Are Single-Player Games Slowly Dying?

"Having recently purchased a new gaming laptop, my very first task was obviously to start loading it up with a plethora of games that, until then, I had only dreamed of playing. As I set about building my new PC game collection, a strange phenomenon started forming in front of me. I began to notice that all the games I was downloading were either online games, MMO’s, or single-player games that required a gaming “hub” such as Steam or Origin."

[NYC_Gamer]

Single player only games are a dying breed

[TekoIie]

.......NO.........

There are less SP only games this generation but they will never die out...

[Kran]

Alan Wake? Assassin's Creed II? Dragon Age Origins? Deus Ex: Human Revolution? Skyrim? Ratchet and Clank future trilogy? Darksiders? Metro 2033?

All were dying games?

Ummmmm i dont think so.

[mttrackmaster38]

Why would you mention Assassin's Creed? That game came out in 2009 and 3 games after it have multiplayer, in the case of that franchise, single=player only is dead.

[kent80082007]

@mttrackmaster38 oh yeah because I totally bought assassin's creed for its multiplayer mode, who cares about the single player campaign right?

[darkgod]

uno tht aint much lol

[Kran]

@darkgod

that's just a minor few.

[SheenuTheLegend]

assassins creed 2 was first impossible to play offline because of the DRM
They are shooting their own heads this way.
in the long run these things will effect gaming very badly

[ATi_Elite]

HELL NO!

Day Z, Firefall, The Last of us, Uncharted, Dead space, Mass Effect, Skyrim, STALKER Series, Metro Series, Far Cry 3, Arma Series, Portal, any RPG, etc. etc. etc.

Plenty of great Single player games to enjoy on the horizon.

Even with the switch to Online gaming you can still enjoy great SP Games like Diablo III!

Crap journalism....... I wish that was dying.

[Kran]

Urm.... The Last of Us is both single player and multiplayer. The article is about single player ONLY games.

[tee_bag242]

Day Z is MMO buddy. Why mention games you have no idea about ?

[Canthar]

Sadly it seems to be going that way some which is sad. I do not want MP games most of the time. Just leave me alone and let me game. I deal with enough people day in day out. My time is mine.

[rockbottom3076]

Canthar i agree and feel the same. Not to mention if you decide you have to go online and its with a bunch of random people (not everybody has friends on the same schedule or have the same hobbies) usually its not being played the way it was intended. so please do not get rid of SP.

[cervantes99]

Well said Canthar, I agree 100%.

I want to be left alone most times to game and escape into the game world. Dead Space and Mass Effect were great examples of this.

[stuntman_mike]

I have to agree also, getting away from peeps and sitting down on my own to play the walking dead was awesome. soaking in the atmosphere with no one around to spoil it.

as i do with a lot of games.

[Broncos98]

could not agree more.

[mananimal]

Yep. couldnt have said it better.

[PS3Freak]

The comments above reflect what gaming is really about.

Well said gentlemen.

[R6ex]

Damn!

MP games have NO STORY!

Hate it!

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Just because multiplayer games are more popular doesn't mean single player games are dying.SP games will always be around as long as people want them.

[Hayabusa 117]

^^ Simply and elegantly put. Well said.

More poeple play games every year. So yes, there are more poeple who like multiplayer games now. That doesn't mean gamers don't like the single player experience Things will change only if people change. If you still want single player games to exist, then keeping spending $$$ on them. It's the only thing publishers care about rihgt?

[Godmars290]

Only because publishers can't find was to justify subscription fees for them DX

[MasterD919]

The gaming industry will ALWAYS need single player games.

[deletingthis34675334]

Yes. Sad.

[Somebody]

There's so much F2P games or games that focus on online or social aspects lately and in the works. Crytek's and EA's announcement about going 100 % digital is the tip of the iceberg, right after Blizzard's success in enforcing the always online DRM. Micrososft is rounding up everything (Windows 8, X Box LIVE, GFWL. tablets and smartphones) under one unified platform. Sony is catching up with its Gaikai purchase. These are all signs of a totally digital and a gaming world full of F2P titles.

