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[Mushroomer25]

EAs definition of a "worthwhile investment" is generally a game that sells 10 million copies and is built around microtransactions and lootboxes. This definition is a far greater problem than rising development costs.

They will ignore some money because all their games are designed to make all of the money. Square Enix is extremely happy with Nier Automata, hell they were happy with Bravely Default and Life is Strange.

Square Enix focusing on small and mid range titles completely turned the company around.

This is clearly why Square felt the need to tell their investors that they were focusing on service-based games going forward - in addition to dropping Hitman like a sack of bricks.

Companies do not just 'settle' for making 'enough'. Their goal is to increase their return on investment, and grow to boost stockholder value.

 

[Mattenth]

As others said elsewhere, the death of the single player game has been clamored since forever.
Wolfenstein 2 is shaping up to be a great sucess, Lost Legacy was as well, so was Zelda earlier this year, and so will Mario Odyssey and Assasin's Creed Origins.
There are people willing to pay for good single player experiences, someone will satisfy the demand.

The issue isn't "will single-player be profitable?"

The issue is the rising opportunity costs.

Why make a single-player game when multiplayer will make you more money? Engage players longer? etc.

 

[chaos789]

EA swallows up developers and spits them out. I suspect Bioware will be closing its door within 2 to 3 years. They destroyed Criterion and now Visceral. Monetization schemes on a $60 dollar game is bs. And with them having tax havens and other corporate bs, I do not buy for a second that they need to make up lost revenue by cutting content and selling it back to us as microtransactions and loot boxes. Its simply greed.

 

[Chinbo37]

One of the reasons why single player is less present in future AAA spaces is because it doesn’t allow publishers to continuously extract money from consumers

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

This is all you need to know folks.

Are you telling me that Horizon Zero Dawn didn't make money? Or that Zelda didn't make money? Of course they did. They just don't make ENOUGH CONTINUOUS money as compared to something like Overwatch.

 

[Weevilone]

It's ok, I have plenty of single player games in my backlog. If it's (unlikely) true then I'll be able to stop buying games and focus on the pile.

Of course I'd miss gems like Horizon Zero Dawn if they truly went away, but they are few and far between for me.

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

This is all you need to know folks.

Are you telling me that Horizon Zero Dawn didn't make money? Or that Zelda didn't make money? Of course they did. They just don't make ENOUGH CONTINUOUS money as compared to something like Overwatch.

Yup. They want to kill off these incredible games so they can focus on cash cows that are addictive in nature.

 

[DKPOWPOW]

Death of single player games my ass. Same bullshit again, EA is just being EA and it doesn't mean anything more than that. GTA5 has sold how many copies? Im sure less than half the people who bought the game even played it online for a handful of games.

Nevermind that Zelda and Odyssey will likely be 2 out of the top 5 best selling games world wide this year (per platform) And what are they? Single player games.

Fact is EA, would rather make as much money as possible as fast as possible especially since that Star Wars license is expensive. So why not cancel a time consuming single player epic, throw it's pieces together and make a multi-player season pass trash dlc buy costumes plz game and whore out the franchise cuz fans are hungry.

When humongous publishers like EA and Take2 constantly release games each year that are unfinished, buggy messes at $60 each filled with microtransactions and they succeed and receive decent reviews.... What do people expect?

These companies have no moral responsibility or respect for the industry. They have no "code" or ethics, they will do whatever will make the most money, fast.

 

[21x2]

3rd party single player AAA experiences are going extinct, but not the entire genre.
As many others are saying, the issue is of course that AAA single player games aren't good enough at sucking money out of their players wallets to be worth the investment when compared to exploitative GaaS products. This said, I don't think they are going completely extinct, rather that they in the future will come in two categories:

• 
  AA, indie games lacking the sheer amount of assets and polish of, say, Uncharted, but still delivering reasonably well on their key concept. Think Styx: Shards of Darkness levels of production values. I think AA will continue to slowly return as a price class pushed by mid-level publishers like Devolver and Paradox, with more reasonable budgets meaning safer sale margins.

• AAA blockbusters like Uncharted... developed by platform holders. Platform holders are not just in a need of singular games providing revenue, they also need to sell consoles. For this, they need width in their library. Sony and Nintendo understand this, and will continue to produce Uncharted and Zelda-like experiences. Microsoft, in my experience, does not understand this and will continue their push into GaaS.

 

[Old Gimlet Eyes]

Increase the capability of AI in games to offer more replay ability. Most singleplayer games have been dead to me for years because they are one and done, mainly because of brain dead AI systems. But that would require even more investment and not even pan out. Oh well, more MP games for me the better.

