Deep Rock Galactic

DRG is perhaps the most surprising, but also least impactful live service game I uninstalled in 2023. I might miss out on some cosmetics but otherwise can return to spelunking the caves of Hoxxes IV any time at no real cost. New mechanics, weapons, etc. will all be there should I choose to return, along with a free battle pass.

I have nothing bad to say about Deep Rock Galactic. It's a fantastic game that has been great value thanks to constant free updates by Ghost Ship Games. I've only hit a wall with DRG where I don't enjoy the current events they added with the most recent release and it will take friends to pull me back into the loop, even as the frequency of those events has been reduced. I've had a great run, I've had my fill, and there plenty of other games to play.

Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis

PSO2 NGS did some really cool stuff this year. They had Ghost in the Shell cosmetics that gave my ranger some sick gun skins, and I was able to make Cpwnin's Comedy Hole, for my role-play shitty comedian original character, as an interactive area that other players could join via the creative space mode that Sonic Team introduced.

Unfortunately the grind for materials to get guns with bigger numbers is a race I have no interest in running. I haven't even obtained any usable gear in this game as a random drop, everything I use is either from an event or bought on the player market! Add in a new anti-cheat rootkit and it was time to cut bait on PSO2.

Destiny 2

The run up to the release of 2022's Destiny expansion, The Witch Queen, was excellent. There were fun game modes to play, plenty of time to play them due to a delayed release, and an engaging story arc spanning multiple seasons planted seeds that grew to fruition and provided an experience rivaled only by real MMO games. Then The Witch Queen campaign came out and was a right banger with a heroic difficulty mode that added a good level of challenge, new dungeons that were approachable end game content, and a new weapon crafting system that helped soften the RNG blows in the pursuit of more guns.

Like any investment, past results aren't an indicator of future performance. 2023's Lightfall expansion was panned at release for a filler story with naught to offer but new mcguffins and vapid characters, with the only bright spot being the new subclass that let you swing around a la Spider-Man. The characters and story were fine, personally, but it can't be denied that Lightfall was a huge drop in quality from the content directly leading up to it. The seasons just couldn't keep any momentum going forward and the treadmill was more exposed than ever before. Maybe one of the later seasons could win me back.

Then Bungie laid off their community staff and longtime veterans like Lorraine Mclees and Michael Salvatori, recognizable to any fan of Halo. Allegedly, when employees asked if alternative cost cutting measures like reducing executive pay would be considered to address poor earnings relative to forecasts, the answer was effectively: "lol not at this company." I don't know how a business can respect its customers when it is incapable of respecting its employees. When the company is reportedly laying off the employees with the most stock options that would have to be paid out (and the public perception aligns to those reports), it's difficult to see Bungie's actions as anything but smashing desperately the piggy bank for any loose change before leaving Sony to clean up the broken pieces.

Why should anyone believe Destiny has more life to it? The new player experience, stale PvP, technical limitations, confusing state of expansions and piecemeal content, etc. are not new problems. Bungie has proven that they will not make the investments that players and their own employees have identified Destiny has needed for years now. There are other developers, with smarter management and leadership than Bungie employs, to support with games worthy of player time. I don't need to experience the conclusion or next chapter or whatever is next for Destiny. Should I want to see the finale then the content creators, who have historically done significant heavy lifting for this series, will have ample summaries available on YouTube, assuming that any of them want or can afford to stick around for Destiny's final chapter themselves.