As an aging gamer I have to live with the fact there's no way I'll be able to compete with the rest of multiplayers out there regardless of the pay to win scheme they are putting up. I've seen how I performed in BF3 and having Premium players killing me with guns that I haven't purchased yet is like having salt shove into an already festering wound. I could stop torturing myself and enjoy the singleplayer campaigns but with the gaming industry slow but obvious shift towards online, social or F2P games...where else can I go? There are tons of RPGs that still offer hours of story but Diablo 3 had shown that you can have a RPG campaign online without rebranding yourself as an MMO. How long that's (RPG's singleplayer, offline campaign) going to last when there's temptation are all around to go F2P?

Age of Empire, Diablo, Mech Warrior. I've abandoned these classic titles thanks to their shift toward F2P. No, I refuse to play a singleplayer game that requires me to monitor my ping or find a server near my region or requires me to buy stuff with real money in order to move on to the next level.

Its a sad future.

[iamlegend9999]

It was but now that a lot of games are putting co op in it. Singleplayer games are saved.

[Wintersun616]

No they are not. Even though more and more games are getting a multiplayer mode, there are still a lot of games which have the focus on single player mode. For example even though God of War: Ascension will have MP, I'm pretty sure most GoW fans want to buy it for the story and single player. I know I do.

Also if you look at the games that were considered to be the most plausible GOTY games last year, they all were games with fantastic single player campaigns (Skyrim, Batman: AC, U3, Gears 3, LoZ: SS). Two of those games have MP, but I personally don't care about MP especially in shooters, because I find it very repetitive and boring in the long run. With the exceptions of co-op story play such as in Borderlands of course.

Not to mention a long list of other recent and upcoming games which either are SP only or are bought by most players for their SP: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, L.A. Noire, Darksiders 2, Beyond: Two Souls, InFamous 2, Assassin's Creed 3, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, The Last Guardian, GTA V, God of War: Ascension, Final Fantasy versus XIII, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Hitman: Absolution, Bioshock: Infinite, Dishonored, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Spec Ops: The Line, Tomb Raider, Prototype 2, Mass Effect 3, Asura's Wrath, Dark Souls, Dead Space 2 and the list goes on and on and on.

The question is ridiculous because the answer is obvious: no, single player games are not going anywhere.

[Tonester925]

I wish that I could play games like Skyrim online. Just gives me the feeling of being on a real adventure working with friends to complete a common goal.

That's probably why I love Borderlands so much.

[310dodo]

respectfully.

I would never want people "inside" my Skyrim.

Just seems to personal

idk

[Tonester925]

Like how Fable is. I think they should give the option. Fable worked perfectly.

[vickers500]

Yeah that would be pretty cool... if it wouldn't run like crap on consoles.

[darkgod]

i think skyrims combat is too bad to feel like a real adventure is has combat that of a old mmo.....

[WikusVanDeMerwe]

Don't worry Tonester, they are creating TES Online for people just like you and then you can pay $15 a month to have your real adventure.

[Ramas]

single player games are best games, but i welcome some clever online elements, like dark souls or other similar

[NukaCola]

I like unique online experiences:

Dark/Demon's Souls
Journey
Borderlands

[SpecialK]

Its not so much that sp games are dying, more that with this gen of consoles being so connected that multiplayer games have had the chance to really boom.

So its a bit more balanced now

[swat_teem]

no there will always be single player games as long as people want them and just because a game does not have online it does not mean its bad example mass effect 2 there is no online and its a great game

[Yangus]

Slowly Dying?Maybe,....huge content SP not too good business.....multiplayer=pay,o nline=pay,new multiplayer maps=pay,new multiplayer mode=pay this good business!

[310dodo]

I love playing Battlefield 3 with my buddies as much as anyone.
online FPS is awesome as hell.

but It could never ever add up to the fun I have with my single player games skyrim, SR2, Fallout3

single player games are this personal treasure
damn that sounded gay hahaha

[lonesoul65]

I think single player games are getting better actually. With the added ability to co-op more games with friends, it adds replay value to the games. Sure some teams feel the need to tack on multiplayer but so what.