 

[Amibguous Cad]

The issue isn't "will single-player be profitable?"

The issue is the rising opportunity costs.

Why make a single-player game when multiplayer will make you more money? Engage players longer? etc.

Because the market on microtransaction heavy multiplayer games will become saturated, the next marginal such game won't be profitable, and there will remain a market for the single-player titles that, arguendo, is still profitable? We already saw the industry all rush towards MMOs and MOBAs when they saw the games as service thing take off, and after a period of busts the non-games as service stuff has been fine. Overwatch isn't the first time this has happened.

(Now, those generally single-player titles will very likely include DLC and loot boxes and stuff like Destiny 2 and Shadow of Mordor, but they will not primarily be games as service).

 

[texni]

Studios know that if you want to make good profit with a solo game today and be successful with it (not even talking about a new ip), the studio needs the best talents, people who are willing to innovate, perfectionists, push the limit ...from top to bottom and i can arguably count at most five studios like that.
And it's not all about budget, it's how a studio uses ressources to the best of their ability, or willing to risk failure for innovation (Cuphead is a good example)

Today you are facing games like Breath of the wild, Witcher 3, Bloodborne... what i mean is making a "social" game gives you a lot more room of acceptance for passable content because the social aspect can be used as a trump card.

What is hard for most studio today in a solo player game is to make everything work altogether and seamlessly (ideas, story, art, gameplay, pace... while trying to innovate) and requires insane flexibility, organisation and overtime hours that can easily turn into development hell. Good examples are Destiny 2 for the multiplayer game and FFXV for the solo game.

Destiny 2 art direction is top tier, the rest is just better than average. But the social aspect of the game help to swallow the average stuff.
I'm not saying bad or garbage because all the talent working on this game are very good talent.
Think of it like the NBA, you have the Lebron james, Curry, Durant... and the role "average" players, but even the role players are amazing at basketball, there is only around 400 players in the league.

 

[Steel]

Because the market on microtransaction heavy multiplayer games will become saturated, the next marginal such game won't be profitable, and there will remain a market for the single-player titles that, arguendo, is still profitable? We already saw the industry all rush towards MMOs and MOBAs when they saw the games as service thing take off, and after a period of busts the non-games as service stuff has been fine. Overwatch isn't the first time this has happened.

(Now, those generally single-player titles will very likely include DLC and loot boxes and stuff like Destiny 2 and Shadow of Mordor, but they will not primarily be games as service).

Market saturation isn't something that the big companies seem to take into account going off last gen's slaughter of everyone who tried to make the next COD and failed.

They will walk off any cliff they're presented with.

 

[Not]

Uh-oh guys. Better stop buying those loot boxes and demanding co-op experiences.

 

[harriet the spy]

It will never die completely- there is always a benefit to being different from most of the market (see the double fine Kickstarter) , and with a lifetime of good SP games to play, we’ll be fine

 

[ScientificPizza]

As long as the Naughty Dogs and Bethesda’s of the world still exist AAA single player still has a future

 

[Inuhanyou]

hyperbolic hot takes from journalists kneejerking at some relatively shocking new news.

Single player games will always have a place and usually what i buy

 

[Raven117]

These companies have no moral responsibility or respect for the industry. They have no "code" or ethics, they will do whatever will make the most money, fast.

If only there were a group of people who could hold these companies accountable and not by games that are rushed or shoe-horned micro transactions.....

Truth is. We buy this stuff. We ultimately don't care.

 

[Amibguous Cad]

Market saturation isn't something that the big companies seem to take into account going off last gen's slaughter of everyone who tried to make the next COD and failed.

They will walk off any cliff they're presented with.

Well yeah, but the point is they'll touch the stove, get burned, and go back to what they were doing before, like when everyone was chasing WoW and LoL money.

 

[Fj0823]

Crash Bandicoot sold close to 3 million copies

Final Fantasy sold 6 million copies

I call BS.

There's a market for Single Player Games

 

[Tigress]

Death of single player games my ass. Same bullshit again, EA is just being EA and it doesn't mean anything more than that. GTA5 has sold how many copies? Im sure less than half the people who bought the game even played it online for a handful of games.

Gta is a great example of how sp is going away. Note they originally promised single player dlc that we never saw because they saw how much profit online with its microtransactions were giving them. They outright said they were going to focus on online (cause it makes them continuous money and sp doesn't even come close).

I bet anything at this point they could have given the game away for free and still make a profit. The people willing to pay for MT's will spend a lot. Know one guy who outright admits he spent 500 so far on the game.

And I bet we see the sp campaign of rockstar games get more like cod, where it's just a token effort to get people who otherwise wouldn't to buy the game. From what I understand cod once was known for its campaigns.

