Single-Player Games Are NOT Dead (and will never die)

At this point it has become a running meme that single-players games are dying with executives of big game companies spewing this falsity. As a competitive gamer with 16 years behind the controller/keyboard I can say without a doubt that single-player games are still my favorite games. While there is certainly a place for multiplayer games (I still play Fortnite, Rocket League, Battlefield) there is no denying that story and single-player games have a embedded territory within the industry.

So the whole economic conundrum of single-player games has never been proven true nor has the phrase, "Multiplayer games are more financially safe" been proven true. There is simply no proof/research that has solidified those opinions as facts. Not to my knowledge at least. Sure, multiplayer can have more replay value, they can provide more overall experience than a story driven game. But that simply does not mean that single-player games are dying. With the releases of God of War, Breath of the Wild, Horizon, and SM Odyssey there is only proof that single-player games are just as alive as they have ever been! Notice that none of those games have any multiplayer attached. At the same time each of these games provide dozens of hours of content and replay ability. Sure, maybe not 100s of hours like multiplayer games but I can tell you right now that all those games provided more content and replay ability than games like Sea of Thieves (which the development time was quite similar).

My other main issue with people saying these obnoxious things is that there is this one thing that everyone seems to forget: SPEED-RUNNING.

Contrary to popular belief single-player games can be competitive. You can find millions of videos of speed-runners trying to beat their personal best or going for an absurd world record. On twitch there is a charity stream dedicated to speed-runners where I often see 100,000+ people watching and donating money to give the middle finger to cancer. I have seen many games dedicate trophies/achievements to beating games in a certain amount of time. I simply cannot see speed-running dying and thus single-player games will live on.

Anyways, Sony, Nintendo, Bethesda, and various other smaller companies have been releasing single-player games for years. GTA5 didn't have multiplayer long after it was released and still made a huge profit and is continuing to be in the top 10 best selling games of the month. We have Detroit, Spider-man, Days Gone, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, The Last of Us P2, Bayonetta 4, Red Dead Redemption 2, Metro Exodus, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, Kingdom Hearts 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, etc.

If this is not enough to prove that single-player games are not going anywhere then go have fun playing CoD26, Gears 7, Battlefield 6 (do you get the point?)

[chrisx]

single player games are the soul of console gaming. it's art at one of its finest. without it video gaming would make no sense.

[UCForce]

Agree on that one.

[ONESHOTV2]

my god do we need an article on the same topic every few hrs we already know single players games aren't going any were now plz find something else to complain about

[OB1Biker]

The thing is big publishers were trying to push the idea that SP games are not as important as they used to be, difficult, risky, short lived, whatever dowplaying attribute you name it.
I think its a good idea, so to speak, to keep rubbing it in their faces how wrong they are and that gamers disagree with that notion of sp game losing grounds.

[ONESHOTV2]

OB1Biker---what dude??? the gaming industry shift every now and then sometime the shift is permanent and sometimes they are not and I can say single player games aren't going any were now can you people get off the topic I'm not into this petty console sh--t show but I do know were the info is coming from but my god you guys are beating a dead horse and it's time to stop

[UCForce]

“Beating dead horse” Are you seriously ? Single Players and Multiplayer games can coexist. But publishers like EA saying Single Players Games are dying and no longer have huge impact. That’s where people don’t buy that BS from them. Publishers like EA tried to brainwash people which isn’t working.

[ONESHOTV2]

UCForce---dude EA has no control over you, you as the consumer has the last say when it comes to games if they released games with only MP games then don't buy them because they cant make any money so what do you think is going to happen they will learn their lessons and try something else. some of you guys give publishers and devs too much power if you speak with your money nothing will change anyway my point still stands it's now a dead horse so we don't need to see another article about it.

[OB1Biker]

Exactly. Unfortunately a lot of people do not question whatever (dis)information they find on gaming sites.

[rainslacker]

@Oneshot

EA is free to chase after whatever money it wants. If they don't make a product people want, they can avoid it. That's the power of consumerism.

But at the same time, when these same companies are downplaying and making excuses to say that a sizable portion of the market just isn't worth catering to, then that portion of the market is going to speak up.

