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Phil Harrison thinks we don't want single player games photo

Phil Harrison has said that Atari's Alone in the Dark may be among the last of a dying breed, as consumers no longer want single player experiences.

"Alone in the Dark is a beautifully crafted single-player adventure game. I don't think the industry is going to make many more of those," states the slender-necked Atari ship-jumper. "I just don't think consumers want to be playing games that don't have some kind of network connectivity to them, or some kind of community embedded in them, or some kind of extension available through downloadable content."

Really? I guess I can only speak for myself, but I love a good story-based single player game, and would hate to see every single videogame turn into a deathmatch. BioShock proved that single player games well well, and Grand Theft Auto IV would have still shifted millions without its multiplayer component -- a feature often overlooked in favor of the single player experience.

Furthermore, this trend of tacking multiplayer onto videogames doesn't really work. Nobody plays Overlord online, and games focused solely on the online side of things such as Shadowrun haven't exactly set the world on fire. Sure, people want a good multiplayer experience, but they already have it -- World of Warcraft, Gears of War and Halo still top the charts, and attempts to copy them won't do much but saturate the market.

Still, I'm only a gamer, I know nothing of the games I want to play.


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83 comments | showing # 51 to 83

Aberrant Thought's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 12:02
Aberrant Thought
For the love of the Gods please keep making single player games! I have an inherent dislike for playing video games with other humans that I am not with in the same room. I played Guild Wars for a month and dropped it like a bad habit. Heck, I remember the first game I played online... Soldier of Fortune which served as my rough and un-lubricated entry into the world of 'hax' and extreme ego.

BAH!
Zero Atma's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 12:06
Zero Atma
"Sure, people want a good multiplayer experience, but they already have it -- World of Warcraft, Gears of War and Halo still top the charts, and attempts to copy them won't do much but saturate the market."

Well, of course it will, but that won't stop developers. They see a money train and they want to ride it.

I also enjoy single-player games, in general more than multiplayer; mostly I like Smash Bros., Rock Band and GH for multiplayer, and a couple PC online RPGs to play with a few friends on the east coast. Otherwise, I prefer single player, with occasional (offline) multiplayer capability.

Perhaps I'm an optimist, but I don't see that going away any time too soon. The big names still largely make single-player games, and they usually sell well enough to keep it a priority. Essentially, we'll see an increase in all types of games as the market becomes increasingly mainstream. There may be a disproportionate increase in multiplayer capability, but I don't think it'll ever outweigh single-player gaming. At most it'll balance out.
Murumasa123's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 12:15
Murumasa123
Great that you put a picture of Shadowrun up. Happens to be the only game i took back EVER. Waste of fuckign cash.

Multiplayer has its place, i love online GTa, play plenty of COD, and since i got an imported copy of SSBB from America i have gone to two house and one drama club i go to and played it people who dont play games.

But Single is better, more of a movie expierience that i prefer and i love a good Yarn.
brainderailment's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 12:20
brainderailment
I have been getting less and less single player games lately, but that's only because I want to get my moneys worth, and they aren't making many single player games with NO multiplayer. But I still love single player games that have no multiplayer at all, but I just don't have too much time to play by my self.
ElfShotTheFood's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 12:25
ElfShotTheFood
If I have to make a choice between a game with great SP and a game with great MP I'll choose the single-player game every time.

I can see where Harrison's coming from though: lots of people won't buy a game if it doesn't have multiplayer, even if it's totally half-assed.
mix's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 12:38
mix
99% of my video games have been bought becuase of what they offer single player wise. The only games I have bought for multiplayer, that I can remember, was Warhawk (I sold that after a month of owning it) and TF2
Def JM's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 12:58
Def JM
Does it make me a badass person for having a 360 for a month, and I've yet to create a live account? I mean I seem to be enjoying all the games I have.
Zakuen's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 13:02
Zakuen
Games for me are about entertainment and having fun. In some cases that means a good story, in others its playing a plastic instrument, and in other cases it's taking on a bunch of real life opponents. Personally though, I'm at a point where multiplayer annoys the hell out of me unless its with specific friends. Too many idiots out there for me to bother dealing with. I'd much rather have a good story unfold where I can choose certain outcomes and not have to deal with other people. I enjoy it form time to time, but no way in hell do I want only Multiplayer games.
exodus1925's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 13:02
exodus1925
Of course single-player, story driven games aren't on the way out. Especially recently, where companies are taking even more time in creating absorbing and interesting storylines in games.
bam2003's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 13:25
bam2003
you guys are the minority, face it, most people want multiplayer games
Volomon's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 13:37
Volomon
@Def JM: No thats kind of pathetic really.
Sharpless's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 14:02
Sharpless
@bam2003
Yes, the stupid, retarded, lowest-common-denominator general public want more multiplayer than singleplayer. Being in the minority does no automatically mean we're wrong. This approach is shit and the games industry will suffer greatly if most companies take this approach.

