Ownership? Ha! No..
The gaming ownership landscape is shifting beneath our feet. For years we have watched the slow and painful decline of once great studios while publishers push aggressive monetization schemes that treat players like wallets rather than fans. The events of early 2026 have brought this into sharp focus with two very different stories emerging at the same time. One represents the utter failure of the modern “live service” model while the other offers a beacon of hope for the future of game preservation and ownership.
The Fall of BioWare and the Death of Anthem
On January 12 2026 the servers for Anthem will officially go dark. This marks the final nail in the coffin for a game that was supposed to redefine BioWare but instead became a symbol of everything wrong with AAA development. Players who paid full price for this title are left with nothing. The game they bought is simply vanishing because it requires an internet connection to a server that no longer exists.
This is the harsh reality of modern gaming under giants like EA. You do not own the games you buy. You merely rent a license that can be revoked at any moment. BioWare once famed for deep singleplayer role playing experiences chased the multiplayer trend and paid the price. Dragon Age: The Veilguard failed to arrest this downward slide and the studio now operates with a skeleton crew. The message from gamers is clear. We are tired of broken promises and we are tired of games that disappear.
The Live Service Trap
The “Stop Killing Games” movement has gained traction for a reason. Gamers are exhausted by the “always online” requirement for games that should work perfectly fine offline. Publishers love this model because it gives them total control. They can shut down a game when it stops making enough money leaving the consumer with a useless digital coaster. This anti consumer practice creates a world where game preservation is impossible and our digital history is erased on a whim.
The industry has spent years telling us that this is the only way forward. They claimed that “games as a service” was the future. Yet the massive failure of Anthem and the struggling state of BioWare prove otherwise. Players do not want to be tethered to a server for a singleplayer adventure. They want to buy a game install it and play it forever regardless of whether the publisher decides to keep the lights on.
A Return to Independence and Ownership
Just as the old model collapses a solution has emerged from an unexpected place. In a massive shift for the industry GOG has announced that it is being acquired by its original founder Michał Kiciński. This move separates the platform from CD PROJEKT and returns it to its independent roots.
This is not just corporate shuffling. It is a declaration of intent. GOG has always stood for “DRM free” gaming meaning you actually own the installer files for the games you buy. You can back them up on a hard drive and play them twenty years from now without asking for permission from a central server. Kiciński has stated that GOG will double down on this philosophy of freedom and independence.
2026: The Year of the Indie Shift
The contrast could not be starker. On one side you have EA deleting Anthem from existence. On the other you have GOG reaffirming that games should live forever. This acquisition signals that the market is finally correcting itself. The future of gaming does not lie in massive budget live service disasters that hold your purchase hostage. It lies with indie developers and platforms that respect the user.
Indie games have carried the torch of creativity while AAA studios floundered. Now with a revitalized GOG providing a safe harbor for these titles we are seeing the beginning of a new era. An era where you own what you pay for. Where singleplayer games are respected. Where the preservation of art matters more than the quarterly earnings call. The downfall of the “online only” model is here and the future looks bright for those who believe in true ownership.
» Read more about 2026 predictions here