Former BioWare Veteran Warns AAA Gaming Is Too Dependent on Live-Service Titles

Mark Darrah has producer credits on games in major franchises, including Anthem, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. Recently, he offered comments on the video game industry’s business model and what it can learn from the movie business.

Darrah noted that the games business is missing the live theater experience that movies still benefit from. He also commented on the subscription model, suggesting that more games should regularly leave subscription platforms, just like shows and movies on Netflix and other streaming platforms. He also suggested that if an alternative to the live service model isn’t found soon, many top-level games may not exist without it.

Mark Darrah’s Quote on the Live-Service Model in Gaming

“I think that the overreliance on microtransactions is overemphasizing certain genres and preventing other genres from flourishing,” he said in a YouTube video. “So, is it worth a think? I would say that it is. Do I have a great answer? Do I have a great model? I don’t. Not yet.

“But it’s something I think that the industry should be considering because everything can’t be a live service, as we’ve, I hope, proven pretty definitively over the last year and a half. If our monetization is coming primarily from live services, we run the risk of ending up in a world where there are no AAA games that aren’t live services. I don’t think that’s a world that any of us really want to live in.”

In 2026, the games industry has seen a number of layoffs and project shutdowns, many of them tied to live-service games. Epic Games recently laid off over 1,000 people and shut down several Fortnite modes. Learn more about that here. Also, Highguard went from being the final game featured at the 2025 Game Awards to launching and then shutting down in just 3 months. Learn more about that here.

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