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The "Single Player Games are Dying" Myth

O

onemanasylum

Banned
One thing that has bothered me the last 3-4 years is people screaming "Single Player Games are Dying". Personally, I think that is BS. There is a wide trend of big AAA publishers targeting online games and games as a service, sure, but that doesn't mean the market for SP games has disappeared.

There has been a lot of SP games that have done well, as long as there is gaming there will be a sizeable market for SP games. Games like Doom, Wolfenstein, Prey more recently. RE7 just shipped 2.5 million in 1 week, Uncharted is a big seller, ratchet and clank did very well. etc..... Of course games like Witcher, Horizon, Mas Effect, even if ME added MP, are always going to be popular as well.

I agree the market is now pushing more and more online, but it's a trend, Publishers will stagnate that market and people will cry for more SP games. Online focused and dedicated SP games can co-exist.
 
they're not even close to dying, we just have more MP games than ever. somehow people aren't able to realize because one thing is becoming more prominent doesn't necessarily equal the decline of the other. maybe there are less than before due to shifting developer priorities. donno
 
bounchfx said:
they're not even close to dying, we just have more MP games than ever. somehow people aren't able to realize because one thing is becoming more prominent doesn't necessarily equal the decline of the other. maybe there are less than before due to shifting developer priorities. donno
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If you don't know, why did you spend the first half of your post saying they aren't?
 
Their legs are dying. Single player games, especially with no dlc on the horizon, fall in price so quickly. The price is hard for a lot of people to justify. You add that in with a lot of people not replaying games and it makes it harder for people to hold on to them.

I personally love single player games. They are my favorite ones. I want to play through a story. I keep all my games and buy them at launch a lot of the time. I'm helping the cause but a lot of people just wait for price drops, trade them in or buy used instead. Definitely more challenges than games with multi.
 
Just looking at all the games released this January debunks it. Double debunk actually with the other being "Japanese console games are dead". Straight to the trash both of those "myths". People are talking about how insane the first half of the year is. Most of those games are single player games.
 
Jampsuliini said:
Just looking at all the games released this January debunks it. Double debunk actually with the other being "Japanese console games are dead". Straight to the trash both of those "myths".
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Japanese gaming looks very strong right about now. I wonder if Sony doing so well this gen has spurred more confidence in Japanese developers?
 
Just saw this mentioned in a review and really had no idea what the guy was talking about. We had tons of very high profile single player games last year, and there are tons this year. Never really got where this was coming from.
 
FaintColt388301 said:
Their legs are dying. Single player games, especially with no dlc on the horizon, fall in price so quickly. The price is hard for a lot of people to justify. You add that in with a lot of people not replaying games and it makes it harder to make money.
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At least paraplegia means you're still living i suppose.
 
bounchfx said:
they're not even close to dying, we just have more MP games than ever. somehow people aren't able to realize because one thing is becoming more prominent doesn't necessarily equal the decline of the other. maybe there are less than before due to shifting developer priorities. donno
Click to expand...

But to be perfectly honest, it is true. Even if you were to say more MP games percentage wise have outpaced single player, you also must realize that the amount of games per generation has dropped as well since seventh generation.

So just because you can point out the most successful franchises that have been established the truth is that unlike the seventh generation we see less risk taken with single player new IP.

A flag should be raised when OP mentions nothing but large established franchises, some of which are on their fourth or more entry. And especially alot of them had MP added into the franchise after original entry was SP (Uncharted and Mass Efffect for example). When people point out single player is slowly dying we are pointing out in comparison to when devs took risks on new IP without some sort of DLC, Always online, or MP to supplement potential losses in case games don't sell.
 
Aside from Overwatch, how many multiplayer games were in the GOTY short list last year? The majority have always been single player.

Hell, look at the Switch. Selling like hotcakes, tons of multiplayer potential, and what's the one game that practically everyone is slavering over? Single player. Hell, that's the only game I'm getting at launch.
 
staticneuron said:
But to be perfectly honest, it is true. Even if you were to say more MP games percentage wise have outpaced single player, you also must realize that the amount of games per generation has dropped as well since seventh generation.