 

[Fishook]

As a single player focused gamer these games have been in decline for years. I just can't justify paying for a PS4 or Switch for the few exclusive titles which may tickle my fancy. As a PC gamer I did try the PlayStation streaming service but was a bit disappointed with it,

I have enjoyed the smaller developers games more the last few years and quite happily Kickstarted a number of games.

 

[Kovacs]

Basically Zenimax purposely sunk Prey 2 to purchase Human Head cheap. Then they tossed the IP to Arkane.

https://kotaku.com/leaked-e-mails-suggest-bethesda-misled-gamers-about-pre-1149092622

Thanks.

Since this also looks like the origin of the Press Sneak Fuck tag, I've learnt two things today.

 

[g11]

With the exception of PUBG every game I can think of that would be up for GOTY in 2017 is a single player game, and most if not all, sold well enough to be profitable.

So yeah, single player games are dead.

 

[Tobor]

It’s not the true death of single player.

It’s the dwindling down of single player to just the biggest franchises that can’t miss.

Zelda, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, they’ll still be around.

But you better have a locked in user base or you better be perfect. Preferably both.

The Star Wars license isn’t a guarantee of success, and they clearly didn’t think it was perfect. Games like that are going to disappear.

 

[AudioEppa]

This is where being attached to Sony exclusives and developers like Telltale come in handy. They will always supply single player experiences I enjoy.

I’m already used to not getting enough releases of the kind of games I like. So what there saying is the focus going forward has already been that way for me.

I patiently wait for a interesting single player to drop. Along with that I buy COD every year + Own RL, GTA 5 and Fortnite. I might pick up OW soon, idk yet. Also outside of sometimes buying COD map dlc, I don’t fuck with loot boxes or R* shark cards.

After yesterday I’m done with EA when it comes to their AAA releases. Some of the fucking idiotic decisions they and the gaming industry makes will never push me out though.

Buy a few games a year. Maybe Redbox what I’m so so about. And ignore everything else.

 

[Ivan]

So nice to see so many gaffers still preferring SP games.

 

[Arulan]

Most AAA titles are already little more than a display of production values and suffer from a target-everyone approach to game design, I can't imagine how uninteresting doubling down on multiplayer will be. A lot of the best multiplayer titles today originated from the creativity of players through mods. I don't expect any such creativity or inspired design from semi-annual releases of titles with insane budgets that are forced to cater to everyone and play it safe.

 

[ZombieNapoleon]

I love SP and MP games, and it would seem to me that EA has their GAAS star wars in battlefront (i'm sure there'll be $$$ made on in game transactions since all DLC is free). There is obviously a huge demand for GAAS since I believe they made a couple of billion off those services last year.
But there is also a massive market for SP games as shown by the NPD reports from each month this year (not to mention what October/November could see with multiple high profile SP coming out).

*And to add on to a previous post mentioning GoW and Spiderman, lets not forget about RDR2 (sorry if that was already mentioned).

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I likely won't buy the revamped version. If the games industry can't provide me enough quality linear single player experiences, then I am likely to move on to another hobby.

 

[brian!]

I would love it if aaa uncharted style games died out

 

[entremet]

For AAA 3rd party productions? Yes, without a doubt.

1st parties can stomach the hit since it's a library builder and they have alternate revenue streams.

 

[slosherbomb]

Decent article by Samit Sarkar on the future of Single Player games w/o multiplayer components and monetization.



Read more by clicking the link below.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/10/18/16491188/ea-star-wars-visceral-games-single-player

BOOOOO

 

[Wowfunhappy]

The issue isn't "will single-player be profitable?"

The issue is the rising opportunity costs.

Why make a single-player game when multiplayer will make you more money? Engage players longer? etc.

Well, one possible reason could be that as the multi player market gets more crowded, the niche for a single player title will seem like a more appealing option.

 

[Sir Doom]

After Jason twitted the game was not in trouble because it was single player, this article just falls apart

 

[notacat]

Everyone wants to sell loot boxes and such. Sucks.

Love the single player experience, hope it sticks around for at least a little while longer.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

This is clearly why Square felt the need to tell their investors that they were focusing on service-based games going forward - in addition to dropping Hitman like a sack of bricks.

Companies do not just 'settle' for making 'enough'. Their goal is to increase their return on investment, and grow to boost stockholder value.

Square's definition of a service game is basically "Does the game have updates and DLC". FFXV is a service game to them.

 

[Stiler]

Yep, Witcher 3? Terrible terrible failure of a game. Zelda: BOTW? another giant flop, Horizon: ZD? huge flop, then Divinity: OS 2? Again, another terrible failure.

