Saving our asses.
I think 2024 will be the year that consumer sentiment toward online-only games had its big shift, and more developers were forced to pay attention. Ubisoft was hit with a potentially big lawsuit over shutting down The Crew, and has pledged an offline mode for The Crew 2 and Motorfest coming in 2025.
Offline modes being patched into games are not new by any measure, but we saw a lot of it in 2024 to save games that might otherwise be struggling. Wayfinder inspired a lot of confidence and new customers, and on top of that the game pitched its microtransactions into the trash.
Escape From Tarkov got an offline mode this year, as did Island of Insight, Nightingale. Suicide Squad is getting an offline mode as development comes to an end. Redfall received an offline mode in its last update. Payday 3 got something of an offline mode, even though it’s awful and needs continued development to make it a truly offline mode.
Adding offline mode to online games can only be a net positive for developers, as it improves player confidence and boosts sales. The reality is that people trust online-only games less and less, especially when the game has no reason to be online-only, purely because of the fear that the developer might decide to cut and run and declare the game a failure six months down the line.
And there is a growing cemetery of games that shut down within months of their launch for just that reason. So with that in mind, I’m going to declare offline mode the Best Gaming Trend of 2024.
MMO Fallout 