If Single-Player Games Are "Dying" Then Explain Super Mario Odyssey

It's weird seeing the gaming discourse of the week revolving around the apparent "death" of single-player video games, when Super Mario Odyssey is just around the corner.

[FallenAngel1984]

Who said single player games were dying in the first place?

[darthv72]

SP games aren't dying but they just arent the focus for some developers and publishers. Especially where there is $$ to be made from crafting larger MMO types or battle royale games.

SP games are just fine and still being made by devs/pubs who have a focus on that.

[freshslicepizza]

Exactly. But again some will look at success stories like Zelda, Mario and Horizon and say see, what's the problem? Meanwhile you have multiple other games that don't sell well. Plus developers wan to get paid. They want to discourage one time playthrough games that are often sold quickly. They want to keep players engaged while selling more stuff to them.

[UltraNova]

Ok let me explain why Mario: 1st, its a new 3D Mario game. 2nd, its Nintendo thats why. 3rd Repeat 1&2.

[Sono421]

First of all, who says this? Second, why only mention Super Mario Odyssey? There are plenty of other examples to give.. there's another example coming out on the same day... Wolfentsein!

[indysurfn]

It is fan boys of multiplayer games and a few people that defend micro transactions. But only a few marketing executives have use this phrase to hype up their multiplayer centered game. It is not because it is a Mario game (for reference see how fast sales of Sonic and other great icons DROPPED once the quality went down).

Mario 64 back in 1996 was already 3d

[Bhuahahaha]

sp is dying is just an excuse for those greedy publisher to justify their money grabbing scheme with mt

[nitus10]

MMO's, FPS and Shooters have their main emphasis on multiplayer, to begin with.

There are still plenty of single player games that have come out or are in the pipeline that can easily be played without an online connection although most AAA games seem to push the online and consequently multiplayer features. Of course, the $$ component is heavily pushed in some of these AAA games.

[mafiahajeri]

Lmao my thoughts exactly. Doom and gloom articles for hits is what it is.

[Godmars290]

Game publishers.

Since SP games don't offer a potential for ongoing revenue like MP, the extra effort and resources involved with creativity, SP 'isn't good for business".

[freshslicepizza]

Exactly so credit does go to those who continue to offer them but let's be realistic, the industry is profit driven (especially in the AAA market). What will happen is the AA market will likely now replace the AAA market for single player titles. Such as Hellblade. When you have hundreds of people making games now you can see why there is a push to make the games into franchises and by doing that you keep the players engaged longer.

[Godmars290]

Why? Why would you make me to push your MS button? EA and Activision maybe best known for putting business interests above consumers, Square has certainly sacrificed the FF franchise to MMO mediocrity, and even Sony's dipped their toe - hell, they're as neck-deep as the rest, just see the value of SP product - into DLC and limited exclusivity BS, but MS its been MS that pushed "Games as Service" since around if not at the very beginning. They introduced online, along with a - now defunked? - paid internet service provider, XBL subscriptions, then tried the XB1 online DRM policies and mandatory Kinect despite the advanced backlash of one and the other not working. MS has been steeped in current "SP don't make us money" BS since the beginning and well before Phil. The reasoning behind which is since they've never allowed for creative freedom, they don't see creative freedom as the way out of the mess they've put themselves in while what titles they make are about online and multiplayer.

There. Consider your MS button pushed!

[freshslicepizza]

You can lay most of the blame on Microsoft all you want but the industry is changing all around whether you like it or not.

I told you guys that the AAA market was not sustainable the way it was with development costs getting out of control and games taking longer to come out.

Publishers like Activision are releasing less games while making more money. That's the reality. But again I rarely see much interest in PC gaming in this forum so it looks like you don't want to change and thinks the industry shouldn't either. The PC is really the last platform that isn't corrupt with mass marketing.

[Perjoss]

"Who said single player games were dying in the first place?"

The suits at EA

[shinoff2183]

They arent dying. I will add though that had the new mario have been two players Id have a switch already. Theres not alot of two player games me and my girl play and mario is the one we play the most.

[inStereo]

It has co-op! If your girl is anything like my girl, I think she'd appreciate it: https://www.polygon.com/e3/...

