Most gamers lose interest in Single player gaming

It appears that many gamers lose interest in the story telling antics of single player games.

[_LarZen_]

If I had to pick just 1...I would have picked singleplayer any day.

[waltyftm]

Agreed.

[T900]

I think this depends, if the game has long cut scenes its surely going to bore me, i would rather watch a movie instead.

[AntoineDcoolette]

Its kinda funny because I've been losing my interest in multiplayer games lol. (At least competitive FPS I still love Starcraft 2)

[Tanir]

exactly Larzen

MP gets boring fast imo. unless its a fighting game. otherwise SP all the way.......oh or a platformer like rayman or lbp.....but again SP!

[Krew_92]

I strongly agree. If I were able to change many multiplayer-only games, I would be much happier.

I still however, enjoy many MMORPG's here and there.

[TBM]

I'll still take single player over multi any day of the week.

[iamnsuperman]

I find it sad the important of multiplayer taking over development of some games resulting in some poor single player experiences. But I am glad there are developers out their who do produce some fantastic single player experiences. Multiplayer is great but ,to me, it is a nice extra compared to the single player (the one I prefer to play)

[NuclearDuke]

You find it sad that people have other tastes for gaming than yourself?

I like competing against others, single player games are fine to give me an introduction, much like a tutorial. However, if I cannot interact with other people or compete, I will get bored incredibly fast.

[Wintersun616]

Just like iamnsuperman (and I) find it sad that multiplayer is taking over and hindering singleplayer in some games, you would find it sad if games with good multiplayer would start decreasing in numbers and quality, would you not? It's not about being sad of someone having a different taste than you, it's about being sad of losing something you've learned to love.

I want to experience a great adventure and a good story. I find games which are geared towards multiplayer and have a short SP campaign with no replay value boring, because they get repetitive very fast. If I can't explore, do side quests, fool around or advance a story, I will get bored incredibly fast.

[kneon]

I find that MP get's boring very quickly. Once I'm good at a new game I don't want to play it anymore, what's the point? I don't need to be constantly pwning noobs to boost my self esteem, I'd rather be having my ass kicked as I try to improve. As soon as I'm the one kicking ass it's time to move on.

[wsoutlaw87]

Ya, I cant believe they're trying to use the fact that no one finishes COD SP as proof. I only play sp with the exception of BF3. I didn't finish any of the cod games because they suck and ai on hard is a mess.

[Animals_as_Leaders]

The only games I buy are single player games.

I play games for relaxation and escapism.

I'll leave the headset screaming matches to the only children.

Split screen co-op or LAN is the only way to do multiplayer imo, it maintains the social aspect and doesn't make you a dysfunctional social reject like most online gamers are.

[PixL]

I'd love to meet my friends for gaming evenings but teleporting has not been invented yet...

[JoySticksFTW]

Hey Animals, I was with you until you said you were vegan

I like meat

That's what she said... :)

But yeah, I like Single-player games best along with mmorpg's

[_Aarix_]

"it maintains the social aspect and doesn't make you a dysfunctional social reject like most online gamers are."

:( I gotta do more split screen.

[TheFirstClassic]

There needs to be more games with split screen. :( All first person shooters should do split screen imo, and online splitscreen would be very nice in the Battlefield games. Playing with friends online doesn't beat playing right next to them.

[FlashXIII]

While I prefer mp orientated games myself.. on losing interest on sp games I have just one word to counter the argument.. Skyrim. I usually find sp games boring especially those with a more linear approach to them. Skyrim though has completely changed my view on sp games and I've barely played anything else since it came out.

[FCOLitsjustagame]

So people lose interest in singleplayer but, what, never lose interest in multiplayer...where you basically do the same thing over and over? Then the games they give as examples are games where he developer focused on multiplayer or just had a poor singleplayer experience.

Stop using multiplayer as a cruch and build a better single player (or coop) experience and those numbers will change.

I would always choose a good singleplayer game over a multiplayer game. Though my biggest preference is to have a game that does both well. (Though I prefer Coop multiplayer, hord/beast type modes, or stategy multiplayer more than just a bunch of run and gun (or camp) everyone else. I mean some of that is fun but it grows old without anything else rather quickly.)

[Cajun Chicken]

I generally lose interest in MP games.

[JoeReno]

I agree. Multiplayer has to been something fun and a little special for it to keep my interest. Otherwise, its kinda like the movie Groundhog day. Yeah, you can boost your friends list and have some fun "social interaction". Leveling up and unlocking, but it still won't hold my interest as well as a great story driven singleplayer game.

The part that I dislike about all of this is when you have developers cutting into what was otherwise a single player series and adding in multiplayer just because its the thing to do.

For the most part I think I prefer single player games because that's what I grew up with. Multiplayer games are kinda new in relation to how long I've been gaming. If I had started when the 1st Halo came out, I might have a very different take on all this.

[Pikajew]

The only multiplayer games I play are the ones made for it. Like TF2, MMO games and minecraft.

[frostypants]

Minecraft isn't really "made" for multiplayer. In fact the online play tends to be kind of buggy and prone to griefing.

[Pikajew]

But Minecraft is a lot better playing with people than alone. And I join servers with out griefers. And its only buggy if you have a bad internet connection

[AtomicGerbil]

Pathetic article, claims gamers losing interest in single player games and presents campaign percentages for games purchased primarily for multiplayer. Yeh! that showed us.

90% of my gaming is single player,while I'll turn to multiplayer occassionally I find it gets repetitive very quickly.

