I never heard of it, and I tend to be frequently looking at upcoming releases. So, they failed step one in getting people to buy the thing.

The reviews are decimating it, yet the owners will have learned nothing.

This is why I generally avoid live services, and new releases from devs I have never heard of. For a new game I have found giving it a month or two to let the hype die down, then check if it's still worth getting.

If people still love it, like Valheim, it's probably a safe buy.

I have no idea what an extraction shooter is and it feels like I keep seeing news about extraction shooters shutting down not longer after being released.

Extraction shooters seem to be all the rage right now, what with Arc Raiders still going strong almost five months after launch, and Marathon hot off the presses. Well, the genre's a hit in theory anyway, as Arc Raiders is really the only extraction shooter to break into the mainstream—even Bungie's stab at it, while excellent, still hasn't exploded into a full-scale phenomenon.

I don't play extraction shooters because it is a dumb format that encourages camping exit points instead of any other style of play. Absolutely never touching any extraction shooters unless it has randomized and multiple exits.

Live-service games are a fucking stupid gamble. You either succeed massively amid a crowded field - or you are fucked. There is no long tail, for multiplayer-only games. Not if you're doing modern bullshit with centralized servers and kernel anticheat and real-money charges for shit that's already in the game. You can't have a "cult classic" that relies on several hundred people queuing at all times. The format demands a hit, but you cannot plan a hit, or force a hit. Not even fucking Rockstar bets the farm on their next title meeting expectations.

Just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks.