Is This The End Of Linear Story-Based Video Games?

Liswed writes: "In the wake of EA shutting down Visceral Games —the studio working on an Uncharted-like Star Wars game— I began to wonder,”Is this the end of linear story-based video games?” 2017 has been a great year for video games overall, especially for titles that have put a strong emphasis on an open-world nature."

[Pr0xi]

I don't think it's the end of linear story games but I do think publishers are being more careful with which ones they invest in.

[LeeU]

Yeah I fully expect a 2018 full of open-world inspired games. I hope the industry doesn't stray away from those linear story based experiences

[rainslacker]

I think people overreact to everything and assume that a huge trend is happening which will somehow irrevocably change the landscape of the current gaming market.

We've seen it with a lot of things since last gen. MT, FPS being king, MP games taking over, consoles dying, motion control taking over, etc, etc, etc. Remember the lamenting how every game was going to be open world going forward? Well....in the grand scheme of things, have things changed very much in the variety of available genres of games? If anything, we have more games overall, and more selection within all those things which people seem to think were going to ruin everything they love.

The answer to the question is no. linear story based games aren't going anywhere. They are still being made. So long as they sell, they'll continue to be made.

The nice thing about the gaming market is that there is a plethora of different tastes that can be catered to. Publishers may seek out the more sustainable revenue streams from GaaS type games, but they will also want the revenue from the people who buy millions of copies of linear story based games.

There will be shifts in resources from one thing to another as time goes on, but that would happen regardless. But the nice thing about SP, linear, story based games is that they are consistent, and tend to always have an audience. They even sell to those who buy GaaS type games, because most gamers don't play just one type of game. Things like God of War are going to sell well. Mass Effect sold well before they butchered it. The new Tomb raider and UC games sold well. Maybe not always amazing, but they can return investment, and have more potential to make a return on investment in the long term, than a GaaS game which flops out of the gate...which more often than not, will forever be doomed to be a failure if it doesn't sell enough in the first month.

[bigmalky]

Not if you play Sony exclusives. I'm not pushing this as an agenda, but Sony's studios have a good balance of storytelling and freedom. Uncharted 4 is on rails in terms of following the story, but offers different ways around a situation. Same with TLoU and I imagine God of War.

It's only a certain subset of publishers pushing for Games as a Service style games... The usual suspects. If that's their choice, fine, but gamers who have enjoyed storied games from the beginning will go where they can play them. I know I will and have managed to avoid every GaaS game this year without a fear of missing a thing... Except SoW, as I was a fan of Shadow of Mordor. Still, I'll stick to my guns and stay away.

[LeeU]

I don't think you're pushing an agenda I actually find some truth in that. Sony has their first party stuff following this line of cinematic linear storytelling. I actually enjoy that. Though it seems that as we move forward those experiences are becoming less important in the eyes of the industry

[masterfox]

Technology and the internet can be a double edge sword for gaming, in one hand we have the developers who wants to create a unique creative worlds and stories, in another hand we have the developers who want to cash in quickly by creating multiplayers games only, cause also this type of games are way more easy to develop and deploy thanks to today's technology, so in other words we have the lazy gaming developers and gaming Developers imo, if the multiplayer games are on the rise this will cause most gamers to lost interest, not all of them are into jump in a multiplayer match and start killing everyone, others wants compelling immersive stories, or just a fun single player game without the nuisance of someone screaming at you.

Single player experiences are the core of this gaming industry and one of the main reason why this industry is so damn big now, Sony knows this fundament and this why the PS4 is number 1.

[xX-oldboy-Xx]

No - everything gets stale eventually, MP games can be amazing, social, competitive. But they can also be stressful, annoying, harmful. Gaming needs a good spread of genres to cater to gamers moods on a given day.

The big boys in suits just want to maximise investment and nickle and dime the consumer every chance they get.