So just because you can point out the most successful franchises that have been established the truth is that unlike the seventh generation we see less risk taken with single player new IP.

A flag should be raised when OP mentions nothing but large established franchises, some of which are on their fourth or more entry. And especially alot of them had MP added into the franchise after original entry was SP (Uncharted and Mass Efffect for example). When people point out single player is slowly dying we are pointing out in comparison to when devs took risks on new IP without some sort of DLC, Always online, or MP to supplement potential losses in case games don't sell.
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Horizon is an established franchise? They are not dying, just less in the fore front then they use to be.

Jedi2016 said:
Aside from Overwatch, how many multiplayer games were in the GOTY short list last year? The majority have always been single player.

Hell, look at the Switch. Selling like hotcakes, tons of multiplayer potential, and what's the one game that practically everyone is slavering over? Single player. Hell, that's the only game I'm getting at launch.
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it is?
 
Jedi2016 said:
Aside from Overwatch, how many multiplayer games were in the GOTY short list last year? The majority have always been single player.

Hell, look at the Switch. Selling like hotcakes, tons of multiplayer potential, and what's the one game that practically everyone is slavering over? Single player. Hell, that's the only game I'm getting at launch.
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Citation needed
 
Single player games did look like they were dying. So did FPS games that required skill and practice.

And then they weren't anymore.
 
People have been saying this for two decades (perhaps more). Everytime I see it brought up I remember reading a paragraph from a preview for Turok: Rage Wars for the N64 in a magazine.

It read something like "...an exciting move that could signal the end of single player games as we know them today"

Teenage me thought it was dumb at the time, and it is even sillier in retrospect.
 
onemanasylum said:
Horizon is an established franchise? They are not dying, just less in the fore front then they use to be.
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Said slowly dying not totally dead. Congrats on naming one title. I am sure you can probably find more (like Ni-oh which is also new) but again point remains the number of new ip is FAR less than what we received in older generations. Some of the titles we can point to now were created in earlier generations.
 
I always took it to mean, pure single player games are dying. It's a lot rarer to have 100% offline games. Even established single player franchises developed online components, integrated DLC, added multiplayer, introduced season passes etc.

Sometimes I don't want to submit my highscore to the world. It removes me from the world experience.
 
staticneuron said:
Said slowly dying not totally dead. Congrats on naming one title. I am sure you can probably find more (like Ni-oh which is also new) but again point remains the number of new ip is FAR less than what we received in older generations. Some of the titles we can point to now were created in earlier generations.
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They are not slowly dying either, you think there will be a time there is no ,market for SP story driven games? No way, not if the medium ever wants to evolve and be taken more serious. The same can be said of Online franchises, we have not had many either new ones, most big name games are franchises. You have to start somewhere, remember how uncharted never used to sell? Also there are more then horizon, Nioh? Nier, Days Gone, Detroit, Gravity Rush (A very new ip). Nintendo also makes mainly Sp games.
 
At the same time, the best sellers in the West every year tend to be multiplayer focused. I don't think it's really valuable to use the games released in January as proof that something is or isn't happening.

Has there been a multiplayer-centric mega hit to come out of Japan at all? The Dark Souls franchise kinda counts, but not really. I'm burning my brain trying to think of one.
 
I think the idea is that single player games are seen as less viable by dudes with dollar signs in their eyes because it's harder to justify a bottomless well of microtransactions for them. Without a business plan that potentially involves infinite cash, these people see something as pointless, much like how a shitty kid only wants expensive Christmas gifts regardless of consideration, practicality or emotional resonance

Or in other words, single player games are dying if your only concern is wringing every last cent out of your hypothetical player base with only one game and them content updates that may or may not come later.

