Are collaborations a valid event or just an excuse for lazy development?

It feels like every day doing this job, there is some form of collaboration happening. More often than not, it is with some anime series or another, or something that is completely random. And every time I see it happen, I am torn. I can’t decide whether or not they are a good thing.

First, let’s take a look at the types of games where I can see they do make sense. Games that don’t have a story. The likes of PUBG Mobile bringing Lotus cars to the battlefield, or Stumble Guys hosting Looney Tunes. I enjoy these, particularly Looney Tunes; give me more Bugs Bunny.

The reason they are appropriate here is that I don’t feel cheated for content. PUBG is the same every time around; you grab a gun, you shoot, you die. Rinse and repeat. There are no original character stories to jump into, world to expand. If the developers want to do an event here, a collaboration is one of the only options.

For me, it starts to feel cheap when it's a story-heavy game. Your RPGs and the like. I do not need to see a story about Evangelion characters in Tower of Fantasy. The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross does not need to host Konosuba. You have an entire world of your own that you could pull stories from. It feels cheap.

And the content is always the same. You get a short story, and maybe one or two event stages that you then have to grind for rewards.

It is so boring.

And then the event is over, and none of it matters. You get these novelty characters that have no real impact on the story. It feels like just a cheap way to churn out content with no substance. Why can’t the developers instead spend their time making original content instead of pandering like this? Or better yet, do both. Honkai: Star Rail did.

Back in July, Honkai: Star Rail had a collaboration with FATE Stay Night. But that wasn’t all HoYo did. At the same time, they released Version 3.4, For the Sun is Set to Die. This released the character of Phainon, a character with a whole new gameplay mechanic to his ultimate move. It brought a new location, a main story expansion, its own Honkai events, the lot. 

The FATE collaboration was baked into it, as a nice extra. You got a little story, and Saber and Archer are characters. But crucially, it wasn’t the only thing HoYo released that cycle. It was an addition to an actually substantial update. This is how it should be done. I am tired of these crossovers as a whole update. Developers should focus on their own world and just sprinkle on a collab as a treat.

Not as a whole, standalone thing.