Assassin's Creed: Origins? Gonna be a huge financial failure as well along with Wolfenstein and Mario Odyssey.

Single player games aren't failures and they still sell well, there's plenty of room for both types of games, EA is just being scaredy cats, too afraid to give fans what they want and instead want every game to be online/mp.

 

[CloudWolf]

It's time to let AAA games die, their time is over.

 

[beau_beaumont]

A lot of single player games have struggled lately, but there have been quite a few hits this year, especially from Sony. I expect that trend to continue when gow and tlou drop later this generation.

We might be heading toward a future where there are less sp-focused games, but saying they will become extinct seems like alarmist bullshit. Four years ago, many said consoles were dead. I just have a hard time believing all this doom and gloom nonsense.

 

[Deadstar]

Wouldn't have preferred to play Witcher 3 any way other than single player.

 

[sense]

Means what? Tiny niche games can survive? Should EA care? RE7 did not meet expectations.

Crash is not full price. Is that the realm where single player games will live?

People responding with horizon sales numbers are missing the point. Is 4 million sales enough for a game in full scale production in a western country for 5 years?

Not sure how we can answer the question regarding horizon. Obviously if it stopped at 4 million then that might not be enough but these are numbers from around launch and the game has been somewhat sticking around plus there is the standalone dlc which will bring in additional revenue at the end of the year alongside bundle sales etc.... they are most likely working on a sequel so that is another positive. I can definitely see the game getting to around 8 million ltd which would be a great result for a new ip and sets the platform for the sequel nicely.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

Case in Point:

but I can't speak to the Western AAA market or what AAA Western publisher want to do

I need to get on that Paradigm and lone Echo

 

[Spyder_Monkey]

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

This is all you need to know folks.

Are you telling me that Horizon Zero Dawn didn't make money? Or that Zelda didn't make money? Of course they did. They just don't make ENOUGH CONTINUOUS money as compared to something like Overwatch.

Don't tell this guy what happened with Overwatch's competition.

 

[Floody]

I would love it if aaa uncharted style games died out

Why? You could you know, just not play them.

 

[RPGam3r]

It's time to let AAA games die, their time is over.

What does this even mean? What will the large studios make? And I don't want a gaming market that doesn't supply Zelda, Mario, Halo, GTA, TeS, Fallout, Tomb Raider, Uncharted etc.

 

[Goldenroad]

It's funny that something like this gets posted a month before EA's Fall blockbuster Battlefront II returns to having a single player campaign. Granted it does have a multiplayer mode too, but it's not like the first game had a campaign and then they stripped it out for the sequel. They actually added it in instead. Look at Destiny 2. That game is far more playable as a single player experience now than the original was. Single player experiences in AAA games aren't going anywhere. AAA games that don't have some kind of multiplayer competent have been few and far between for years now anyway and that is nothing new.

 

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

What does this even mean? What will the large studios make? And I don't want a gaming market that doesn't supply Zelda, Mario, Halo, GTA, TeS, Fallout, Tomb Raider, Uncharted etc.

They could make accounting software.

 

[old]

I’m cool with it. I’m still burned out from the years of derivative 6-hour single player games.

 

[bitbydeath]

I don't know what to tell anybody who thinks EA is the place to make a judgement on the state of singleplayer games. Especially when it is because of this news in particular. I can't remember the last time I bought an EA game, so this isn't exactly earth shattering.
How about playing Resident Evil 7, Yakuza 0, Horizon, Nier, Crash Bandicoot,...?

/Thread

 

[hzsn724]

Nah single player games will never die. You can't honestly think online only games drive the market? Especially coming from an opinion based on EA. Every online game experiences fatigue/loss of players and if people aren't kept interested they leave. Most online only games aren't made with longevity in mind; unlike single player that have additive story dlc and spinoffs.

I would think the solution is to stop spending so much time and money on 15 hr games that no one wants to play. Also, if companies spread out their release line up it would help the situation? I know I don't have the money for Mario Odyssey, Evil Within 2, Fire Emblem Warriors, Shadow of War, L.A. Noir remake, and a ton of other games that I missed or are on the horizon. I haven't even had a chance to play Horizon, Neir and Mario Rabbids due to RE7, a Switch, Zelda BotW, Splatoon 2, Samus Returns and tons of random sales and deals.

The market is oversaturated and we can't afford to maintain it.

 

[patapuf]

Crash Bandicoot sold close to 3 million copies

Final Fantasy sold 6 million copies

I call BS.

There's a market for Single Player Games

EA Activision and co. Aim higher than that long term.

They want the best selling games. Not just “selling well“