According to the CEO of Digital Extremes, publishing companies tend to give up on live-service games prematurely

Steve Sinclair, the CEO of Digital Extremes, has shared his perspective on the fate of live-service games, criticizing major publishers for abandoning these projects prematurely if they don't succeed immediately after launch.

Speaking with VGC, Sinclair, who leads the team behind the long-running free-to-play game Warframe, emphasized that many of these games with great prospects are discontinued too early due to impatience.

"[Major publishers] see the release as a make-or-break moment, but it's not," Sinclair mentioned.

"They have the financial means to persist, yet they choose not to. If the game doesn't perform immediately, it gets discarded.

"It's disheartening when years of work in developing systems, technology, or a budding community are abandoned because of high operating costs and initial low numbers," he continued.

"There are numerous incredible releases with significant potential that are abandoned too soon."

Tencent's recent decision to close its free-to-play shooter Synced merely a year after its release is a prime example, adding to a list of other notable live-service game closures, including Anthem and Babylon's Fall.