Wednesday, June 20th 2018
Take Two: News of Single Player Games' Death Is Greatly Exaggerated
With so many games either a) adding a tacked-on multiplayer component with lootboxes or other monetization ingredients; and b) single-player games turning into multiplayer experiences (look no further than the expected Fallout 76's always-on multiplayer approach, of which I'm still reeling from), it's the little things, the little draughts of single player respect that keep us lone gaming wolves sane. Take Two, publishers of the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 (and a company best known for its affiliation with single-player experiences, thankfully), has said that single player games are going nowhere.
In an interview with Venture Beat, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick voiced his support for single-player experiences as anchors for player engagement with all aspects of a game - including its multiplayer components, or paving the way for online-only efforts such as GTA Online, the most lucrative title ever in the history of entertainment. Zelnick said that "(...) there are also people saying that it won't work if it's not a free-to-play battle royale. People really are saying that, and not even tongue-in-cheek. I don't buy that. Single-player, in my opinion, is not dead, not even close. Companies that feel like they'll just avoid the hard work of building a story and characters and go right to where the money is in multiplayer, I don't think that's going to work. I'd be surprised.
Source:
Venture Beat
In an interview with Venture Beat, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick voiced his support for single-player experiences as anchors for player engagement with all aspects of a game - including its multiplayer components, or paving the way for online-only efforts such as GTA Online, the most lucrative title ever in the history of entertainment. Zelnick said that "(...) there are also people saying that it won't work if it's not a free-to-play battle royale. People really are saying that, and not even tongue-in-cheek. I don't buy that. Single-player, in my opinion, is not dead, not even close. Companies that feel like they'll just avoid the hard work of building a story and characters and go right to where the money is in multiplayer, I don't think that's going to work. I'd be surprised.
17 Comments on Take Two: News of Single Player Games' Death Is Greatly Exaggerated
When I was growing up it was four controllers on the N64 playing Mario Kart/Goldeneye.
Nowadays everything is multiplayer, even forced trophies on PS. Hate it.
Fallout 76 is now off my radar simply for the fact it's leaning towards online play. Jog on Bethesda.
Been a PC enthusiast and PC builder since 1994 and I'm in it for the immersive single player gaming experience. The genre doesn't matter to me, FPS, Third person, RTS, RPG, Beat'em up, Open world or Linear story, its all good so long as there is an immersive single player experience.
Shocking.
MP games have gotten a major boost lately both from the popularity of streaming (since streamers more often tend to stream MP games than SP ones), and from the rise of the battle royale genre. But I think that's more just evened the field between SP and MP games. It's certainly not killing SP gaming off or going to.
For whatever reason there is a tendency for people to think in binary, that either all games must be SP or MP and one of them is the inevitable final evolution of gaming. Games are like movies or music, or any other entertainment, where there are all different kinds for people's preference or mood.
Also, whenever this kind of talk comes up it reminds me of the "console gaming is dying" or "PC gaming is dying" articles in magazines that I could post from 15 years ago, that were obviously 100% wrong.
I know that they aren't the makers its just my rant over a long awaited installment in a great series that did mp and sp right
These are not the people who can really say SP games are not dead, only company's who make solid SP games can reallly say this, Looking at you CDPR and Larian Studio's.
This is more like a cry we still exist.
With almost 10 years, it still retains a strong player base...
Now, where's BL3 anyway...
Regardless... the bloke is correct in everything he's quoted for up there. Up to and including the use of single player to guide players into a MP environment. In fact, there many games that do both simultaneously ie. The Division, Diablo 3...
I personally have played anything seriously online since W.O.W. in 2013. Tried a few thing out here and there. Just no love for it.