[KingPin]

i must not be most gamers then coz i only play single player games. well that and co-op games.

uncharted, mgs, burnout, gow3, killzone, resistance, motorstorm, batman etc....too many to list.

but all of these games have really good single player and they all sold really well. so to claim single player is dying is ridiculous.

[vikingland1]

To this day I still prefer SP games MP games are wash rinse repeat wash rinse repeat.

[Grave]

I basically have not really been into MP competitive since I stopped playing Counter-Strike: Source. I still really enjoy coop though. I think developers who do have SP and MP are just getting lazy with the SP. Sooner or later I can imagine them doing away with SP and still charging the same price for a game. Its coming, no doubt.

[humbleopinion]

Skyrim says hi. More people play it on Steam right now than all of the COD games combined

[Captain Qwark 9]

nonsense, just ask batman and uncharted. we lose interest in bad SP games with no/mediocre stories. make a great sp game with a great story and it will sell and most gamers will beat it ( RPG's excluded just becuase its more of a niche genre aside from FF )

[lumley666]

id much rather a single player with lots of cutscenes, online bores me

[Venjense]

Me too, it's fun for about half-an-hour then it just feels like I'm doing the same thing over and over.

All my friends absolutely love MP though and hardly play SP, so to each their own

[lumley666]

very true bud

[Ocean]

Personally i prefer a great SP story/campaign over MP hence i dont have many MP based games in my collection

[Pintheshadows]

If people didn't lose interest in MP gaming then surely COD 4 would have sufficed.

[Coach_McGuirk]

MP brings variability & competition. I find that playing against humans is always more fun than against AI.

[Urbz7870]

They dont make games like they use to anymore.

[Venjense]

This study is a bit flawed.

Rage is boring
COD SP is extremely shallow with terrible AI (no AI), it's a MP game with SP tacked on.

See how many people finished Uncharted 3, GoW, Batman AC

[Faelan]

Singleplayer games with a fixed storyline that you can't deviate from and no notable side quests tend to bore me. Sandbox or a game that isn't based on a storyline like the Civilization series is the way to go for me. I can easily spend hundreds of hours on a good sandboxy game like X3, Minecraft or Skyrim.

I love MMOs for the virtual world and co-op aspect as well, with the occasional PvP fight tossed in for some variation. If the leveling experience is too much on rails though, I tend to get bored before hitting max level these days. It's the been there, done that syndrome I suppose.

Competitive multiplayer games on the other hand, I just don't get. I generally find them very repetitive and although they have their moments of glory when you win against all odds, it's quickly drowned out by cheats, exploits and meta-gaming. Toss in raging people (voice chat is the first one that gets disabled on my side) and what not, the social experience is rarely a good one, if there is one at all, that is. Add balance issues, lag and other technical issues... it just ends up feeling like a big frustrating 'why bother?' to me.

The bottom line is, I play games to relax, recover and get away from the daily crap that life throws at me. Singleplayer, MMOs and co-op multiplayer works for me in that regard. Competitive multiplayer games on the other hand don't. They just remind me of what I'm trying to get away from.

[ZippyZapper]

No

[Phantasm]

This title should read, "Most developers loose interest in single player gaming." Thanks to multiplayer... which leads to higher production budgets... which leads to the single player cutbacks.

[Vgameman]

That's because most of the single player campaigns nowadays absolutely suck ass.

[Vgameman]

Not saying every game's does... but like, it seems that developers care more about multiplayer than anything now and it kind of sucks.

[smashcrashbash]

Please. I wish people would stop trying to push these stupid ideals on us. Just because some developers have practically abandoned SP for MP doesn't mean EVERYONE likes it that way. MP can get very boring too.I loved playing DMC3 over and over again. I loved to play R1's campaign over and over again.

Just because some people can't do a day without talking or playing with strangers online doesn't warrant the statement 'Most gamers lose interest in single player gaming' That is developer lazy talk so they can half @$$ the SP and concentrate on the MP

[Ethereal]

That is because those people are not real "gamers" I prefer SP. Although co op and MP are a fun addition, I always play SP.

[bunt-custardly]

People here on N4G will naturally tend to fall into the 30% odd who finish single player games. But the 70% who don't are more casual gamers.

The single player stories are obviously not gripping enough if 60/70% of people playing never actually see the ending.

[xtremexx]

nope, im even looking for more sp games

[Hicken]

Who are these "most gamers," and where do you find them? The people I call gamers LOVE singleplayer gaming as much as- if not more than- they love multiplayer.

[schlanz]

You find them on xbox sites like this one.

[Ascalon94]

not only is the downfall of society and people with actually common fucking sense upon us, but now its seems the downfall of game is soon approaching.

[swice]

While multiplayer is usually fun, give me single player ANY DAY

[DFresh]

I want all of the above.
(Single Player/Multiplayer/Co Op)
Triple Threat!
:D

[blackhammer]

I enjoy a story more than the profanity of a thirteen year-old.

[Getowned]

I love SP but I love playing games with people and friends and this is why we need more CO-OP games like L4D 1&2 and UC3 with the co-op missions,even GTA4 did this a bit.I want a single player story but able to play with people online and when they leave a bot/Ai can take there place just like L4D even in L4D you could have real people play as the zombies 4vs4

[Bathyj]

MP died for me when I stopped playing Mariokart 64.

Online holds no interest for me, splitscreen was the way to go.

Beside 95% of MP consists of run, shoot repeat. Ugh.