Quality multiplayer games causing a long-term drop in sales

Many game franchises, like Mario Kart, Halo and Call of Duty to name a few, are well known for their above average multiplayer experience. These types of games generally lead to hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of gameplay over the course of each games lifetime. The appealing thing about online play is that every game is different experience...

[Kurt Russell]

If you've got a title that's an average affair it only seems fair that it doesn't get the sales as a quality title. It's a competitive market, what the hell is to be expected?

[kevnb]

its all down to a handful of games every year.

[Wobbuffet]

''Quality multiplayer'' and ''call of duty'' don't go in the same sentence.

[Troll_Police]

COD4 disagrees with you.

[Wobbuffet]

@Troll_police, True.

[JokesOnYou]

Yeah, a quality multiplayer game can keep most casual gamers satisfied for quite some time, its the old "Madden Effect", I remember when Madden was the biggest news in gaming, hell there is still a Madden-only fanbase of gamers who only buy Madden every year and don't bother with much else. Now the biggest fanbase in gaming is without a doubt the Shooter-aholics, who pretty much only buy the most popular shooters and because online gaming has become so huge 1 or 2 good shooters is plenty to satisfy them all year. I'm not judging them, since I myself love to play shooters just as much as the next guy, thankfully I'm more of a all around gamer who can appreciate all genre's of games, with the exception of jrpg's.

JOY

[ndibu]

I had to agree

[avengers1978]

I still buy plenty of games
Hell i currently have
Dead rising 2
MOH
COD:Black ops
AC:Brotherhood
Infamous 2
KZ3
Mass Effect 2
Batman Arkham City
all reserved just waiting for release date... those are the reserved There are probably like 10 more games that I will get sooner or later.

[tinybigman]

multiplayer games don't hold my interest for very long, which is why i'm always looking for my next single player fix. multiplayer games don't stop me from buying games.

God of War 3
Heavy Rain
Mass Effect 2
3D Dot Game Heroes
Mafia 2
Alan Wake
Super Mario Galaxy 2
White Knight Chronicles
Red Dead Redemption (mostly for the main game itself even though i'm lvl 21)

[RedDead]

Ask them to stop making good games then /s

[FragGen]

We can only hope that the companies involved will find a way to fix their mistake of accidentally providing tremendous value to their customers.

[kevnb]

most average console owners only want to buy a few games a year, they most likely rent the rest or buy used a few months later.

[kevnb]

they cut off xbox live for the og xbox, poor silly console players.

[LOOK_AT_THIS_I]

everyone always seems to forget about gamefly/netflix when it comes to media sales. why am I going to be pay 60 for a could be so-so game/movie when I could rent it. there are still a few franchises I will pick up day one at the store, but we have been burned way too many times to continue that cycle.

I remember buying 2-3 copies of games on the ps1/ps2 back in the day due to normal wear and tear, scratches, etc... now with the ps3 blu ray discs you have to attempt to damage the disc which reduces the number of sales due to that fact alone.

I can totally see the lack of sales due to a cult following of a game. Take ps2 Socom-2 for example. Two new games were released for that franchise and there were still more people playing the older game. That game very rarely left my ps2, with the exception of a few new must have releases.

[kevnb]

we are getting closer to the point where publishers are going to have make gaming a service to remain profitable.

[CombatEvolving]

That won't help because I'll just play one game that's worth paying for.

[SpaceFox]

Mario Kart has good multiplayer...?

[EliteAssass1n]

Gears1 has saved me so much money then, and i'm grateful.

[videogamescliche]

Nope the drop in sales is the lack of new quality online games.

i bought call of duty 1/2/3/4/5/mw2..

this article is bullshit

[TwistedMetal]

The multiplayer can be crap and they will still play the game if a lot of they friends have it and play it and chat on it.

[F4sterTh4nFTL]

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[Anon7349]

Are you retarded? Japanese people rarely bother with multiplayer and people who enjoy Japanese games are rarely interested in shooters.

Plus, the article is retarded. Only casual kiddies play games like Halo or CoD, they aren't interested in other game either so they don't effect the sales at all.

[iceman06]

Also needs to account for the "gaming drought" that typically happens right before the Fall blast. Sure, multiplayer titles take of considerable amount of time if they are fun and the fun lasts. But, most gamers still have there eyes on one or two releases that will tear them away for awhile. It's just that there is that idea that publishers have about saving games until September or later to get better sales. Plus, there is the fact that so many devs are attempting to shoehorn some BS multiplayer in with a half-asses single player experience because "the industry is leading towards multiplayer". It's a lot more complicated than just having good multiplayer games that last taking away from other games.