The Decline of Single-Player Games

GameZone's Stephanie Carmichael talks about how developers stress on multiplayer gameplay is destroying the single player experience.

[DemonStration]

Because of the very basic definition of a "game," single player experiences will always be fighting for relevance. They're not going anywhere anytime soon, but there's always going to be a place for multiplayer experiences where I can see single-player fall into a niche or go towards smaller downloadable games.

For now I think it's more about price adjustment. Todd Howard is right that Bethesda's open-world games are some of the few games actually worth $60. Meanwhile, something like Bastion is cheap, amazing, single-player, and doesn't waste any of your time.

Great read, btw

[TBM]

personally id would always take a good-great single player over multiplayer any day of the week. i always put story over that stuff anyway.

i dont care if single player games get 30 reviews over 90, i will never put mulitplayer over a good-great single.

[BlindGuardian]

probably the day when a single player game gets like 30 reviews over 90 is not the right one for this stupid rant

[TBM]

also i couldve swore that God of War 3 got 30 reviews over 90, same as ME1,2, zelda, MGS, Bioshock, resident evil just to name a few.

[Saladfax]

Indie development will probably always pick up whatever niche is left behind by mainstream.

Multiplayer has longer-term profitability, especially with intelligent finance models for free-to-play + premium or a reasonable monthly fee.

However, the market will always reach a saturation point. If too many publishers and devs see multiplayer as the path to financial success, there simply won't be enough player-hours to spread out to all of them. Plus people will (might) grow weary of screaming at friends/foes in round after round of shooting/stabbing/whatever. If not, there are plenty of individuals who do and will always love a truly solid single-player experience.

[mystakin]

I'm not too worried about single player games going away, but I'm always interested when multiplayer aspects creep in. I think Demon's Souls was a great game to mention because it's a fun single player experience that I felt was improved by having the community aspect of the messages. I can see a portal and judge that what's beyond it is probably dangerous, but when there's a message proclaiming "The true Demon's Souls starts here!" I can't help but become even MORE apprehensive of what's beyond.

[Godmars290]

The way that the general business model is forming over online and multiplayer, I certainly see SP games and endangered.

Edit:
Most of you play COD and you don't think SP games aren't in trouble. Go figure.

[omi25p]

Elder scrolls V: Skyrim, Bioshock Infinite, Batman Arkham City, Dues Ex, Rage, Mass Effect are all fantastic singleplayer only games that are coming out within a year.

[tiffac008]

^ Exactly

How can Single Player games die out when its in the Single Player mode you get the full story of the game? It won't make sense if your force to play co-op all the time just to finish the story.

[Muitnorts]

I think Rage has MP but yeah that's what I was thinking. Most of the big, exciting games are SP focused even if they have multiplayer.
Games like Uncharted 3. Then there was also Dead Space 2 and LA Noire and Portal 2 and... So much more. I'm certainly not worried about single player going away.

[ReservoirDog316]

Yup. People can say singleplayer is in decline but there are still many many singleplayer only games being made that sell well.

LA Noire, Skyrim, Batman, Deus Ex ect are big games solely devoted to singleplayer. And then there are singleplayer games who add multiplayer and it doesn't subtract anything like Uncharted, Assassin's Creed ect.

All depends on the game.

And with the advances that video game storytelling has made recently, I doubt it's going anywhere.

[karl]

they may still exist.. but u can clearly see sales wise... how mp games totally dominate

its getting harder and harder to invest in SP when they just wont sell as much..

im sure they sell enough to cover expenses though but why bother? when u can sell many more million copies with an MP focused game?

the thing that annoys me is that SP has always been my thing.. like reading a book or watching a good movie...

[Saladfax]

Ah, but there's only a certain number of players with a certain number of hours at their disposal.

If every publisher and dev dives into multiplayer-focused or multiplayer-only games, it's going to be the disaster of big budget, MMO (WoW clones) all over again. All Points Bulletin spent 100 million in development. They probably didn't clear 100 thousand in returns.

