Alongside the GTA rumour, Assassin’s Creed Infinity has been announced this week as a live-service game that again expands and evolves over time and takes in multiple time-periods. This viewpoint appears to be growing across the industry with rumours that the in-development GTA VI will be set in Vice City, an homage to 1980s Miami, and will be expanded and altered on an ongoing basis after launch. Valve CEO Gabe Newell believes that the future of single-player games which develop over time, quoted in 2020 as saying ‘If you could build a single player game that just never ended, where I could play 20 hours a week and it just keeps growing and getting richer, and I’d be having as much fun 400 hours into this experience as I was in the first 20 hours… I think that is a way more likely scenario looking forward five years than it would have been looking forward five years ago.’ Gabe Newell, Gaming Bible (2020). More recently however, they have retracted their stance and have admitted that single-player games are still important. For a while they kept to this statement and produced more online focused games with built in monetisation routes that produced higher revenues than a single-player standalone experience. But it raises the question of whether single player only games are truly dying or if they’re still an integral part of the gaming ecosystem.īack in 2010, EA announced their intention to move away from single player stories, saying at the time ‘ very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay – be it cooperative or multiplayer or online services – as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours-and you’re out.’ Frank Gibeau, Wired (2010). Jumping into a raid or tactically navigating your way to a win in a team deathmatch can be as communal as being there in person.
The winners of the gaming industry then were the greatest stories, the most interesting and unique game design and the sharing of memories sat on a sofa next to your best mate, beating that boss that had driven you mad for weeks.Īnd that’s not to say that that’s lost in the world of multiplayer gaming.
When you’re dealing with dial-up internet that takes 3 hours to download a jpeg, you can’t expect to be able to jump online and play with your friends. Using the 90s as an example, single player games were the only kind of games available.
Gaming media have argued back and forth for years about whether, as we move ever deeper into a connected and online world, a well-written story should form the centrepiece of any newly released game. The viability of a solid, single-player campaign in video games is a highly contentious subject. Music Performance Foundation Degree FdA.Audio & Music Technology Foundation Degree FdSc.