There will always be people wanting to tell a story, there will always be people wanting to play a story. Sometimes its about creating your own fun, and others its about a developer showing you a good time.

Single player will never die...the game industry, just like electronics, fashion, cars, and stupid catchy sayings, go in cycles...it will become the focus again in time.

Like Jean jackets and Daisy dukes...ok, maybe not the jackets...

[rulakir]

If single player games die then the industry will really suffer.

[Rock_On_PS4]

There is room for both SP and MP in video games. I am more of a SP fan. I do not like MP added to games that simply do not need it. Social networking fad has forced developers to tack on MP and social media friendly options to boost sales.

Some single player campaigns are far better than the casual Call of Duty MP tacked on to boost its sales.

[YodaCracker]

I only care about the single player in most games. While I'm not worried that single player is dying, I am concerned that the single player experience will be compromised because the developers need to devote time to tack on a multiplayer mode to everything even when it is not needed.

[Rock_On_PS4]

Too much focus on the social media fad hype and move towards embracing MP/social media.
Bring back the days when video games were the past time of socially inept nerds. For some of us video game cartridges/game discs are our only friends.
Single player campaigns used to be so much better in most video games.

[Roccetarius]

Single Player games are already dead, according to - EA.

[PygmelionHunter]

Hopefully not. Tackled in multiplayer modes suck so hard, they should either make them single player or multi player only sometimes (See Battlefield 3 for reference).

[Imikida]

I think splitscreen games are dying more then single player games. There will always be games that don't need online, so there will always be single player games.

[Picnic]

If a studio made a game in a market that wasn't saturated and boldly announced that it was entirely single player I think that it would do well.

Rayman Origins has shown that there was an appetite for 2D platformers.

I think that there would be an appetite for a 3D platformer. No guns or grittiness. No sci-fi plot. No 'attitude'. Little or no characterisation. No trying to make a movie. Think like the first Banjo Kazooie game.

[Sidewinder-]

Another "I've just got a PC guys xD" article.

[OldSnakePS3]

im a single player gamer so if they are then im done w/ gaming

nothings wrong w/ multiplayer just dont shoehorn it in ala
dead space/bioshock

demon's and dark souls are how mp should be done - not compromising the single player experience

[miamicanesruleall]

Another stupid article from yet another stupid "journalist". I did not bother to even read the article because I'm getting tired of these types of articles that say gaming is dying, consoles are going the way of the dinosaur, will the next console cycle be the last ever, single player gaming is dead, blah blah blah. Gaming will continue to evolve, but as long as people seek entertainment, gaming itself isn't going anywhere, and neither is single player gaming. Who the hell wants their gaming experience to be dictated by morons online, cheaters, glitchers, lag, etc. etc. No thank you. Multiplayer is fine as an addition, but I will never buy any game for the multiplayer alone. And that includes games like Halo and Call of Duty. If games like that ever went multiplayer only, count me out. I'm not a big Halo or Cod fan, but I have purchased Halo 3 and a few of the Cod's, and I barely played the multiplayer option in either. The reason is I have a life, and in order to be good in multiplayer, you have to invest alot of time ranking up to get the gear you want. No thanks, I'll be out on my boat with my lady. I'll play the single player and enjoy the game in my own time at my own pace, without feeling completely lost because everyone in the map has better equipment than I do. (Or just plain cheat) I'm of the opinion that loadouts and all the gear should be available from the get go in multiplayer games, and the player should be allowed to proceed from that point learning what combo or weapons, armor, etc. they prefer. Why make me grind for 20 hours wasting my time just to get a weapon which should be made available to me from the beginning? Again, no thanks, I've got a life to live.

[Shotcalm]

Stupid article. Should be, "are journalists writing alot of stupid articles lately?"

[Pain_Killer]

As Multiplayer games get repetitive (COD,Halo,MOHA), the market for Single player games would again rise.

Currently the gaming industry needs new single player only ip's. Co-Op is a nice feature but look at ME3's multiplayer.

The game attracted alot of casuals, people which never even played the previous parts and kept whining about the ending.