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Game Development vocabulary · Monetization & Live Ops

Live service

Meaning in game development, with examples

nounCommon term

In game development, live service means: A model in which a game is updated continuously for years after launch with new content, events and seasons, to keep players playing and spending.

In Turkish: live service, canlı servis oyunu, hizmet olarak oyun

How it is used

Also called games as a service (GaaS). The day-to-day work of running it is called live ops: events, offers, balance changes and community management. Many live-service games are free-to-play with a battle pass.

Example sentences

  1. A live service game needs a team ready to ship new content every few weeks.

  2. The live service roadmap has a seasonal event every month for the first year.

Common collocations

  • live-service game
  • live ops
  • games as a service
  • seasonal content
  • content roadmap
  • battle passA reward track that lasts for one season: players unlock items by playing and earning experience, and a paid premium version gives extra rewards.
  • retentionHow many players keep coming back to a game over time, usually measured as the percentage who return one, seven or thirty days after installing it.
  • monetizationThe way a game earns money from players, for example by selling the game itself, in-game purchases, subscriptions or ads.
  • patchAn update released for a game after launch that fixes bugs, improves performance, changes balance or adds small features.
  • DAUShort for daily active users: the number of different people who play a game on a given day. MAU is the same figure for a month.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Monetization & Live Ops

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