Live-service games have a delicate balance to maintain with gradual content updates. Likewise, because live-service multiplayer games can often have skill gaps between players, it may be difficult for fans to decide they want to hop into a game after launch. If fans came to the live-service game at launch they may have gained enough experience to be fairly decent at it, but it can be much more daunting to dedicate time to a game that everyone else is already excellent at. If nothing else, a niche, slapstick horror franchise like the one that inspiresEvil Dead: The Gamemay not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Evil Dead: The Gameis an asymmetrical game, which also might not be everyone’s favorite genre. Horror has interestingly found a home in this genre, planting roots where established horror IPs can blossom into a compartmentalized love-letter to these franchises.The Texas Chain Saw Massacreis getting its own asymmetrical horror game, for example, followingthe sunsettedFriday the 13th: The Game. IfEvil Dead: The Gamewants to appeal ubiquitously, though, it should strongly consider going free-to-play, and now would be the time to do so.
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Indeed,Evil Dead: The Gamedoes not have a content output likeDead by Daylight, which is likely due to its single-franchise limitation. In single-player games, fans generally know what content to expect. In live-service multiplayer games, fans might have to contend with game-breaking bugs and patches that upend every meta gameplay strategy, and some fans simply do not want to put up with that.
The asymmetrical horror genre is difficult to wade into unless players have a deep love of an IP they see represented, let alone have a competitive attitude while being willing to commit a ton of time to maintain that skill level. Still, if players are notdie-hardEvil Deadfans, it is true that they could be more agitated by a lack of perpetual content and not stick around to wait for future updates.
With the game on PS Plus, fans will be able to play it freely on PlayStation. If the game was free-to-play, the player pool would only open up drastically across all platforms. Saber Interactive might be more likely to consider that if it sees a large enough spike in players this week.
Battle royales are still immensely popular, and it makes sense whyEvil Dead: The Gamedecided to dip its toes into that multiplayer mode - taking the emphasis off of its asymmetrical gameplay,Evil Dead: The Gamemight now appeal to more players, so ifEvil Dead: The Gameis ever going free-to-play, Saber should exploit its battle royale and PS Plus inclusion as much as it can and double-down now.
Evil Dead: The Gameis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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