In the video game industry, it is becoming increasingly important to recognize the anti-consumer practice of live-service games. Consumers pay full price for the game or for in-game content, only for a game to be shut down not even a year later. The publisher is able to take the consumer's money and run and leaving them with nothing as the game is completely unplayable.<p>Gundam Evolution was released September 20th, 2022 and saw its end of service on November 29th, 2023, hardly a year later.
Side 7 is a community project that aimed to continue the game's legacy as a private server project. As of March 29th, 2024, Side 7 has entered a public alpha with a miraculous 4 month turnaround.<p>As it turns out, leaving the entirety of the server code in the game client is a great way to expedite such projects.