The popularity of ongoing games (also known as live-service games) is undeniable. They frequently boast the highest and most consistent revenue streams in the gaming industry; at least, the successful ones do. However, it can be daunting to jump into the live-service space, both in choosing which game to try out and in entering a gaming community of experienced players while you are still learning the ropes.
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Every year, some ongoing games rise to the top while others fade out. As of 2025, several live-service games are both welcoming to new players and also loaded with enough content to keep veteran players coming back. From genre newcomers to long-standing titans, these ongoing games are perfect for anyone looking for their next live-service addiction.
Warframe
Frequent Robust Updates That Are Content Complete For All Players
Warframe
- Released
- March 25, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Language, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Digital Extremes
There are very few live-service games out there that offer as much bang for your buck as Warframe, especially when "your buck" amounts to $0. With at least one major expansion every year and a ton of customization and opportunities to engage with outside the main quest, it's easy to spend the majority of your gaming time with Warframe, and you aren't likely to run out of things to do.
The best part is that all of that content — expansions and all — is available for free, including The Old Peace, the most recent expansion. These add-ons give you a lot of stuff to do, with tons of questlines to follow, new mechanics to unlock, and new maps to explore. If you want to spend money, it'll primarily go towards Platinum, the game's primary currency, which you can use to unlock new Warframes, weapons, and more. The good news is that Platinum can also be earned for free; it's just a bit more of a grind.
The Finals
Epic, Destruction-Fueled Battles And Unique Game Modes
The Finals
- Released
- December 8, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Violence
- Developer(s)
- Embark Studios
- Genre(s)
- FPS
The Finals has carved out a comfortable niche for itself in a market that's oversaturated with live-service shooters. It does this in two ways: a simple but effective class system featuring Light, Medium, and Heavy characters, and environments that are destructible enough to let players shape them to their advantage in each match.
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That destructibility is key to the game's popularity, as it allows for matches — even between the same two teams and on the same map — to play out completely differently depending on which structures come crashing down. The Finals also boasts some unique game modes, such as Cashout, a sort of capture the flag-adjacent mode where players need to gather cash boxes around the map and then transport them to a cashout station to bank the currency within. There was some uncertainty about the longevity of The Finals in its early days, but it has maintained a steady player base and a consistent update schedule — the latest of which includes a new game mode (Point Break) and a new map — and is now a safe bet for newcomers.
Helldivers 2
Peaks, Valleys, And Now A Consistently Enjoyable PvE Shooter
Helldivers 2
- Released
- February 8, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
At launch, Helldivers 2 was shot out of a cannon, becoming one of the best-selling games of 2024 and earning widespread praise and popularity. Then, Arrowhead Studios released a couple of unpopular updates, and the exclusively positive reception died down. Thankfully, Arrowhead is receptive to community feedback. The devs made some changes, and things have evened out ever since. Along with a launch on Xbox systems, 2025 included some pretty major (and welcome) changes, including missions set in randomly-generated cave systems, driveable oil rigs, and some of the deadliest enemies yet.
In 2025, Helldivers 2 has become nothing more or less than a consistently fun PvE shooter. It's chaotic, explosive, and often hilarious, but that's what makes it so much fun to play. It also helps eliminate a lot of the toxicity that can come with other live-service shooters. No matter how experienced someone is with Helldivers 2, they can still get blown up by their own grenade or crushed by an air drop. This randomness eliminates a lot of the skill gap, making it a safe and generally welcoming game for newcomers to hop into.
ARC Raiders
The New Hotness
ARC Raiders
- Released
- October 30, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Teen / Violence, Blood
- Developer(s)
- Embark Studios
- Genre(s)
- Extraction, Shooter, Third-Person Shooter, Survival
If you're looking to get in on the ground floor of a live-service game, there's no better title right now than ARC Raiders. There was a lot of uncertainty around this game leading up to its launch, mostly due to marketing that struggled to differentiate it from other games on the market, but the proof is in the pudding. Once players got their hands on it, it became the biggest live-service launch of 2025.
There are very few extraction shooters that are as beginner-friendly as ARC Raiders. Sure, the gameplay itself can be tough, especially if you come up against a few Arcs while exploring Topside on your own, but it's rare for other players to make your life even more difficult. More often than not, working together, even with strangers, is more beneficial for everyone involved. That means that it's easy to find some more experienced players to show you the ropes when you're starting out. Just make sure to play with a mic enabled so you can let others know that you're friendly.
