Outlast Dev Discusses Leap to Live Service

In a new interview with Push Square, The Outlast Trials director Alex Charbonneau chatted about the decision to switch to a live service format, including the challenges it introduced and the opportunities it granted.

The Outlast series, created by the Canadian studio Red Barrels, has sold over 37 million copies since it began in 2013. While it was initially only offered a single-player experience, the leap to multiplayer evolved, eventually leading the team to switch to an entirely new format altogether.

“To be honest, the initial pitch was just “let’s make Outlast in multiplayer”. That was the core thing we wanted to achieve from the beginning, just because horror and scare jumps is a place that is fun to share with other people. So this was just the initial beginning point, and then it really did evolve over time,” said Charbonneau.

When switching to live service, many wondered about the game’s longevity given the discourse around the model.

“To be super honest, when we were making the game we were playing around five trials, and that was it. And it’s only in closed beta that we had so many people asking for more content. And when we were looking at the average play session and play time, it was much superior to any other Outlast,” Charbonneau explains.

“We had demands from people asking for us to make this game something they can live in. So at this point we are like OK, we have to become a game, like a live service, because this is exactly what people want. And it’s not us or anyone asking us to become a live service game, it was just natural progression.”

The Outlast Trials is currently available to play on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.