CVG - Is Single-Player Gaming Under Threat?

EA labels president Frank Gibeau stated in Sep 2012: "I've not green lit one game to be developed as a single-player experience," confirming what we've long feared - that all games are being forced online. He was quick to clarify his view, claiming to "believe passionately in single player games," as long as they "had an ongoing content plan for keeping customers engaged."

[Cam977]

Absolutely not. Just look at the MGS and Uncharted series.

[WiiUalpha]

Great example. Two games with online multiplayer.....

[Bluenuts9]

I get what you're getting at totally, but what I believe he/she meant that those games have great single player games, and just happen to include multi-player. Single player is poor or not even focused on in a lot of games, which is sad!

[kent80082007]

oh yeah and people totally buy them just to play multiplayer

[Cam977]

Bluenuts9 hit my point perfectly. People don't buy these games for MP do they? The MP is a nice addition to the series; SP is where it's at in these games.

[WiiUalpha]

He might have got your point but it is still not a valid point. Those games are not single player only regardless of the reason people buy them. Resources that could have enhanced the single player were taken away in order to add a multi player portion to the game..

Is it really that hard to understand that when you are talking about single player only games, that they do not contain any online portion.

SMBWii is a game without any online portion at all

UNcharted has both single and multi regardless of why you buy it.

[itani]

One of the best games I've played this gen is single player only. Fallout 3 :).

[schlanz]

There is definitely less focus on single-player only games, but that doesn't mean they are drying up completely. As long as there is a market of people that want those kinds of games, that demand will be met. Simple economics.

[Hasanhastam]

With newly released games like dishonored and xcom?

[Venoxn4g]

well now these days there are lots of players who dont buy games if they are single player only .. not good..

[Hufandpuf]

I think journalists really need to take a step back and look at what they write.

[jd666]

It's not under threat but the percentage of games released that are truly single player is getting lower and lower, also the quality and length of the single player portion of games has decreased too. I mainly game to have a break from people and my choices have been getting smaller and smaller

[OcelotRigz]

So true, the only exception is some RPGs.
You look at God Of War, everyone sees that as a great single player experience, but now they have multiplayer, whether it will be good or not i dont know, but i would be pretty confident that single is going to suffer as a result.
Even Dishonored, which im playing now and loving, you just know their will be a sequel and it will most likely have multiplayer.
I feel developers are kinda forced to add in mp from their publishers and i think this is a result of the big selling mp games like cod, battlefield and halo. They all want a piece of the action thats why most the time its a generic mp instead of anything creative or different.

MP isnt all bad, obviously, it has added another dimension to gaming, but its just when it affects the quality and quantity of sp games, thats what bothers me.
Although there is a few exceptions where an online aspect improves the sp experience, one of my favorite games Dark Souls being a perfect example. Also Dragons Dogma with its Pawn system. Those games are perfect examples of when devs us the online aspect creatively.

[legendof117]

I honestly miss this...

Banjo
Conker

Hell, even Kameo was fun.

[NYC_Gamer]

Yes,it will be rare for publishers to release single player only games with no social features going forward..I don't expect many games to release next gen that are single player only...It's gonna be a lot of F2P/MMO/Co-Op/online added features soon...Two of my most wanted games of 2013 are rumored to jump on the MP bandwagon[Bioshock-Infinite,Me tro-Last Light]...

[OmniSlashPT]

Take a look at the best games each year nominated for GOTY. Well, take a look at the best games ever. What do they all have in common? Great MP? Great graphics? Great gameplay? No, just a great SP.

[aliengmr]

Single-player won't go away, but online only SP games worry me.

The problem, as I see it, is games having to make more and more money just to break even. Online MP and store help make ends meet.

A few years ago I really thought SP was being sacrificed for MP. Now I see more SP games going online and using MTs.

I don't see SP gaming under threat, just offline SP.

[Somebody]

Good for you guys but from PC side, things aren't looking too pretty. Ubisoft practically tried to kill the SP version of Ghost Recon for a F2P version while the consoles gets the full package (story mode and multiplayer). EA's infamous announcement of going totally online. Red Alert Generals 2 is a F2P. A lot of Ubisoft's long forgotten classic titles suddenly being revived as F2Ps only. You can't open a webpage for one day without seeing a new F2P announcement for the PC. Even Steam new Greenlight section if full of indie developers who are making F2Ps.