Are Co-Op Games a Thing of the Past?

Today on The Xbox Dive, Chris and James discuss playing Co-Op Games on the Xbox One. Both Online and Offline, how important are Co-Op games to you?

[NerdBurglars]

Local coop is most definitely, but coop will live online and be much stronger there

[neolego]

Pretty solid answer. Why do you think local Co-Op is dying?

[gangsta_red]

I just rented Double Dragon Neon from Game Pass just because it has couch co-op. Love beat 'em up games, I really wish that genre would become popular again.

[CorndogBurglar]

I think the answer is simple. Very few games are released nowadays that have have local co-op features. No split screen. No nothing. The ones that do come out are usually indie games. Not that there is anything wrong with indies, mind you, I love them. But they are for a much smaller crowd than AAA titles. And AAA titles very rarely have local co-op anymore.

[madforaday]

local Co-op back in the day didn't have to compete with online at all. A quick search showed that Double Dragon was one of the first local coop game in 1987 (console). I think the majority of people who play videos games on consoles are around 20 to 40 year old's. When those people played video games back in the day they had a lot of friends who would always come to the house whether it is a birthday party or neighborhood kids. At that time we were young still living with our guardians at the time. The older we got, technology got better, our friends moving away or going to school somewhere else, those people who use to sit next you to play are not in a different state playing with you. In all honesty, it is much easier that way from the perspective of a gamer. Your friend just needs the same game and system as you, instead of asking your guardian permission to have someone come over and then asking your friend and them asking their guardian. I personally went to other people's houses to play their system when I was younger. Don't get me wrong I was outside most of the Summer but when we were inside we would play video games co-oping or taking turns. Now, take those 10-14 year old's who live now and compare them to what we had when we were 10 or 12. They have so many options to choose from compared to us and as a developer you can only do so much depending on your game and of course talent. The easiest solution is to make online co-op because in theory it is an easier process for the gamer's. Of course, I am not a developer so I don't know what is easier for them but that isn't me to decide. Look at the newest Halo, Halo couch co-op SP was a staple in that series since it came out but the developers took that away in the newest installment. Were people upset? Of course! There were tons of articles about it. What it boils down to, I don't think it dramatically hurt the sales because well it has Online coop. Just imagine if Rocket League just had local co-op, that would drastically hurt the sales of RL easily. I was just playing Mario Kart 64 with my gf the other day and I only have a 32 inch tv and guess what it, it was relatively annoying having the screen split between the both of us. I know buying a bigger tv could help that but that isn't the point that is just making the gamer life a litter harder. Also, I know these games that are coming out are ever so demanding that local Co-op can be hard but once again I am not a developer so I don't know too much about that. I think that is what 343i said about the newest Halo that came out.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Online is growing.

Back when gaming didn't have a huge online presence, the only logical way to play with someone was literally on the same system, as a social thing. Nintendo carried this concept for a long time with Mario Kart, Smash Bros etc, but many racing and fighting games actually still had local MP in some form for a long, long time.

Online is edging it out based on pure convenience. Most are not going to someone's house to play a game, same as MOST are not calling someone to talk to them ie texting has taken over.

Other forms of play are just more convenient to the user.

Companies run data all the time, and when they see people in HUGE MILLIONS NOT playing locally, it begs to question why program a feature people are not using? It makes sense to double down on online.

[gangsta_red]

Agreed, would love to see more couch co-op games. My son has his friends over and they always just watch either other play when playing video games.

We need more Double Dragons, Contra and Ikari Warrior type games.

[neolego]

Ah man, I agree about more beat'em ups. The last game I remember loving in that genre, was the Scott Pilgrim brawler that was released on XBLA. I'm going to have to go check if that's backwards compatible! :)

[2cents]

Can I add Final Fight to the list!

[IndieFolk]

I recall playing the hell outta Digimon World 4 and Champions of Norrath with friends and cousins some time ago. We need more 4-players couch co-op games.

[jrshankill]

Nobody picked up the Wii-U and it's totally littered with couch co-op games. Super Mario 3d World, for example, is so much fun with 2 players. Gets a bit hectic at 4 players.

[Eldyraen]

Local coop should see a revival, in smaller doses, if the Switch succeeds.

It's perfect for smaller games that were the best for coop: side scrollers, beat em ups, and top down ARPGs that were quite common until last gen. I'd love a Diablo like game on the Switch, Xmen legends/MUA style beat em up ARPGs, etc. Lego games sort of kiddified beat em ups sadly and replaced the legends/mua games but I'm hoping we might see a MCU or DCU version one day still.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"Local coop should see a revival, in smaller doses, if the Switch succeeds."

Not really.

Consider 3DS had this, DS had this...have you not played Mario Kart on portable?

Local Co op isn't going to see any "revival" based on Switch.

MOST that talk about the market don't really get how it works.