Singleplayer is the backbone of gaming. Multiplayer-heavy games will make money for a time, but weakening the focus on singleplayer will ultimately hurt the health of the entire games industry. It's short-sighted and stupid.
Zerozaki Ishiki's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 14:37
Zerozaki Ishiki
I'd go the opposite direction - I do not give a flying fuck about multiplayer, and never will.
Even those games I have with multiplayer options remain untouched - I get off work after my friends are asleep. We could only play on weekends.
And then we usually gather at a house together and play Rock Band.
Online multiplayer is utterly useless to me. The bigger a part of the game it is, the more of that game I will be ignoring.
Jetsetlemming's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 14:40
Jetsetlemming
If this is what he believes, that I suggest he become a PC exclusive publisher. Only 10% of online multiplayer gamers are on the console- 90% play their online games on the PC instead.
As an overall figure, 42% of gamers play online multiplayer games, less than half of the total gamer populous- hardly a mandate for multiplayer only games.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080402-npd-shows-gaming-growth-online-stagnation.html
TheBrain's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 15:00
TheBrain
I don't play online games even though I have the ability to do so. It isn't that fun to me. Occasionally I'll get hooked into it but it doesn't take long before I find myself running through a large number of single player games and being quite content doing so.
Def JM's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 15:09
Def JM
@Volomon

I didnt mean badass, I meant bad, but if a majority of the games I own are single player why go online?

And second I have a free wireless connection that goes through a portal, so the 360 will not allow me to connect. And the fact I'm moving in month whats the point of getting broadband when I'm moving 2000 miles away.
John B's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 15:39
John B
Not everyone wants to beat up on or with others on every game that they play. Not everyone has an Internet connection all of the time.

Phil Harrison is a fucking moron. End of story.
Mr Television's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 17:57
Mr Television
This is a ridiculous idea. I am currently only interested in single-player story-driven games. I am 27 years old. No-one in my immediate frendship group owns a console or gaming PC, so my interested in playing multiplayer games with strangers is minimal. These comments from Harrison are very silly and misjudged.
The Amazing Shenazin's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 18:37
The Amazing Shenazin
hahaha, NO!

online gaming is tainted by the fact that 90% of people playing are jackasses
parrothead's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 19:10
parrothead
I love single player. Other than a few games of NCAA Football on line, I don't really play multiplayer games. Look at my favorite games of the last year, Portal, Half-Life 2 and it's parts, Uncharted, GTA IV, Super Mario Galaxy, Legend of Zelda on Wii and DS Lite.

I don't need to be subjected to the homophobic and racist remarks of a bunch of 13 year olds. I like the stories and the joy that single player has given me since I first got my Coleco Vision way back in the day.
ChillyBilly's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 19:27
ChillyBilly
I rarely if ever play online. I prefer the single player mode to anything else.
akathatoneguy's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 19:38
akathatoneguy
Yes, no one is interested in single player games. Oh, except the fans of the Resident Evil series, Mass Effect, the Final Fantasy series, Assassin's Creed, Lost Odyssey, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, the God of War series, nearly every Mario game ever made, basically any RPG, the Half Life series, Portal, the list goes on and on. What an idiotic statement.

"Multiplayer" should remain as an option, not a genre, and certainly not as the standard of how games are designed. Besides, as others have pointed out, busting your ass to make a great multiplayer-only or multiplayer-focused game will get you nowhere. People will stick to their Halo 3, CoD 4, Gears of War and now GTA IV anyway. There are plenty of people who either don't play online at all or who will only play with friends, and if you're like me, you own plenty of games your friends don't. What a stupid comment to make.
Volomon's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 20:53
Volomon
People who only play singleplayer usually do so because they fear competition or lack skill. They will tell you this and that but the truth is just beneath the surface. Its sad that a lot of them don't even ATTEMPT it before they reject it.
eXaX's Avatar - Comment posted on 05/31/2008 22:38
eXaX
It is true that there are people out there (read:me) who only play singleplayer and don't really give multiplayer a chance. Some don't play it for those reasons (lack of skill, fear of competition) or simply they just don't care for it.