The devs have to make a choice: do they lose money on a multiplayer shooter (or whatever else) that almost no one plays (Brink?), or do they make at least some money on a niche single-player title?

[vickers500]

@Saladfax

Nobody played Brink because it sucked, not because it was focused on multiplayer.

Personally, I love both SP and MP equally, providing each of them are actually good, I get tons of enjoyment out of both of them. I don't need a story in my games to enjoy them, hell most stories from games I don't even remember, because the majority of them are unoriginal and have been done to death in movies and television. I mean I do enjoy those with amazing/original stories, but the amount of those types of games is so small I could count them on one hand.

Gameplay is most important to me, then art style, then story.

[ReservoirDog316]

But Saladfax does have a point. Only CoD, BF and a couple others sell on mp alone. But people can only spend so much time on so many mp games so only a few will sell well.

But there's always more singleplayer games to play.

So yeah.

[Stealth2k]

what was I playing when I played radiant historia, dragon quest vi, pokemon, trails in the sky, KH recoded, ect all just recently?

What was I playing when I imported gungir, gloria union, super robot wars z2 part 1, ect?

and upcoming disgaea 4, atelier rorona, tales of X, zelda, kirby, ect

Was I imagining the single player games?

[Sevir04]

With Games Like Dead Space, Uncharted and Heavy Rain, single player games Like those that have really gripping and engrossing stories I think i'll be fine. Multiplayer is new and will be around but as technology advances great graphics will lead developers to compete me on a Hollywood style narrative with great stories. So I think the 2 will coexist. Bring on uncharted 3 and dead Space 3

[Awesome-Xanto]

I don't think single players games are going anywhere, yes you have some multiplayer games that get some huge sales such as COD, but most games don't see that type of numbers. However single player games sell just as well as multiplayer games do, sometimes better.

I do think you will see single player games expand with more optional social type features, and optional DLC... but to say that they will completely disappear is kind of an over exaggeration when you still have experiences like Fallout and Elder Scrolls that sell great.

They will adapt to the times...

What we need to put an end to though is developers placing multiplayer on games that really don't need it... there not getting more sales because of it and usually the community just dies after a while.

[GamersRulz]

you can't create CLASSICS using online multiplayer only.

[birdy966]

Counter strike, cod 4, Team fortress 2....

[GamersRulz]

those games still have a single player mode, what I meant is that multiplayer aspect of the game would die by shutting off the server, let's assume that COD4 is multiplayer only game, you can't play the game 20 years from now.

what I meant in my first comment is that single player is here to stay, it is not going anywhere anytime soon.

[Rivitur]

Tf2 single player? Balderdash unless you count training mode maybe. Also single player games are still coming out in droves. Dues Ex (which is being highly rated) comes to mind as well as Skyrim as mentioned, and RAGE... just a few

[BitbyDeath]

Warhawk!

I do prefer single player games like Heavy Rain though

[Hicken]

Singleplayer games aren't "going" anywhere. It's multiplayer games that have become more popular. Nearly every multiplayer game has a singleplayer aspect, and there are still healthy amounts of games without multiplayer that release every year.

Games like Halo and Call of Duty have put multiplayer squarely in the limelight, but I've spent more time playing singleplayer games than multiplayer.

[Akiba96]

Also just because a game isnt as easy to lose hundreds of hours into doesnt mean its not worth 60 bucks. Games like uncharted are only about 10 to 12 hours long and probably would only take about 30 hours to plat, yet still many people (including myself) still think it was worth their purchase if not for another chapter in the story, but for a very great game.

Its games like uncharted(s) the mass effects, mgs's, final fantasies in coalition with the time sucks like skyrim and fallout that will keep singleplayer games and singleplayer IN games around as long as gaming is around.

[earbus]

Open world games just bore me 90% travel i do get them sometimes but find them a real chore to play,im sure they wont go anywhere but i played singleplayer for years and years i get bored to easy gameplay isnt evolving nor i dont think it can much more we just get better graphics loving pc mods at the moment, racing games are really the only single player games i complete 100 % these days.

[jacksonmichael]

Why do you play games if you don't have the attention span for it?