DEMAND comes first, NOT the product.

IF someone wants it, the DEMAND will DRIVE the product, the PRODUCT doesn't not drive demand.

ie if we make it, they will come lol

It exist right now, where are those people?

Several notable games have local co op yet the market is still not responding.

http://www.gamespew.com/201...

http://screenrant.com/xbox-...

So this idea of making more of it to have it see a "revival" doesn't really make much sense. If those few titles that have local co op are not JUMPING OFF SHELVES, it means the feature is not wanted THAT much.

When you have a feature that is truly in demand, you literally own a market on to yourself, your sales should be HIGHER then the average game, IF the market indeed favors this feature.

For the game to not move huge mega units because of this feature, tells me its not wanted that much, not matter how many games use it, not matter how much Switch uses it etc.

You must remember, the cart must come before the horse.

That is like saying everyone wants gold, but doesn't buy the gold that is being offered, OH but wait til MORE gold comes, then they will want more gold......

Wait?

Soooo they don't want the gold in the small units it exist right now, but will want more when more is out and about ie less rare? No. It just doesn't make sense.

I'm sure we'll see more local co op from smaller developers, but I don't see this "revival" happening based on Switch, as more games exist on PS4 and XONE with MORE users to show us if such a feature is truly wanted.

[KillBill]

Nope, local co-op is seeing more a resurgence than not from my shopping experiences. I always look for local co-op and lately they have been much more prevalent.

[jrshankill]

Overcooked is an excellent little couch co-op game. Loads of fun.

Best place to find local co-op is in the indie section.

[MLGecko]

Depends. When my life is hectic and I can't commit to a three+ hours session, then I prefer my SP games that I can pause and leave. MP nights require much more planning and prep.

[neolego]

I totally agree. I kind of mentioned this in the clip, but as an adult, it's much harder to coordinate with friends to be online and together to play a game. Those nights are much fewer and farther between then they were back in college when I would play almost every night with the guys in the dorm. Ah....the days of LAN parties! haha

[MLGecko]

Yup... too many nights of me sitting for an hour for the "game night" to even start. Meanwhile, I am missing time I could be having with my family. But it is all age. Somewhere, there is another kid in college playing the hell out of his MOBA and another 12 year old cussing about someones mom in CoD :D

Ahhh... many a weekend grabbing my Win95/98 system and hitting a friends house for some late night Duke Nukem or Age of Empire.

[Bigpappy]

That's were I am. but I make some time on some weekends for my brothers who also are working with families.

[Eldyraen]

Nintendo will help revive it with the Switch I think (couch coop especially). What they need is for third parties to support it as well as it's really what makes it special. It's literally a 2 person device right out of the box with 4 barely above the price of 2 on the others (via joycons).

With Metro Prime not saying retro is making it, I'm hoping they're making a totally new coop Shooter IP as it's the genre that Nintendo lacks most and I think Retro could do a great job on it.

I think it will make a return to other consoles eventually. Online focus won't be going anywhere but soon we will hit a glass ceiling in games and they could sacrifice resolution instead of framerate for local coop so a native 4K game could theoretically have local coop mode but a checkerboard resolution instead of native come next gen). It is a better trade off imo tha framerate anyways, especially later on when we have more power than absolutely necessary.

[neolego]

Having Retro make a brand new, original, Co-Op FPS is a fantastic idea that I've never even thought about! Great...now that's all I want! haha :)

[Eldyraen]

After e3 and people noticed Prime didn't say Retro a lot of people started wondering what they might be doing. Naturally some went straight for DKC since it's what they've done lately but what Nintendo needs is innovation and new markets.

I just started thinking "what if", what nintendo really lacks, and what the Switch's strengths are. Coop seems to be a huge focus with Switch (even Mario was shown with Cappie coop option) and local multiplayer has been shown in a ton of games. A real shooter would need another pair of joycons or pro controller though but not a huge deal.

Nintendo needs to tap into the older market still and a Shooter is basically the best gateway game you can make. If I was Nintendo I would have looked at MS to model it in though, Halo or Gears specifically. I doubt they'll go gears route (violent wise especially) but both are singleplayer, coop, competitive heavy games with long lifespans and loyal fans that Nintendo could seek to draw on. Metroid is sci-to already so Halo popped into my brain fast.

If they can make the game Halo fans missed out on with 5 (split screen, story driven, etc) than I think Retro had the best chance to do it from an internal Nintendo studio. It could make the Switch that much more viable as it would harken back to the golden era of Goldeneye, Perfect dark, etc when Nintendo was THE home for console shooters really.

If anyone from Nintendo could recapture that spark, I think it's Retro.

[_-EDMIX-_]

http://www.gamespew.com/201...

http://screenrant.com/xbox-...

Both systems out longer then Switch, sold more then Switch.

Soooo I'd argue if it was ever going to be "revive" it should have already happened.