[RedDevils]

Wait, is it your left hand or your right hand? :)

[dillydadally]

I don't even understand this article. NO ONE SAID single player games are dying. They said LINEAR games are dying. Star Wars isn't shifting to a multiplayer game, it's shifting to a more non-linear game. Guess what Mario Odyssey is? A non-linear game. Guess what Zelda, Horizon, etc. are? Non-linear games. This whole article is based on a faulty premise.

Personally, I don't think it's that linear games are dying either - I just think that gamers are really interested in new experiences. Linear games have been around forever, while new advancing technology are really opening up new possibilities for non-linear games right now, which means there's just a lot more room for innovation and experiences gamers haven't had before in non-linear games. Once non-linear games have been fully explored and people tire of them, I feel like linear games will come back into favor.

[JEECE]

Even if single-player games are dying (which I take no stance on), one upcoming game hardly disproves a trend. Besides, anyone seriously making this argument would almost certainly be arguing it in terms of PS4/Xbox One, not the Switch.

[Silly gameAr]

Look at the games that came before Super Mario Odyssey. Plenty before Mario, plenty after. Single payer games aren't going anywhere.

[SegaGamer]

The best games released this year have been single player.

[Tetsujin]

"IF" this is true regarding single player, the day that happens is the day I stop moving forward with gaming and stick to the classics. I refuse to enter a console gen with multiplayer only; so a game can go at any time and we as gamers have nothing to show but a smaller bank account.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

They haven't been dying, Odyssey or no Odyssey.
That's been a false narrative for a while now, due to the rise in popularity of online multiplayer games.

[-Foxtrot]

Why is Odyssey being used like it's the only one...we've literally just had Evil Within 2, purely single player and not MTs or Loot Boxes

Other games this year. RE7, Personal 5, Horizon Zero Dawn, Nioh, Nier, South Park, Crash Bandicoot and so on.

[Prince_TFK]

Because it is not out yet unlike the ones you mentioned.

[-Foxtrot]

What does that matter, they are still recent, hell Evil Within 2 was just released not even a week ago

They still prove in 2017 that single player games aren't dying...

[Imalwaysright]

Because its the biggest upcoming game that focuses on singleplayer. What is so hard to understand?

[-Foxtrot]

I was going to type something out but I had to delete it since I basically said the exact same thing I said to the other guy above.

Other single player games...point is still proven....dosen't need to be "unreleased" to prove a point....so on and on

[Imalwaysright]

Yes there are dozens of singleplayer games in this industry captain obvious. What exactly are you proving? What everyone already knows?

Did you expect the author to mention every singleplayer game that was released this year? The author just used the biggest upcoming singleplayer game to get his message across. Anything wrong with that?

[GamesMaster1982]

Na single player games will never die. I might joke about stuff on here but truth is, I hope (well don't need too HOPE CAUSE IT'S MARIO ) Mario Odyssey get's excellent scores all over. I grew up with games like Pacman ,Sensible Soccer on the Amiga. then moved on to Master System and NES, So for charactersi grew up with like Mario and Sonic to still be in our life's now it excellent. GAME ON BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

[TheColbertinator]

I thought mobile games would kill consoles.

PC gaming was dying.

Blah blah blah

[Chaosdreams]

Mobile games didn't kill consoles, but the MT nightmare sure found its way nestled into AAA games...

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Single player games aren't dying but instead where number 1 is selling at.

[BenjaMan64]

Super Mario Odyssey, Zelda BotW, Metroid Prime 4, Persona 5, Dragon Quest XI, Nier Automata, Bloodborne, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Witcher 3, Yakuza 0...

[Big_Game_Hunters]

The one time purchase doesn't seem to be enough for publishers. Considering how much cut the middlemen get. OFC console makers have no problem profiting from SP games. Why do you think MS games are windows store on PC. They don't have to pay steam that 20% or whatever it is.

[VersusDMC]

Single player games are dead at EA. What a weird way to bring up oddessy when its coming out at the same time as two other single player games with assassins creed and wolfenstein. And evil within 2 and South Park just came out. Single player games galore. No worries people.

[DialgaMarine]

SP games aren’t dying; it’s just sad Xbox fans who regurgitate Phil Spencer’s words, while praising GaaS, even though they have no idea what that actually means. Sony has great SP games, Nintendo has great SP games, while third party publishers have great multiplayer. That’s the way it should be.

[Enjoigamin]

😢

[Fist4achin]

SP gamer here. Long live SP! Did MP for a little while. Its fun, but i prefer a storyline and gaming on my tough and limited schedule.

