33% of AAA game devs are working on live service

If you needed any solidification that live service games are more than likely here to stay, it turns out 33% of AAA game developers are working on a live service game.

GDC put out its 2025 State of the Game Industry report, sharing the input of over 3,000 game devs and professionals in the space. Alongside discussing layoffs, AI, and funding, it also touched on live service. One in every three AAA studios asked were working on a live service title. Meanwhile 13% remained interested in the idea.

While some live service games thrive, such as Helldivers 2, Marvel Rivals, and we’ll even throw Fortnite into the mix, others as of late have not proven as successful. We had the failure that was Concord, for example. Live service games serve a purpose of both benefiting developers by giving a continuous source of income provided it can keep its players coming back with updates and challenges. But, the caveat is the market is super oversaturated, leaving it more difficult for games to stand out.

The silver lining, though, is there is still a large of chunk of AAA developers — 41% — that have no interest in entering that market.

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger Editor-in-Chief

Gabe has been a gamer since he was young, playing games like Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Guitar Hero, and whatever looked cool on GameFly. Ever since 2018, he’s been infatuated with the inner workings of the gaming and entertainment industries, covering a wide range of topics from video games to TV and film. Starting as a contributor for PSX Extreme, he’s worked his way up to its Managing Editor. Using what’s he learned over the years, he founded Smash Jump to remind everyone to smash jump.