[LeeU]

yeah, I can see that. It's a shame really but until we revolt against money grabs I don't see it slowing down anytime soon

[iceman06]

They mostly follow trends and go where the money is. There's not as much money to be had in single player DLC in comparison to MP microtransactions. The risk vs. reward is not enough for most. MP games can be artificially extended with map packs, skins, weapon packs, etc. SP games try that...but there usually isn't as much incetive to get them because the experience is limited to the length of the story. Plus, it's a new generstion of gamers that have a more pick up and play...get in and get out mentality. SP games have a structure more akin to a movie, where it's a bit harder to just stop. (at least with a compelling narrative and gameplay)
I don't see SP games disappearing as much as, and I'm sad to say this, taking a backseat to MP, co-op, and open-world experiences.

[BcozoftheImplication]

Obviously not considering the two best games of the year was Horizon zero Dawn and Zelda breath of the wild plus there were other great linear story experiences this year with resident evil 7, persona 5, Nioh, Nier Automata & Gravity rush 2 to name just a few & next year we've got the new God of War which in my opinion looks absolutely lethal as well as the new Spiderman game & Days gone so linear story games are far from dead but when they do die so will my love for gaming!! Oh & I can't forget the Last Of Us 2 which will be another linear story experience & will probably be game of century!! lol Peace...!!

[LeeU]

If we're being honest Sony is keeping the linear experience alive. I wish more devs were open to it but there's politics, agendas and most of all, the money involved. Linear experiences on their own don't bring in more money aside from the 60 bucks you pay for the game and any DLC down the line. MP and open world games have more room for microtransactions and expansions. I

[Tross]

No.

[VerminSC]

If so it means the end of me playing games

[DialgaMarine]

I say let’s see how well God of War does before we call them “dead”.

[NotanotherReboot]

I sure hope so!!!!1

[Razzer]

So you don’t think anyone should be able to play games you don’t care for? Why am I not surprised?

[phoenixwing]

only if you're a publisher who chases the latest fads and nickel and dimes people. Everyone else who believes a quality product will sell will continue to make single player games. While it will not be the end of them it will certainly be a situation where there are less of them. Unless indies decide to try their hands at them.

[LeeU]

I mean single player games will continue to be made. I think we'll see far less story-based linear ones though. I think PS4 will get the bulk of them but maybe not so much on other platforms. We'll have to wait and see

[phoenixwing]

I agree with you and I bought a ps4 this generation so I'm not even worried at all. However, I think people who chase the latest fads run into more problems than they're worth, as far as video games go. It's like the zombie games, there were tons of them and only the quality or big name ones sold (not to say that some zombie games might have been ok and not sold). I think the same thing is happening with multiplayer. Everyone is chasing the pie for it but really there's only a handful that makes huge profits and the rest fall by the wayside. Would be smarter to make something we don't have much of, instead of doing what everyone else is.

[morganfell]

Is this a really dumb article? Why yes, yes it is. And no it isn't the end of linear story based games.

[BootHammer]

I imagine in a few years it will shift back to more linear based games. We'll still obviously have a plethora of open world titles, but like all things copied over and over, it's going to burn out eventually. Look how the next COD is going back to WWII. FPS's in this era use to be all you saw, but then it grew old. And here we are again...LOL.

[LeeU]

Yes I too think it will shift back in a few years. I also don't want open world games to go away. I do think both can exist in this environment

[rainslacker]

There won't be any shift. There really isn't this big shift towards GaaS games. There are more notable games in this area of course, and the publishers like to push these things because of the money involved, but there are still plenty of story based games being made. They haven't gone anywhere. They still sell. We actually have more of these kinds of games than we've had since that's about all there was(before last gen).

Gaming is a huge market, with a lot of variety. So long as the games sell, they'll continue to get made. Maybe some publishers will focus more on one or the other, but for everyone that doesn't cater to a market, there will be many others who will be happy to fulfill that need.

[TheOttomatic91]

Honestly depends on the publisher. EA, MS, Warner Bros and so on definitely think so but there are those on the opposite end of the spectrum like Sony, Ninty, Bethesda etc.

[Flewid638]

Didn't Hellblade just have massive success?