Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions It's a huge departure from previous base-building space survival games. With the shift to a session-based extracted shooting style gameplay loop, star chaser We're also adopting a live service model to deliver new content and gameplay twists on a regular basis. It's an ambitious move that may stoke fears about the problems with typical live services: FOMO, microtransactions, and aggressive player retention strategies that keep players engaged for longer than they'd like. Thankfully, System Era has shown an effort to avoid this aspect of its model.
Co-founder of System Era, in an interview with Game Rant star chaser Creative Director Adam Bromell spoke passionately about how to handle the game's live service implementation in an ethical manner that is considerate of both players and developers. Essentially, star chaser We aim to leverage the best features of the live service model while eliminating aspects that do not align with the team's pro-social mission.
Starseeker doesn't care if you can't always play it.
Fans of live service games often suffer from FOMO, or the sheer number of titles competing for their attention through game mechanics that can punish players for not checking in regularly. Recently this has been highlighted. Dune: AwakeningPlayers must log in regularly to pay taxes and maintain the generator. Otherwise, dozens of hours of progress could be lost. Refreshingly, Bromell says he often considers ways to handle live service games that don't directly or indirectly punish players for the time they may invest in the game.
“Technically, it's a live service game. We want to have ongoing support to sustain ourselves and our players, but we want to do it in a way that's not stressful for the players. I play a lot of live service games and think: Could this be the kind of game where you just give me two hours a month, a week, a day and I don't care? Play whatever you want. It's a sandbox. We're doing it. We provide agency from the first UX beat.”
The live service model can appeal to players with limited play time, as long as they don't feel like they're missing out, and can turn what should be a meaningful experience into a weekly to-do list item to check off. By removing the pressure to play regularly and the consequences of failing to do so, players with limited time may actually want to come back. star chaser When you have the chance.
How Starseeker Avoids FOMO
FOMO is a difficult problem to solve in live service games. This is because the evolving nature of the game means players will inevitably miss out on limited-time events and content. One way Bromell hopes to alleviate this problem is by frequently 'unarchiving' content from previous seasons. This not only gives players who missed out the first time a chance to experience the content again, but also helps manage System Era's workload. Without having to work excessive hours or significantly expand your team. star chaser Teams can work at a more comfortable pace, which tends to help deliver high-quality content to players at the same time. Bromell says:
This means avoiding FOMO. We literally had a meeting about ‘Disney Vault’. I'd like to get involved in Season 5 to get the Season 3 planets 'out of the vault' so players can come back and complete their stickers. If you miss it, you might come back. Also, I don't want to pulp my team. I don't want to go from 60 to 600 people. I want to make sure we keep players interested, ethically respect their time and money, and keep our employees sane.”
until now, star chaser It sounds like a breath of fresh air among the slew of live service games that take a more rigorous approach to player retention. For gamers who enjoy the idea of ever-evolving titles but have trouble maintaining the commitment, System Era's upcoming co-op game may be the answer.
- released
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2026
- developer
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Softworks in the system era
- multiplayer
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online co-op
- number of players
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single player