I mean, the greatest videogame experiences I've played through were in the single-player campaigns of multiple games. Sure, it can be awesome to go online in _good_ mp games and pwn for a couple of hours but in general I'm much more for the story elements, character development and so on and multiplayer just doesn't satisfy that need. And it's because of those reasons that single-player games will never completely vanish (or so I believe).
Rusty Ghia's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 01:04
Rusty Ghia
Sartre was right when he wrote, "Hell is other people." I can't stand the jackasses online, nor the boring games that caters to them.

If the industry is indeed heading towards a multi-player only future, then I'll just play all of the great retro games. But it just sounds to me that Harrison is spinning pre-emptive damage control for a game that won't sell well. "We created a great game, but the audience no longer wants a single-player game." My ass.
Kyousuke Nanbu's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 01:51
Kyousuke Nanbu
There's always gonna be a market for single player games, I only have one multiplayer game that's held my attention for a long time and that's Halo 3, I got Lost Planet Colonies and out off 11 gametypes I only like 1.

Even with Halo which I enjoy quite a bit, gets on my nerves at times and I always relax with a good single player.

If he means that more games will not have a multi feature, that's fine but they should not be tacked on, that's one of the biggest problems with multi gaming, to many single player games with a crappy tacked on multi, a crappy tacked on multi with achivements that dies out within weeks of the games release.
Timmeh's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 04:02
Timmeh
@Volomon

I can't tell if that was meant to be a serious remark or you're just being a douche, but you're wrong anyway. I can quite happily hold my own in most games online and used to play some PC FPSes competitively.

I often prefer single player games because I like to be engaged in a story rather than just dumped in a room full of people to kill.

Oftentimes people are put off playing online by douchebaggery. The first time I entered a GTA IV team deathmatch I had to listen to a bunch of kids squeaking about how they were going to rape each other parents in the ass etc etc, ironic when none of them sounded like they had started puberty yet.
Murumasa123's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 07:18
Murumasa123
Volomon thats just silly. U cant say that Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry require little skill or challenge. I cant fricking complete the normal modes for them and im above average.
Plus playing online you use different tatics to singleplayer as you have to compete against another thinking person. In Command and conquer single i CRAWL but multiplayer i dont have that option, in GTA i i find a nice place and hold out, then move on in a car, One RPG online would sort that out for me.
Its good to interact with people and it does test you a different way but are games just meant to see action (partly yes for some like some action films) but the good stories are more fun in my view and show more creativity and development aside from new engines and graphics.
And i cant stress enough how SUBLIMELY SHIT SHADOWRUN IS!
hoezee's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 08:38
hoezee
In my case there are some problems when playing online. It could be bad conection from other players or my own, to non stop stupid talking, to really bad attitude, lots and lots of sensless text chatering, ocasional god like players that know every little detail of the game, when they begin acusing someone of being a n00b..freaking impossible. Pure immaturity.
Vcize's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 13:00
Vcize
"I don't know anyone who buys games based on their multiplayer capabilities, unless they want casual "party" games."

It's called the internet man, multiplayer no longer refers only getting together with 4 people in your parent's living room.

Games like Gears, CoD4, Halo, etc get 90% of their sales from the multiplayer, hence the reason they're still among the top 5 most played games on XBL long after their release (and that means games played while logged into XBL, so single player games count too but these games are still played more often than 99% of new release single player games even though they're months or even years old).
Ninjajuice's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/01/2008 20:26
Ninjajuice
I really only play Figthers in the commons room with these guys I know. Internet gaming is full of obnoxious 12 year olds, anyway.
nicojay's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/02/2008 08:40
nicojay
Wait a mo.
I thought he wanted to make a success with the new Atari?
Gasekura's Avatar - Comment posted on 06/02/2008 10:38
Gasekura
It depends on whether you want to make a great game because it's great, or a good game because it sells. I'm not trying to say that all single player games are fantastic and that no multiplayer games are mind you, but you can see where I'm going with this.

DOLLA DOLLA
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