Are we witnessing the death of games as a service? Probably not, but we’re definitely witnessing the shrinking of a segment of games that probably didn’t need to be a service in the first place, and that apparently includes Behaviour Interactive’s Islands of Insight, whose studio announced today that it’s working on an offline mode for the MMO.
If you’re thinking “what the heck is Islands of Insight,” that’s honestly part of the problem. Behaviour and studio Lunarch launched it as an MMO on Steam back in February. At 30 bucks, it was a bit pricy for an MMO that was basically an open-world multiplayer puzzle game a bit akin to the Myst franchise. Even at launch, players argued that the multiplayer component was incongruous with the gameplay. The title peaked at around 2000 concurrent players at launch and has sunk to around 150 now. And yet, overall reviews are in the “very positive” category; maybe that’s the potential that Lunarch is trying to capitalize on with this new mode.
“We’re aware that some of you have asked for an offline experience to help you enjoy Islands of Insight in your own way,” the devs write on Steam. “We hear you and understand that playing online can come with a variety of frustrations. When creating this shared world, our vision was always to bring a fresh experience to the puzzle genre. We set out to create a game that could be played by many in an environment that promoted social interactions, community, and streaming – all without disrupting the experience of those who preferred to journey on their own. We’re happy to announce that Lunarch is currently developing an offline mode that will be released in the coming months. While this isn’t the easiest task, we’re excited to see where the journey will take us.”
It does sound as if this is just a mode, not a cancelation of the MMO version, which will presumably carry on. The associated press release also touts the F2P demo and the game’s participation in the Steam Cerebral Puzzle Showcase starting tomorrow.