[Asuka]

i'll take my always online, lootboxes, and MTs any day of the week over a well constructed, story driven single player narrative... Kappa (im being sarcastic for those who can't tell lol)

[Trekster_Gamer]

Only the ignorant think single player is in any kind of trouble!

[BIGBOSS08]

They aint dying but in the end it's all about the money for these publishers. That's why they do all this crap that we as consumers hate. I just hope it doesn't get worse.

[ZombieKiller]

God of War says hi...

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I'm all for single player games, but this argument is extremely flaky.

[jojo319]

If SP games go, they will lose a TON of 1) older gamers like myself who grew up on SP games and don't want to get shredded online LOL, and 2) very YOUNG players who's parents don't want them exposed to everything that comes with online games. They're are plenty of both. For example, I have Destiny 2. I actually enjoyed the campaign, but I (rightfully or wrongfully) assume that if I get online, I'm going to have to "commit" to a long play session. I don't want to bail on a team, etc. But when you have 3 kids, stuff is happening all the time.

[BeRealisticNow]

I don’t think single player games are dying
But Nintendo seems to function outside of the rest of the industry, people react differently to them than other companies

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

I grew up playing single player games because that's just the era I grew up in. As I became a young man in my 20's I started gaming on xbox live and was hooked on basically MP games only because of the friends I met online. Now I'm a bit older and I don't have the patience for online racist or just ignorant people in general so now I'm back into my single player gaming. Games like Witches 3, Zelda, Horizon keep my interest now more than ever. SP must live on for us gamers who are getting just a bit older with less interest in online all night benders.

[TheOttomatic91]

SP games aren't dying certain publishers want you to think that way so they can instead use GaaS products and suck as money out of gamer's as they possibly can. The only way to combat this is to buy more SP games and prove them wrong.

[Phill-Spencer]

Lord spencer and his minions don't care about singleplayer that much anymore. That doesn't mean sp is dying. It's only because ms raised themselves a fanbase of mp zombies.

[bluefox755]

They're not dying. They're just harder for publishers to cash in on.

[Valkron1]

I love single player games. Getting sick of multiplayer racist trash talk! I want to play games to relax most of the time. To hell with multiplayer!

[theshredded]

SP games are indeed dying. Only high scored, hyped and advertised sp games survive. Meanwhile AA games don't really exist that's why there should be more $40 games like hellblade. I

[Skankinruby]

I will disregard the arrogant undertone in your comment and just simply say that if single player games are actually dying then I've lost one more hobby in my life because multiplayer sucks ass

[theshredded]

It's true though man...but I meant more on linear games since I forget that people still buy generic open world games like ones from Ubisoft. Sp games are becoming boring imo...we used to have much better and creative games. Though this year was an awesome year for Sp games.

[OffRoadKing]

They're not, dont believe everything you read on the internet.

[kindkinesis]

You just gotta look at single player games like Skyrim selling upwards of 20 million and Witcher 3 sold really well too. Single player games will not go away is my hope but it is hard to predict the market, for example, the success of PUBG.

[TRYNDAREUS]

Single player games will live on. Not all game developers are like EA. EA have always been the parasites and cancer for this industry and are slowly killing it. Soon the market will be over saturated with online multiplayer games, that it will reach a point where they will all start failing just like Law Breakers.

Following in their place is Activision. You watch, these 2 companies will go down in history as the arseholes who destroyed the gaming industry. It's been said many times before, stop buying these games and it will stop.

[ninsigma]

I think there's a bit of an overreaction going on. Yes it seriously effing sucks they're gutting a narrative driven action adventure star wars game in favor of what sounds to be a GAAS model and I'm mad this is the case but it's just one game. The same publisher put in a single player campaign in another game whose predecessor didn't have one. On top of that, 2017 is THE year for offline single player games. Nioh, Gravity Rush 2, Crash Bandicoot BOTW, HZD, Persona 5, Cuphead, AC Origins, Evil Within 2, South Park, Resi 7, Nier Automata, odyssey, xenoblade chronicles 2. There have been tonnes of SP games this year that so many people have enjoyed and more to come. The bells aren't tolling for SP games any time soon.

