In today's breadth of gaming, including in relation to Pokémon, games are offered for play through different mechanisms. One of those mechanisms is having the games as what is called a "live service" that players essentially "sign up" for - just like services of the non-game kind - and play it while it is active. The mechanism has a certain relevance for Pokémon games as well, and it is useful to draw insights from that through a discussion, as a post on this blog.
First, a little more about the mechanism is in order. In contrast to games that are offline, live service games are necessarily online and continuously updated as a result. Players would authenticate to play the games, and all their progress is stored online, making for easy retrieval but also making that fact even more of a necessity. Other aspects would also be able to keep the players engaged in the games... at least until some kind of an "end" presents itself.
Based on the description above, Pokémon Go fits the bill of a live service game in pretty much all respects for online authentication, record-keeping, and engagement. In fact, the fate of other similar games from (ex-)Niantic also pretty much affirms the case. The virtual TCG clients both past and present, as well as Pokémon Unite, are also essentially live service games that are heavily dependent on the online aspect to keep all of their things together to play them.
Similarly, Café Remix is also really a live service game as it is totally dependent on an online connection, in contrast to its predecessor Shuffle that can be played mostly offline and only has a few online perks (and is in fact otherwise still playable even now). The main series games have mostly kept up their offline nature, though some of their parts nowadays may necessitate them - and players - to interface online in different ways, mirroring some live service aspects.
The concern of the "end" as suggested above does raise questions for what would happen if it becomes necessary if the online part was cut. This has also resulted in some initiatives to address the issue, although there isn't yet a full resolution. Regardless, those who play the Pokémon games above that are essentially live service games may have their hands full wondering what should be done if (and when) the service becomes unavailable to them.
A live service game isn't all that bad, of course, and evidently it's already the case for some Pokémon games. Yet the characteristics that make such games what they are also present some caveats for those who engage in the games, keeping in mind that they're just like certain non-game services. No service is needed for fun, though, and knowing that, players are free to get their fun from any game they like with any mechanism - also applicable for Pokémon ones.
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