If you want to make a good video game that will then sell well and deliver a static profit because people like it, potentially sowing the seeds of future successes with sequels, then it's still dandy

This kind of trend-chasing habits in every gen, whether it's the fighting game boom, the MMO boom, the GTA clone boom, whatever. If another trend comes along that offers a more appealing cost:return ratio to the penny pinchers, that'll be the next hot trend.
 
Jampsuliini said:
Just looking at all the games released this January debunks it. Double debunk actually with the other being "Japanese console games are dead". Straight to the trash both of those "myths". People are talking about how insane the first half of the year is. Most of those games are single player games.
Click to expand...

onemanasylum said:
Japanese gaming looks very strong right about now. I wonder if Sony doing so well this gen has spurred more confidence in Japanese developers?
Click to expand...

A lot of the JP games in Q1 2017 are due to games finishing development cycles or localization and coming out around the same time. Yakuza and Tales are pumped out like clockwork, so I wouldn't judge the health of the JP games industry based on them. As for the larger budget JP games, NieR 3 has been in development for a while now, and there's no way it's getting a sequel. And for that matter, when do you expect to see Persona 6? FFXVI? KH3? FFVR?

I mean, I want Japanese games as much as the rest of gaf, but it's best to be realistic about what the rest of this year and next year will look like.
 
596px-TES_V_Skyrim_Logo.png
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Indeed.
 
Wasn't this more of a seventh generation myth? I've been hearing quite a bit about the "rebirth of single player" this gen.
 
staticneuron said:
Said slowly dying not totally dead. Congrats on naming one title. I am sure you can probably find more (like Ni-oh which is also new) but again point remains the number of new ip is FAR less than what we received in older generations. Some of the titles we can point to now were created in earlier generations.
Click to expand...

The number of games (especially if we're just talking "AAA games", or let's say retail boxed games as it's much better in terms of a trackable metric) is far less than it used to be. So it stand to reason that the number of single player games, or new IP, would also be far down as well.
 
They are dying coming from the bigger publishers. Ubi is seemingly moving away from that. So is EA( but they have a bioware game every now and then). Activision, Take 2, MS are all moving away from them

You're always going to have SP games made by smaller devs but the massive AAA SP games coming from the big boys are getting smaller and smaller
 
exmachina64 said:
If you don't know, why did you spend the first half of your post saying they aren't?
Click to expand...

I guess we need to clarify what 'dying' means in this context - the way I look at the term is basically saying they're on the way out, which, despite there being fewer of them (you're right, I have not counted), I still don't feel like there is any danger of single player games going away in any real form
 
hodayathink said:
The number of games (especially if we're just talking "AAA games", or let's say retail boxed games as it's much better in terms of a trackable metric) is far less than it used to be. So it stand to reason that the number of single player games, or new IP, would also be far down as well.
Click to expand...

This, that is because games take longer and are more expensive to make.

blakep267 said:
They are dying coming from the bigger publishers. Ubi is seemingly moving away from that. So is EA( but they have a bioware game every now and then). Activision, Take 2, MS are all moving away from them

You're always going to have SP games made by smaller devs but the massive AAA SP games coming from the big boys are getting smaller and smaller
Click to expand...

See Above.
 
Single player games aren't dying, there will always be a market for them. But it's much harder for developers and publishers to make extra money on a single player game.

Compare the amount of time and money that needs to go into a single player dlc/expansion vs the effort spent on a skin pack for your weapons/characters in a multiplayer focused game. Both games will get your $60, but the mark up on the next $60 they can get out of you is so much higher in multiplayer focused titles.
 
Yakuza 0, Gravity Rush 2, RE7, Nioh, KH 2.8, FfXV, Tales of Berseria, as of late single player games.

I know Nioh has elements of multiplayer but its driven by its single player campaign.
 
