The Extinction of the Single Player Experience?

[RaychelSnr]

Microsoft almost ushered in the end of isolated single-player gaming.

The Black Rhino, the Leatherback Turtle, the Sumatran Tiger, and the single-player sports video game experience.

All have something in common: they are all inching closer to extinction.

The biggest problem is the fact that unlike the previously mentioned animals, single player video game modes are on no one’s endangered list so that it can be protected and saved. In fact more and more developers and publishers are advocates of single player’s removal from games, as they feel the co-op and multi-player mode is the wave which will sweep next-generation consoles.

Read more - The Extinction of the Single Player Experience?

[Schmackity]

Good news. With all the problems facing 'dumb AI' or time spent trying to make AI realistic, it'd be nice to advance ourselves to the modern age of SP being gone.

XBOX ONE had the right idea, but it was just one console too early. I feel the next-gen after PS4/X1 will definitely be always connected and eliminate a lot of SP games. The days of just being a casual gamer on your own are coming to an end.

[footballfan41]

Well i want a Xbox 1 and Ps4, but if single player goes away so will I,..I am a 42 year old dad, and i ONLY play single player, hope hope they check with all before doing this alway, cause i buy THREE of everything in my house due to sons, and if they stop so will I....but I'm just one man i'm sure it don't matter to anyone if i did or didn't,
That's why i don't play NBA 2k just because of that, you setup a My-Player and if you don't like it, to start over with Names and all you have to Ask 2k to remove it, that's Way to my control over my $60 dollar game, lease Madden would let you start over and over as many times as you like,...

[BoltThrower74]

I'm not 42, but like footballfan41 up there, if single-player goes away, so do I. I don't wanna be forced to play online with a bunch of wannabe internet tough guys who equate beating people online as really being better than them. I don't like to play people online, period. I'm tired of the pricks online. What time I DO have to play video games, I want to do so curled up on my couch and enjoying a brilliant single player experience (I'm looking at you Bioshocks, Last of Us and countless others). You wanna include MP in games? Fine. But don't take away the SP.

[misterkrabz]

In most video games, for me, MP is much more enjoyable than SP. Just an example of my play pattern, I've owned every Call Of Duty over the last ten years and I don't think I've played the SP long enough to get past second or third level in any of them yet I played countless hours online. Nothing beats a good, well played game against a human opponent, particularly in sports games. I've also owned dozens of sports games over the last few years and don't think I've ever completed a full season in SP in any of them, including football. I got about 80 games into a season of The Show one year but eventually got tired of it. I would hate to see the SP element go away but for me the reality is rarely play SP, in any genre.

[Cardot]

I am also a 40-something gamer who plays single player only. Video games are my chance to get away from the world. Other than a periodic patch or roster update, I don't want to connect or socialize. I hate the idea that a connection or password issue will be an added headache to playing an offline game.

I haven't been thrilled with the shift towards online gaming the last few years. And with the recent news of the next gen consoles, I have been pretty apathetic. I am not saying I'll give up gaming all together, but the entusiasm for it is certainly getting lower, and I won't be rushing to jump to next gen.

[Aggies67]

Like the 2 gentlemen above me, if single player goes away I stop playing. I'm creeping up on 50 and play a lot less anyway.

[LionsFanNJ]

The Last of Us. BioShock infinite. Batman AA. nuff said.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[heater41]

Once single player goes, so do I. I have no desire to play online anymore against those who "cheese" and aren't in it for a fair, quality gaming experience.

[HitThatRowdy96]

I'm a 22-year-old male starting off grad school, single, living with my grandparents to help with my grandfather's health stuff. I'm also somewhat of a recluse once I get into my room; I'll talk to people I know via Facebook or Twitter or text, but that's enough for me sometimes. The first experience of online gaming I had was with Saints Row: The Third when my best friend and I played co-op online. My first true couch co-op experience came when I was at a friend's house when I was 8, and moments from there were few and far between. I've grown used to playing on my own, being an only child from a family who didn't interact with peers outside of school regularly until I was high school-age. I've always based my purchase of a game on the ability of its Career/Single Player campaign modes. Those drew--and still draw--me in.

If things go to all multiplayer, I will be a much, much more select gamer. I don't mind co-op or anything (I'll still wreak havoc in SR3 and have fun in the new Animal Crossing online), and couch co-op can be great. That said, as a relative introvert, playing online with random people will not be well suited for me. And couch co-op will be far less convenient than just playing single player. They won't lose me, but they'll lose a lot of my business.

Great article, in my opinion. It's definitely something to look at for the future.

[eko718]

Single player will likely never be extinct. Games are also becoming more cinematic, and great storytelling is the staple of great games. That's something that multiplayer cannot really provide.

[Dynastium]

The video game industry must hate misanthropes...

[Armor and Sword]

Re: The Extinction of the Single Player Experience?

Solitare game modes going away?

I highly doubt it. Seriously.


But if it did. Count me out. I play offline almost exclusively. 43 years old and playing games is my way of getting some alone time.


Would be a travesty it it indeed happens in the not too distant future.

[bhurst99]

There will always be single-player games. Developers who don't realize this will die a slow death.

[berad88]

As far as sports games go multiplayer does not solve AI issues. You can only control one player at a time while the AI is controlling everybody else.

As for other games single player is not going anywhere. The vast majority of games are single player games. They may have some extra optional multiplayer stuff thrown in (GTA for example) , but unless it is a first person shooter or mmo, or something along those lines a developer would be foolish to forget about single player.