What design challenges (technical, financial, social) deter developers from investing

Hey everyone, I’ve been thinking a lot about why it feels like no one’s making mid‑sized multiplayer games these days. I remember trying to get a small group of friends into one last year, and it was tough finding a game that felt full enough to be fun but not huge like an MMO. Is it mostly money issues, or are there technical things devs struggle with that make these games risky to build?

Yeah, I ran into something similar a while back. I used to work on a small indie project, and honestly, managing servers for a mid‑sized game is a nightmare compared to a small casual game. You need enough players for matchmaking to feel lively but not so many that everything breaks. Plus, funding is a big deal—investors usually want either a tiny mobile hit or a massive MMO. I found a good https://www.psuconnect.in/articles/w...-games-anymore article that breaks down why devs shy away from this niche, and it really mirrored my own experience with balancing tech and money issues.

I’ve noticed that gaming trends often favor extremes—super casual mobile games or massive multiplayer worlds. It’s kind of like everything in between gets overlooked, even though some of the most creative mechanics could thrive there if people had time to explore them.

Sometimes smaller communities around games get really passionate, which can make for a unique vibe you just don’t get in huge, overpopulated titles.