This idea has been popping up on and off for at least a decade now. Originating from crank futurists, a lot of game publishers (or at least, some executives working at them) have jumped on that bandwagon in search of games-as-service money. Single-player games still provide unique experiences and there is a substantial market for them, and I think there will continue to be one for the foreseeable future.
 
onemanasylum said:
They are not slowly dying either, you think there will be a time there is no ,market for SP story driven games? No way, not if the medium ever wants to evolve and be taken more serious. The same can be said of Online franchises, we have not had many either new ones, most big name games are franchises. You have to start somewhere, remember how uncharted never used to sell? Also there are more then horizon, Nioh? Nier, Days Gone, Detroit. Nintendo also makes mainly Sp games.
Click to expand...

Well I explained my observation and reasoning above. It is not based off feelings because I personally prefer single player games hence why I pay attention. But number wise. Again since the seventh generation less console games have been developed as a whole, whether it is due to rising cost or technology restrictions. In addition to that the developers seem to make a shift to include more multiplayer and online elements to the game.

Saying Uncharted never used to sell is certainly pulling things out of nowhere. Each title sold over a million. Granted 8.7 is the largest any one entry has sold but that doesn't mean the earlier ones did not sell. And Nintendo Franchises have been around for years if not decades. Just as I mentioned about risk taking. Instead of going off of gut feeling I urge you to research the numbers.
 
staticneuron said:
Well I explained my observation and reasoning above. It is not based off feelings because I personally prefer single player games hence why I pay attention. But number wise. Again since the seventh generation less console games have been developed as a whole, whether it is due to rising cost or technology restrictions. In addition to that the developers seem to make a shift to include more multiplayer and online elements to the game.

Saying Uncharted never used to sell is certainly pulling things out of nowhere. Each title sold over a million. Granted 8.7 is the largest any one entry has sold but that doesn't mean the earlier ones did not sell. And Nintendo Franchises have been around for years if not decades. Just as I mentioned about risk taking. Instead of going off of gut feeling I urge you to research the numbers.
Click to expand...

Maybe you should research? What Numbers? Sony has been around for decades too, point?
 
onemanasylum said:
One thing that has bothered me the last 3-4 years is people screaming "Single Player Games are Dying". Personally, I think that is BS. There is a wide trend of big AAA publishers targeting online games and games as a service, sure, but that doesn't mean the market for SP games has disappeared.

There has been a lot of SP games that have done well, as long as there is gaming there will be a sizeable market for SP games. Games like Doom, Wolfenstein, Prey more recently. RE7 just shipped 2.5 million in 1 week, Uncharted is a big seller, ratchet and clank did very well. etc..... Of course games like Witcher, Horizon, Mas Effect, even if ME added MP, are always going to be popular as well.

I agree the market is now pushing more and more online, but it's a trend, Publishers will stagnate that market and people will cry for more SP games. Online focused and dedicated SP games can co-exist.
Click to expand...

It's not that SP games are "dying" its that online games have become very popular. I also wouldn't call MP games a trend. Personally, 95% of my playtime is MP focused games. It's evolved and nothing to be afraid of. SP games are going nowhere.
 
It's probably a thing that stuck around from 10 years ago when it actually seemed big AAA singleplayer games weren't really made anymore, with useless multiplayer/co-op being added to pretty much every game (The Darkness, Resident Evil 5) and reviewers actually complaining about a lack of multiplayer in the few purely singleplayer games that did appear, leading to sequels having tacked-on multiplayer modes (BioShock 2).

Nowadays though we're seeing a huge resurgence in singleplayer-only titles and it makes me a very happy gamer.
 
It's been proven many times that it's not about single player or multiplayer, but the quality and interest of the game.
 
The only thing that's unfortunately siting if it's not dead yet is couch multiplayer games. Other than fighters I can't remember the last triple A game that featured couch multiplayer via split screen or whatever.

Single player games are fine. It's the couch multiplayer ones that I'm afraid they're gone.
 
TatorTots said:
It's not that SP games are "dying" its that online games have become very popular. I also wouldn't call MP games a trend. Personally, 95% of my playtime is MP focused games. It's evolved and nothing to be afraid of. SP games are going nowhere.
Click to expand...

I am certainly not afraid, Destiny is my most played game this gen. This was exactly my point.
 
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