Extraction shooters seem to be all the rage right now, what with Arc Raiders still going strong almost five months after launch, and Marathon hot off the presses. Well, the genre’s a hit in theory anyway, as Arc Raiders is really the only extraction shooter to break into the mainstream—even Bungie’s stab at it, while excellent, still hasn’t exploded into a full-scale phenomenon.
I don’t play extraction shooters because it is a dumb format that encourages camping exit points instead of any other style of play. Absolutely never touching any extraction shooters unless it has randomized and multiple exits.
I’ve only seriously put any time into Matathon, but it has randomized multiple exfils, so maybe give it a try if you have interest in the genre apart from that (I’m not sure how common it is).
Live-service games are a fucking stupid gamble. You either succeed massively amid a crowded field - or you are fucked. There is no long tail, for multiplayer-only games. Not if you’re doing modern bullshit with centralized servers and kernel anticheat and real-money charges for shit that’s already in the game. You can’t have a “cult classic” that relies on several hundred people queuing at all times. The format demands a hit, but you cannot plan a hit, or force a hit. Not even fucking Rockstar bets the farm on their next title meeting expectations.
