AC Valhalla is a Perfect Example of Problematic Live-service Game

Source: Ubisoft.

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Developers of single-player AAA games are increasingly choosing to create them as live-service, or game-as-service, model (formerly, the term was associated exclusively with online free-to-play titles).

1. In theory, this doesn't mean anything bad - just that an item receives long post-release support, including numerous updates and new content.
2. In practice, however, players may get the impression that they are paying for an unfinished product, and what's more are not always able to experience everything the developers have prepared.

This is because the aforementioned "new content" is very often made available as part of a time-limited events, which - when they come to an end - may return only some time later or never.

Examples are numerous - you will find a few below, under the second paragraph. And now let's move on to the complaints of the Assassin's Creed: Valhalla community about the live-service model used in this item, which are the clou of this news.

Criticism of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla as a live-service game

Yesterday on the subreddit dedicated to Ubisoft's series about hooded assassins, a thread appeared regarding events such as Ostara, Yule, Sigrblot and Oskoreia. Its author pointed out that they were quite interesting, and now that development of the game has come to an end, it is impossible to return to them.

The community agreed with him. Some people - especially those who reached for the game more recently - were surprised by the fact that now in AC: Valhalla it is impossible to do everything (although a similar topic was raised already a year ago).

1. Players believe that these types of events should make their way into the game permanently - preferably that they could be activated by performing an appropriate action (such as drinking a potion bought from Valka).
2. Others argue that there is no chance of this happening, suggesting that this is not why Ubisoft did not add items to the store that could be obtained for free during these events to bring them back now. In their view, this is to encourage the use of microtransactions.
3. What some fans hope is that these events can be restored with mods.

It is worth noting that the community does not consider this content to be particularly important or necessary when interacting with AC: Valhalla - in which there is no shortage of content anyway. It's more about a sense of loss, not being able to experience something that was part of the game for a while.

It's unlikely that Ubisoft will listen to the voice of fans and bring the events back. At most, one can hope that the French will recognize the problem in question and a similar situation will not be repeated in the next "big Assassin," which is likely to be AC: Red (working title).

Some other examples of live-service games

When it comes to titles designed primarily for single-player, we can mention Monster Hunter: World or Forza Horizon 5.

1. The latter, of course, is all about the opportunity to get rare cars - especially those that are added in updates.
2. The best way to get them into our garage is to complete challenges from a festival playlist offering the car in question as a prize.
3. The problem is that each playlist is available for exactly one week. If we miss it or do not manage to collect the appropriate number of points, the opportunity to claim the coveted set of wheels will be lost.
4. Then we will have to wait for our dream car to be added to another playlist (which can happen in many months) or for someone to put it up at an auction house.

A good example of a single-player AAA live-service is also Diablo IV. However, the analysis must wait until we see in practice what part of the seasonal content will be moved to the Realm of Eternity after a given season ends.

1. Since we are on Blizzard games, it is worth recalling how the team approached a similar problem in Overwatch (I'm referring to the paid original, not the F2P sequel). Here's the thing, the game periodically received various events - Halloween, Christmas etc. The community liked them and complained that they were not introduced permanently.
2. Blizzard decided to meet the expectations of fans by first making the seasonal game modes available on a rotating basis - but outside of a given event - and then making them permanent so that it would be possible to create their own games based on them.
3. However, it was not possible to get Halloween or Christmas skins within the framework of these modes - you could only receive crates containing them during events as such.

As for free-to-play game operating as live-services, we can point out, for example Apex Legends and the community-liked Winter Express mode, which for four years has been returning once a year - in late December and early January - as part of a holiday event.

1. Assassin's Creed Valhalla Review - The Assassin We All Wanted
2. Assassin's Creed Valhalla - game guide