Recently during an interview with GameSpot, EA executive Peter Moore had this to say. "very few people actually play the single-player on these kinds of games. That's what the data points to." These kind of games are shooters, and the game in question is Star Wars BattleFront.
This trend in the gaming world, truly grinds my gears... Not so long ago, about 8 years ago to be exact. Multi-player features were seen as the tacked on feature, the thing that was mostly left untouched. Now why is that? Because frankly, back then the multi-player features were tacked on. Sure there were some games that had great multi-player experiences, but those were the exceptions. Countless other games simply tacked on a basic multi-player mode, and these were left untouched. Why? Because little effort was put into them. Now the same can be said about some single-player features of today.
Do you see the connection? Gamers play good games, it does not matter if it has online, single or multi-player. The reason a gamer may skip the single player experience, in a game like Battlefield 4 is that it was tacked on. But, guess what? I still played Battlefield 4's campaign, I play all single-player campaigns. Do you know why? I prefer single-player experiences. And I am not the only one. The real reason gamers skip the single-player portion of some games, is that all the effort went into the multi-player.
But I will give you three huge examples of games, that balance both single and multi-player experiences. Gears of War, Killzone and Halo, regardless if you like those games, they both had great single and multi-player features. Both the single and multi-player components got the same level of polish, neither were tacked on. The moral of the story, is to polish the entire gaming experience, and not just the most popular aspect.
When a game has both multi and single-player modes, if one is not given the same level of polish, gamers will feel cheated. There is this horrible notion, that there are more people who prefer multi-player games. It is not true, even my friends who are die-hard online gamers, still enjoy single-player games. I do not know a single gamer who only plays one kind of game. While I am sure there are gamers out there like that, they are the minority.
Most gamers enjoy variety, I know I do. The gaming industry is reading the data wrong. Gamers are not skipping single-player games cause they don't prefer them, just like they weren't skipping multi-player games back in the day. No, gamers skip certain games based on the game's quality not the kind of game it is. Although there is recent data, that could suggest gamers would skip a multiplayer only game. Which I also do not think is true.
But, if you take a game that had a single-player mode, make a sequel and drop a major feature to save money. You may piss off a good number of gamers. Am I excited for the new Star Wars Battlefront? Yes, and I am going to buy it on launch. But I am very disappointed that we have lost out on the possibility of an incredible campaign feature.
But I am equally saddened, that the gaming media choose to slaughter a great single-player game this year. The Order 1886 is still one of my favorite games this year, and I have replayed that sucker at least five times now. That game may have been short but it was a great single-player experience. And because it was on the shorter side, and lacked online play, the media choose to sandbag it. Is a great game for everyone? No, but for fans of great single-player shooters it is a terrific game.
The gaming media may want you to believe that gamers are not into single-player games. They may sandbag a single-player game that has flaws like any other game, just to make a point. And it is this wheel of constant negativity that bothers me the most about the industry. I do not care that the industry is based on making money. I am not bothered by the preorder and DLC trends. What I am bothered by is the shortsightedness that is bringing the industry down.
Every major site that does any kind of gaming review, always decides when they dislike a game to blast it to pieces. And most gamers don't care and defend it as just their opinion. If someone is discussing a game is one thing, but if your writing reviews for a living, you should learn to be more professional than some random blogger.
Yes, a review is just an opinion, but the power of the major media sites is too huge to ignore. They set trends and kill sales. And some gamers may say, they are keeping us from wasting our money on a bad game, but that is rarely the case. The constant stream of negativity only keeps gamers from experiencing good games, cause they were led to believe these games were bad or broken. However, the only real issue with most of these games, is that they were not the reviewer's kind of game.
Single-player experiences are being left behind or forgotten in some cases, not because gamers have forgotten them, but because the industry has neglected them. Whether that is mainly from the industry misreading trends, or the negative spin of the gaming media, is kind of a toss up. Getting back to the catalyst for this article, Peter Moore's statement was idiotic, but also not unexpected.
We have been seeing this kind of mentality for a while in the industry. And it is a shame that a single-player component in Star Wars Battlefront, was a casualty of this mindset. But there is good news. Single-player games are here to stay, and there are tons coming out this and next year. While the media likes to make these things into some big deal. The truth is it's just spin. While some things in the industry have changed in recent times. For the most part the heart is still the same.
The only real issue in the gaming world, is the mass amounts of negativity that is constantly spewing over all the fun. This is an industry and community based around escapism and fun. And people seem to forget that. It does not matter if a game is good or bad, all that matters is if you have fun.
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