF6 launch.
Once upon a time, Battlefield had large DLC packs, often with multiple maps released simultaneously in a general theme. These were flawed at their core because the maps cost money, and those who didn't pay were kept away from those who did.. It divided the player base. Battlefield 6's new live service model eliminates this problem, but causes several others. Updates are rushed to align with a fixed content rollout. Each season must have multiple maps, events, gadgets, weapons and vehicles. And they come at set times. Testing will be optional. Deadlines don't.
Battlefield Studios' desire to appeal to all aspects of the market, with a tough battle royale that I can only foresee a slow and miserable death for, has led to a drop in player numbers. It's a great game, don't get me wrong, but unfortunately I expect so much more from an IP with as much history as Battlefield. “Awesome” shouldn't feel like a compromise.
Apex Legends
Apex Legends is another game I love, or at least loved. I've racked up thousands of hours in Respawn Entertainment's battle royale over the years, even though I haven't played in quite some time. Eventually, I found the live service a little tiring, with a constant rotation of new characters and map changes keeping the game artificially fresh. If you come back after six months, you have no idea what's going on. You come back disoriented and overwhelmed.
Back in the day, Respawn Entertainment produced Titanfall and Titanfall 2 within two years of each other. Both are exceptional shooters, with Titanfall 2 widely considered a cult classic with some of the best movement techniques and campaigns in modern FPS games. Instead of producing something new, there is a team working on Apex Legends day in, day out, with a constant amount of new content.
The live service model feels outdated, and yet I know it's not going anywhere. If I could ask Santa for one thing this year, it would be this: let 2026 be the year the industry remembers how to stop chasing engagement stats and start making incredible games again.
Although Call Of Duty is up against GTA 6 next year, the next COD is reportedly a “complete copy of Modern Warfare 2”
And no, not the good one.
