Q: What inspired ROCKFISH Games to adopt a hybrid model of free and paid content updates for EVERSPACE 2?

Michael: The team here at ROCKFISH is very player-centric, which has inspired a significant amount of trust in the studio amongst our community of space game fans. Going through Early Access, we saw the community react positively to large drops of content and we wanted to bring some of that feeling post-launch to help keep momentum going as we worked on our planned expansions. 

EVERSPACE 2: Titans and EVERSPACE 2: Wrath of the Ancients both required a substantial amount of time to create, and free content bridging the gap to these releases kept our community engaged and the EVERSPACE brand current.

Q: Can you walk us through the strategic considerations behind deciding what content should be free versus paid?

Michael: Larger updates amplify marketing actions. Depending on where a project is at a larger update can support a major sale beat or even break into the current media cycle if timed correctly. Gamers have so much thrown at them at every waking moment—done well, free content is an excellent tool to break through the noise of the day-to-day industry to connect with players.

Quality-of-Life features and bugs should never be locked behind a paywall, nor should bug fixes, game tweaks, or tools such as photo mode. It certainly helps to add a little game content, such as a new weapon, customisable, or gameplay mode, to make an update feel exciting.

Q: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in balancing monetisation with player satisfaction?

Michael: We believe that a good expansion should feel worthwhile, packed with story, gameplay features, new areas, and things for players to do. That kind of player satisfying content takes time and costs a lot to make, and as much as we’d love to put it out into the world for free, only a few studios in the world can afford to do that on an ongoing basis.

When assessing new content coming to the game and how it will be packaged, we ask whether it will be perceived that we’re toeing the line of “greed” or if the release will continue to build trust and confidence in our brand and studio. As I mentioned before, the team is very player-centric and will call out planned pricing they think is too high—see the news around the recent pre-launch price drop of our latest expansion for interesting media coverage.

Cosmetic content, for example, is a contentious subject. After the launch of EVERSPACE 2, we released a Supporter Pack alongside a major free update. This entirely optional cosmetic pack was positioned to the community in a transparent manner and it was a massive success for us. Because we had done a great job in supporting the community through game updates and communications, we’ve had an ongoing strong sentiment for the pack since it was released.

Of course, there’s always that subset of gamers who believe that everything should be free or close to it, but if we focus on addressing community needs and offer content that our fans can get excited about, we have a large group of positive voices drowning out naysayers. If someone wants to wait for a sale, we completely respect that.

Q: Are there any lessons from EVERSPACE 2’s journey that you think are especially relevant for other studios working in the GaaS space?

Michael: Though not every title follows the same path, many share common signposts along the journey. I think it’s important to examine where we didn’t meet either our or the community’s standards. For example, in EVERSPACE 2: Titans, we chose to focus on repeatable story missions that circumvented the player defeating the boss at the end. Also, the Leviathan in that same DLC felt too generic for some players. Still, wish list conversion rates for Titans and Wrath of the Ancients at launch were above 20%, so demand from our player base was and is definitely there.

As I mentioned before, price sensitivity was surprisingly high even though we created a lot of high production content, pushing out the longtail of our DLC. In particular, I underestimated how hard it is to create coverage and wish lists for an expansion compared to the base game that hasn't sold many million copies (yet). Part of this can be attributed to the age of the project, but it’s also worth examining the state of the video game media.

A few other lessons I’ll be touching on in my talk:

Timing - Navigating AAA beats, showcases, sales, and other major industry events is critical. A mistimed beat can sap the momentum from a campaign.

Transparency in communication - Building trust creates superfans who will stick around from launch to launch.

Finding beat amplifiers - It’s easier than ever to reach more people, but with all the noise of the industry, catching attention is hard.

Optimizing discounting - analyzing wish list and sales conversion rates to set the right discount and maximize profit over time.

Q: What are you most looking forward to at the Live Service Gaming Summit?

Michael: Other than my talk digging deeper into maximizing visibility on updates? Speaking with other attendees! Every studio goes through a slightly different experience announcing, launching, and supporting a live game. As the industry changes, we all have lessons to learn from each other. I’m especially interested to hear about how studios of different types and sizes keep player retention up without burning through costly content creation on an ongoing basis.

🎮 Ready to shape the future of live service games? Don’t miss the Live Service Gaming Summit, where industry leaders will share bold insights, tactical strategies, and real-world lessons from the frontlines of game development, operations, and monetisation. Whether you're in production, development, or LiveOps, this is your chance to connect with the studios redefining player engagement and long-term game success. 👉 Register here