The dev of Phantom Blade Zero speaks out on the boundary between live services and "buyout games" since, much like Granblue Fantasy: Relink , the game is a single-player adaptation of the ongoing CN gacha game Phantom Blade Executioners.
>Q: Why did you decide so firmly to make a buyout game this time?
>A: That's a great question, and perhaps a sensitive one as well, so I'll try to answer it thoughtfully and carefully (laughs).
>First of all, we considered multi-platform connectivity and cross-play early on. We even discussed this approach.
>The reason is that as long as it’s a service-based game, it can't support complex storytelling or world-building. It's contradictory.
>Live-service games, even if they tell stories, tend to be formulaic or like ongoing serials. But they can’t tell deep, classic stories with a beginning, middle, and end—ones with twists, conspiracies, and suspense. Those kinds of stories simply can’t be told in a service-based game.
>You need to keep releasing updates. We've been trying to do this for over a decade. In the beginning, we thought we could make live-service games while still delivering intricate, twist-filled stories like in "Rainblood: Town of Death." But in the end, we realized that the narrative could only achieve about 20% of its potential.
>I feel like, when making single-player buyout games, your mindset is healthier (laughs).
>How do I put it? It’s hard to describe whether it feels good or bad, but I truly believe that once you switch to making single-player games, both your lifestyle and mental state improve (laughs).
>Why is that? Because when you work on a single-player game, all you focus on each day is the gameplay, the story—just the game itself.
>I’m also more of a creative person, and when you keep doing something like that repeatedly, it just makes you feel healthier. Sometimes I stay at the office and don’t leave until 1 or 2am, but I don’t feel too tired because I’m genuinely happy.
>Though if you calculate by ROI, it’s obviously not as profitable as mobile games, but having a healthy mindset and a better quality of life is valuable in itself.
>I’ve made mobile games for over ten years, and I don’t know how other developers feel, but for me, my lifestyle became stifling. Because with mobile games, most of your time is spent not on creative problems.
>You’re dealing with how to manage the player community, how to handle disruptions and drama, what to do if the server crashs, how to write an apology post. Or what if the drop rates are off? What if the gacha system has issues? What if a value is wrong and it messes things up?
>You could have great visuals, an amazing story, and excellent combat feel, but most people don’t care. If something goes wrong with the gacha, drop rates, or compensation, all your other hard work doesn’t matter—it’s all wasted.
>One player told us, “It’s like eating a feast, but if there’s a pile of crap in the middle, you just can’t eat it.” I think what they said is valid…