During the festive season here at TheGamer, we tend to publish a bunch of features filled with bittersweet nostalgia, or hopeful anticipation of what the next year has in store for us in the world of video games. 2026 looks like it's going to be one for the history books, even though every other studio in the world is hoping that Rockstar will actually stick to its guns and release Grand Theft Auto 6 when it says it will.
My angle is a little different. Some nostalgia, admittedly, but mostly a bottomless celebratory pit of grief and despair. 2026 is the year I hope live service games die.
It's a pipe dream. A Hail Mary. They make too much money to ever truly perish, but only those who succeed. For every mammoth like Fortnite, there are a dozen abject failures like Concorde. In 2026, I want the industry to catch up and start developing some good old fashioned video games.
Call of Duty
We've just received news that Activision will be 'moving away' from its strict annual rotation of Call of Duty Black Ops and Modern Warfare, and while I'm sure that more than a year between games doesn't mean much, it fills me with hope that the studio I love (and the series) will be able to get back on track and start production for its known shooters.
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The live service model has eclipsed Call of Duty as we know it. Beavis and Butthead skins run rampant, and the same-old garbage that comes out is rearranged every year, the series rests entirely on its fame from the video games that came out a decade ago. I was just talking to a colleague about the original Black Ops campaign, and we both mentioned that sometimes, at random moments, we'd hear Reznov charging through the prison, “Spear the winged beast!” That was some good food.
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 decent campaign, and Call of Duty 2 was also a banger. While Modern Warfare 2019 was a brief return to that greatness, since then the series has weakened at every turn with a hyper-focus on live service gubbins to keep the board happy.
Battlefield 6
The live service model is also going to Battlefield 6. I love this game; It's number two on my games of the year list with over 400 hours played. However, its most recent update broke everything in the game in a way that suggests the patch was out the door, mishandled by the studio that managed to revive its reputation after the disaster of Battlefield 2042 with a stellar BF6 launch.
Once upon a time, Battlefield had large DLC packs, often with multiple maps released at once under a common theme. These were flawed at their core because maps cost money, and those who could not pay were kept away from those who did. It divided the playerbase. The new Battlefield 6 Direct Services model eliminates this problem, but several other reasons. Updates are rushed to align with specific content rollouts. Each season should have multiple maps, events, gadgets, guns, and vehicles. And they arrive on time. Testing is optional. No time limit.
Battlefield Studios' desire to appeal to every side of the market, with tack-on battle royale, for which I only foresee a slow and miserable death, has led to declining player numbers. It's a fantastic game, don't get me wrong, but unfortunately, I expect more from an IP with as storied a history as Battlefield. 'Fantastic' shouldn't sound like a compromise.
Apex Legends
Apex Legends is another game that I like, or at least like. Although I haven't played in a long time, I've accumulated thousands of hours in Respawn Entertainment's battle royale over the years. Ultimately, I found Live Service Grand to be a bit tiresome, with a constant rotation of new characters and map changes keeping the game artificially fresh. If you come back six months later, you have no clue what's going on. You return distraught and overwhelmed.
Back in the day, Respawn Entertainment produced Titanfall and Titanfall 2 within two years of each other. Both are exceptional shooters, Titanfall 2 is widely considered a cult classic with some of the best movement techniques and campaign in modern FPS games. Instead of producing something new, there's a team working on Apex Legends day in, day out, constantly churning out new content.
The live service model feels dated, 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 metrics and start making incredible games again.
Although next year's GTA 6 vs. Call of Duty, the next COD is reported to be “a complete copy of Modern Warfare 2”.
And no, not good.