Demand comes before the product.

"What they need is for third parties to support it"

??? WTF?

No.

What they need is for FANS to support it if they want it.

If they are not buying local co op games in the millions right now JUST FOR THAT 1 FEATURE, what tells you they will with MORE releases?

[2cents]

Looking forward to getting some online co-op in with crackdown and sea of thieves. So I would say no, co-op is not a thing if the past.

If developers make them people will play. Many tastes to cater to in such a diverse community that we are a part of. I have always been a co-op fan.

[Darkfist_Flames]

co-op is still alive, but mostly online with few games having local co-op.

[GamesMaster1982]

I prefer local coop with a friend, or if its 2 player online story mode then that online with friend. Just hate playing with randoms who most of the time just F about and don't even play the game properly.

[Stogz]

I hope not, I love co op local and online.

[Der_Kommandant]

I'm still waiting for a decent Army of Two sequel.

[clouds5]

Local coop is some of the most fun with games you can have imho. Ever tried divinity original sin? Amaaaaazing. Online coop with strangers is rarely any fun at all. I'd rather play alone than with annoying kids that wanna f*** my mom.

[About30Ninjas]

Local coop is for ppl who got friends and let be honest here there is a lot of nerds out there who don't got any

[Knushwood Butt]

Looking forward to Knack 2 couch co-op.

[Retroman]

Hell nah. We need co-op games to play with buddies. Who wrote this she-it ? a lazy editor?

[neolego]

It's not really an article, it's a video discussion. It's an open topic about how important Co-Op games are in today's landscape, and we spend most of the time talking about Local Co-Op. We realize there is an audience, but less and less games are including Co-Op, so we wanted to discuss what that might mean for games in the future. If you want to actually know our thoughts you should watch the video.

[TheOttomatic91]

As a mainly SP gamer I can Safely say no it's not.

[EatCrow]

Unfortunately this is a divisive answer but.. It's dying on some consoles more then others. Nintendo is delfinitely keeping local co op alive through its exclusives. And Xbox was doing good with halo, gears and fable... But they should work on more co op friendly games. Also all of MS games have some aspect of online co op play.

Sony on the other hand focuses on linear games which is perfectly fine but not much co op to be had.

Multiplats are also limiting co op a lot but there are some exceptions.

[Bronxs15]

If co op games are a thing of the past, then I go back in time every night to play co op gears 4 horde mode.

[neolego]

We don't believe that Co-Op games will ever go away, which we talk about in the video. However, they are being included less and less nowadays, especially in larger AAA titles. There will always be a handful of games that support it I believe.

[Bronxs15]

I haven't read your article yet. I'll read it soon. I was just making a general comment. Thanks for your reply.

[Hotabang]

local coop is almost dead thanks to lazy devs (or journalists hyping shit rather than quality stuff)

[Chocoburger]

This E3, Electronic Arts just revealed a new co-op adventure that REQUIRES to simultaneous players throughout the entire game. A Way Out, it looks really interesting. Hope it lives up to its potential!

[DJStotty]

Co-op isnt dying, if you ask me its one of the better experiences in games. Destiny, Online multiplayer (kind of co-op),Neverwinter, i generally look at a game to see if it can be played co-op and so do my friends. One of the reasons why destiny 2, anthem etc will be purchased

[neolego]

I agree with you here. Co-Op isn't dying, but it's definitely evolving. Games like Destiny and Overwatch and Sea of Thieves and Anthem are great examples of what the future of Co-Op games will probably look like. I just see less AAA, single player, story driven games including Co-Op and that support being moved to games as a service.

[DJStotty]

That is true, some games are going downhill with microtransactions i.e. cod, halo where they implement special packs to purchase for new weapons, skins etc.

For me microtransactions only belong in mmorpgs like the likes of neverwinter, world of warcraft etc.

I do like a good single player game to get into but they tend to be more horror based games lol

[TargusX]

I'm truly gutted when I constantly see online coop only games coming out. I mean, come on, we have the most powerful consoles ever made and the biggest TV screens yet developers only focus online! WAKE UP! Look at Diablo 3 for example for it's fantastic local coop gameplay or PVZGW2 - they're missing out! Friends and couples alike want to see more local coach coop games, it's a must.

[neolego]

Not sure I'd call it a must. While I agree and enjoy playing games like that, I think it's more of a dying trend and we are now in the minority. I don't really fault the developers too much. You mention Diablo, and that's a great example, but I would argue that it's hard work to get a super polished, super graphic intensive game running well in Split-Screen. We will still see it, but I do think it will be less and less.

[DJStotty]

In a world where id say 95% of console owners are connected online this is where the focus of co-op has switched to.

Before online gaming was introduced in the console space most games had some sort of local co-op/system link mode. Goldeneye anyone?? lol

[LandoCalrissiano]

You mean like far cry 5? No, they aren't.