Deep Rock Galactic
Rock And Stone
Deep Rock Galactic
- Released
- May 13, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen due to Blood, Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Ghost Ship Games
- Genre(s)
- FPS
Deep Rock Galactic doesn't often come up in the great live-service games conversation, but it really should. It's one part extraction shooter and one part Minecraft, where a team of players enters a mine, gathers as many valuable gems and stones as they can, and then calls for extraction. Once they make that call, two things happen: a countdown timer kicks in, which indicates how much time they have to make it to the extraction point, and waves of alien bugs swarm down from crevasses in the mine, obstructing your path to safety.
While it isn't a traditional live-service game, Deep Rock Galactic still follows the typical formula of seasonal updates, season passes, and DLCs. However, it is a very consumer-friendly live-service game. Season passes are all completely free, any cosmetics from previous seasons are added to the loot pool so that players never feel like they're missing out, and paid DLCs are cosmetic-only, meaning there are no new mechanics, characters, or maps that players are locked out of if they don't want to spend cash. Season 6 was just announced last month and is expected in early 2026, meaning it's a great time to hop in before any big additions come down the pipe. The only downside is that there is no matchmaking. You can only join public games created by other players (or create one yourself), so it's a more consistent experience to have a team of co-op partners that you can play with consistently.
Fortnite
Never Count The Champ Out
Fortnite
- Released
- September 26, 2017
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen - Diverse Content: Discretion Advised, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Epic Games
Much of what live-service games are today was pioneered by Fortnite, and while it's no longer the only big dog on the block, it still stands alongside the titans of the genre. Alongside rock-solid gameplay, a low barrier to entry, a consistent player count, frequent updates, and cultural name recognition, Fortnite has something that almost no other live-service game can match: money to burn, and a whole lot of it.
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That is most noticeable in the absolutely unhinged collaborations that regularly make their way into Fortnite's roster. Most recently, it was SpongeBob, Harry Potter, and BLEACH, but they've also teamed up with the likes of Star Wars, The Simpsons, Batman, Dragon Ball Z, Balenciaga, and Godzilla, just to name a few. Unlike in more "realistic" military shooters like Call of Duty, these collabs never feel out of place in Fortnite, and the devs do a fantastic job of crafting mechanics that fit with each new addition so that they don't just feel like reskins of existing content. Jumping into Fortnite has always been easy for new players; what's most impressive is that that trend hasn't changed since its launch 8 years ago.
Wuthering Waves
Won Players Voice At The Game Awards For A Reason
Wuthering Waves
- Released
- May 22, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Kuro Games
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Open-World
Gacha games are hit or miss among many gamers. Some swear by them, others swear off of them. It's a matter of personal preference, frankly. These are largely single-player live-service games with massive open worlds and steadily increasing backlogs of content. As of 2025, while Genshin Impact, ZZZ, and Umamusume are all widely played, the current popularity king is Wuthering Waves, and that's why it won the Players' Voice award at the 2025 Game Awards.
There are currently 25 playable characters in the game: Rover, the protagonist, and 24 "Resonators," recruited allies that can join Rover in combat. While many consider the monetization in gacha games predatory, Wuthering Waves is still a free-to-play game at the end of the day. You can give it a try and get lots of gameplay out of doing so before you feel pressure to spend anything on unlocks. It's also one of the newer gacha games on the market, and so, while it has received consistent updates, there isn't so much content that new players will be overwhelmed. Its next major update, Version 3.0, is set to launch on Christmas Day, so there's truly no better time to join the fun than right now.
Marvel Rivals
An Endless Supply Of New Characters
Marvel Rivals
- Released
- December 6, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Violence
- Developer(s)
- NetEase Games
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Action, Multiplayer
It's hard for a new hero shooter to break in and find success these days, but one game to buck that trend in a major way is Marvel Rivals. As of this writing, Marvel Rivals has maintained a consistent concurrent player count of 100,000 since June 2025, an impressive feat for any live-service game, and even more so for a hero shooter that is just over one year old. That is largely due to the consistent updates that the game receives, which often include new characters, and the lack of over-correction by the developers. Sure, sometimes the meta can spit out a particular hero or team combination that dominates a season, but then a new update comes out, a new character joins the roster, and the meta shifts completely.
The best thing about Marvel Rivals is that all those new characters (and there are a lot of them, 12 since its launch in December 2024, and two more on the way) are free for all players. The only monetization in the game comes in the form of cosmetics. It's one of the best live-service games to play without feeling like it's staring at your wallet the whole time. It's not easy to jump into Marvel Rivals and immediately win a bunch of ranked matches, but Quick Play is more than welcoming enough and will give you lots of opportunities to experiment with the massive hero roster until you find one you click with. Season 6, which will launch alongside Deadpool and Else Bloodstone as the newest hero additions, is scheduled for January 16th, 2026, which gives you just enough time to get familiar with the game's mechanics.
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