EA is an influential company. Their place in the market gives them power, because they have access to make statements and have them relayed by the press as an authoritative voice. We can avoid giving EA money, but there are those that still will, because EA makes money off a different market. EA likes to use that as evidence that their past statements were correct, and it marginalizes the voice of the consumer who says they want these games.

So, EA has no control over us, but they certainly do have influence on the industry, and as such, as a consumer, we should speak out against the things they say that we don't agree with, or speak our voice to let them know what we want from them. If they don't listen, that's on them.

[Mr_Wilson]

I don't disagree with the whole article, but this screams of naivety: "There is simply no proof/research that has solidified those opinions as facts".

You can bet your arse that there has been plenty of research. Publishers don't make strategic decisions on a whim.

[Cobra951]

The only thing they've proved is that they can exploit MP a lot more than SP. It's all about money, not about the popularity of one form of gaming over another. It's not about what we want (but about what they want).

[Rimeskeem]

Their is no definitive proof.

That was probably a better way to say it. Thanks for the input!

[aConIsDemocracy]

Sony and millions more agree.

[AnkitDanger]

MP>SP But still its a different feeling for playing SP so SP WILL NEVER DIE

[UCForce]

Can you say about Lawbreakers ? A MP game that failed miserably.

[meka2611]

Christ can these articles just stop. Single player isn't going anywhere. We don't need 20 articles to know that.

[Rimeskeem]

Then don’t click on it.

[Derceto]

Another article explaining what should already be easily deduced by the lowest level of intelligence. Well done.

[rainslacker]

"There is simply no proof/research that has solidified those opinions as facts."

Well...the proof isn't what the publishers say, but there is certainly data available to the publishers and investors that MP games can indeed make a much bigger return, with much less investment. SP games themselves generally have a certain budget. A few exceptions aside, the average AAA game cost about the same to make. There are low end to high end AAA games all dealing with budget. At the same time, most SP games are known to sell about a certain amount.

That doesn't mean that SP games don't make a return on investment, just that they aren't as likely to make as much as a MP game with MT that actually does reasonably well, and certainly not as much as one that is a run away success.

None of this data is available to the public unfortunately. There have been some statements where one can draw reasonable conclusions.

What is usually left out of such statements that like to downplay SP games though is that a MP game is just as likely to fail as a SP game. Loss of investment is loss regardless of the amount.

"maybe not 100s of hours like multiplayer games"

Funny thing. Most people don't play MP games any more than the average SP game. However, the people that do invest time in MP games, tend to invest a lot of time in them.

Otherwise, you're right. SP games aren't a dying breed, and so long as a market exists, there will be games made for it. Since the gaming market is constantly expanding, chances are that more people will buy SP games.

[narsaku]

(And will never die)

Lol. Keep up the fight, kid.

[gangsta_red]

So basically people over reacting about SP games dying even though there was never any proof of that and then some SP games sold well and now people are celebrating something that was never in any danger in the first place.

***If this is not enough to prove that single-player games are not going anywhere then go have fun playing CoD26, Gears 7, Battlefield 6 (do you get the point?)***

Prove what? Who was trying to disprove this? Can we also list all the very successful MP games that also prove that MP is just as popular as ever?

[Ashlen]

I am late to this topic but I think you have to define what "dead" is. For example if you look at pixel art sprite style games like you have on the NES and SNES they still exists but they have been largely relegated to indie and smaller budget games.

Now if you look at single player games in that light while obviously single player games will never stop being made but it's entirely possible that single player games will be relegated to low budget/indie games. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that as time has gone on reality is that many studios have in fact stopped making single player games and it's hard to deny the profitability of multiplayer games loaded with MT's and such.

If you look at God of War yes it will absolutely be profitable enough to fund the next game if not two. But if you compare that to Fortnite which makes more money in a few months than God of War will make in it's lifetime it's not hard to see why multiplayer is so desirable by companies that only look at the bottom line.

God of War took what 4-5+ years to make in that time a game like Fortnite will make 10x much money as God of War will. If you look at it as an hourly wage Fortnite makes so much more per hour than God of War, 100's if not 1000's of times more.

And don't think I am defending it or happy about it, I am just explaining my view of the situation.

[DefenderOfDoom2]

As someone who grew up in the arcades in the late 70's early 80's and have been addicted to playing video games for 40 years now . Single player campaign focused video games are absolutely my favorite !!!