[XStation4pio_Pro]

“Dying” is an adjective describing the transition between life and death. If single player games are “dying” then I can can explain SMO existing because SP games wouldn’t quite be dead -thus fewer single games, not none. Had the article asked “if single player games are dead, then explain SMO” well.. that’s trickier. My comment is nit picky sure but only because what qualifies as “writing” for video games on the internet are uninsightful, unobjective articles written by amateurs who don’t pay attention to the details and run on the fuel of manufactured drama without any investigative attempts. One could have easily researched the trends of single player games being developed, cross referenced with demographics and their respective purchasing trends and attach rates over a few year period. Then you could answer the question with actual facts and stop sounding like an idiot teenager.

[SunnyZ]

Single player games are not dying. Not dead, never were, never have been

Half-assed multiplayer/always online games are forced upon us by shitty publishers so they can push microtransactions and now these freaking lootcrates to squeeze every last dollar from gamers.

Click bate GTFO.

[BcozoftheImplication]

Single player linear games aren't dying it's just ea's excuse to shutdown another amazing studio!! There the Ted Bundy of game developers!!

[Deeke]

Super Mario Odyssey is a blockbuster IP and series of games, and it's made by Nintendo, who typically doesn't follow key disruption trends like lootboxes and such.

[C-H-E-F]

or the success of 90% of PS4 Exclusives lOl.

[andrewsquall]

Its a game that's not out yet.

If Single-Player Games Are "Dying" Then Explain Horizon Zero Dawn then, fixed that for you.

[SR388]

They sorta are? ... Mario Odyssey looks to blow shit up this year lol

[Darkwatchman]

Uh...basically every Sony first party title is a single player focused game and Nintendo has a decent mix of single player and multiplayer experiences

[Gh05t]

Though the title is way out of left field this was a good read. However the author seems to be stating that the model for making video games should change. Though I agree what you are advocating for is laying of hundreds of people, making smaller teams, making smaller games and having the potential of less return per title if applied to EA. Though I feel like this should be the practice for smaller shops EA is huge, beholden to stock holders, and its employees. I dont see that as a solution anyone (read employees and shareholders) would like for EA unless they were on the verge of bankruptcy and needed to make drastic changes.

[gamejediben]

Hmmm... Lets take a look at the next 6 months...

Single Player games:
Assassin's Creed Origins, Super Mario Odyssey, Wolfenstein II, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Sonic Forces, Super Lucky's Tale, Ni no Kuni II, Lost Sphear, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Yakuza 6,

Multiplayer games:
Call of Duty WWII, Star Wars Battlefront II, Monster Hunter World, Far Cry 5,

10:4 so far

Whoever said SP games were dying needs a reality check.

[Razzer]

And those multiplayer games you listed still have single player campaigns. Single player games are going nowhere.

[ShadowWolf712]

Explain Horizon, explain Persona 5, explain RE7, Explain a lot of games out this year that did really well.

And hell, GoW and Spider-Man are SP games out next year, and they have a ton of hype around them.

[FernDiggidy]

Nonsense.

[CrimsonWing69]

If this industry kills off linear adventure games like Uncharted then I'm out.

I'll just play games from the golden era of gaming.

This industry is starting to become a cancer for the hobby. Games as a service!? Why in the ever loving f*ck can't games just be games like they used to? Oh right because now a game needs to sell 5 million copies to be a success...

Remember when a million units sold was a mile stone? Yea gone are those days...

[rulparra]

ONLY EA AND ACTIVISION WANTS TO KILL SINGLE PLAYER

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

...and Zelda BOTW, Horizon, Uncharted 4...your title is VEEEERY incomplete!

[gleepot]

They aren't dying, it's just not as lucrative as formulaic multiplayer games with loot boxes. It's about greed.

[Jayszen]

Single player games are thriving! Just not at greedy EA. Sony and Nintendo have many great single-player games to enjoy. It is just because EA wants to do the least to earn the most that the company churns our GaaS fodder. I bet when Disney sees how well Sony and Insomniac have made Spiderman PS4, the company will not hesitate to make sure that when the contract for Star Wars expires, it is given to a better company. EA and shills of EA would have the world believe that SP games are dying just so they can justify churning out their mediocre games designed to milk as much money out of gamers (of course in my opinion, heh, heh) as possible. No wonder Phil Spencer and EA get along so well. Their corporate strategies are aligned. Meanwhile, Sony and now Nintendo will keep selling millions of games and consoles with the single-player games. Thank the gaming gods for these Japanese companies.